DELVE
TASKS FOR DELVE: • Don’t define anything specifically • Dig deeper into what you’ve found out already • Have a few different possibilities and look into those a bit further • Find out facts about the client, audience and message • Look into research methods that have/haven’t been used yet
Possible avenues to delve into to find out more about what children are attracted to and what has been done already: • TV • Websites • Magazines • Books • Toys • Videos
Mintel Oxygen Report on Children’s Magazines in the UK - April 2010 Summary of the report: “The market for children’s magazines has succumbed to the economic downturn, despite having traditionally boasted a greater degree of resilience to economic turmoil than many of its more vulnerable counterparts in magazine publishing. There is also a widely held belief across the publishing industry that this is a recession that will be harder to emerge from than in previous years, because of the strength of competition coming from the internet. At present, however, the children’s magazines market has a viable future, because the full breadth of online facilities that have become the playground of today’s youth only really take a hold on consumers when children reach their teenage years. However, as the internet and digital entertainment become further ingrained in consumer lifestyles, the competitive threat is likely to intensify.”
oxygen.mintel.com
What they found out: • “Despite traditionally having some resilience against economic turbulence, the children’s magazines market has succumbed to the same fate as many of its contemporaries in the magazine industry. 2009 proved to be something of a bloodbath for consumer publishing, with sales of children’s comics and magazines falling 8% to £125 million. •
Pre-teen titles have shown greater resilience than the early years category, with sales of the former falling by 12% between 2007 and 2009, compared with a 17% decline for the latter.
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Although 82% of children read comics or magazines, children themselves are much less likely to actually buy them. Among 7-10s, magazines are being purchased primarily by parents for their children, with only 18% of children buying for themselves.
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Nearly six in ten kids are attracted by free covermount giveaways that come with comics and magazines, reflecting the growing consumer expectation of getting things for free.
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One in five consumers have bought a children’s magazine for their own children, while a similar proportion have purchased for other people’s children. Vital targets include part-time employees, high-level internet users, consumers aged 25-34 and of those with children aged 5-9.
• The most common reason for buying magazines is as a form of distraction, with 42% of families who buy them saying they do so to keep the kids occupied. This motivation is ahead of the promotion of literacy – only 25% feel comics and magazines are the best way to encourage kids to read.”
General Magazines and Comics Aimed At Children
Magazines Aimed At Primary Boys
Ben 10
Gormiti
Cars
Toy Story
Hobbies
Thomas & Friends
Power Rangers
Transformers
Roary The Racing Car
Kick!
Spectacular Spiderman
WIld Wheels
Marvel Heroes
Megaton
Dinosaur Attack
Batman Legends
Magazines Aimed At Primary Girls
Angel Princess
Angelina
Animal Friends
Barbie
Cute
Disney Girl
Disney High School Musical
Fairy Ballerina
Girl
Girl Style
Girl Talk
I Love Ponies
Go Girl
Hello Kitty
Jacqueline Wilson
My Magical World
Visual Language of Kid’s Magazine Covers KEY • Grey = page layout • Red = masthead • Black = cover lines/barcode • Blue = cover imagery • Green = main shapes
THINGS TO LOOK AT • Colours • Shapes • Animals/Objects/Humans/Mixture
Ben 10
Cars
Power Rangers
Angelina
Go Girl
Disney High School Musical
Overall Observations BOYS MAGAZINES: • The main subject themes are superheroes, vehicles, animals, gadgets and sport • The majority of magazines come with a free gift(s), stickers, posters, or tools/ gadgets • Creativity is encouraged, mostly through building/putting things together • The covers are very busy; cover lines are used effectively to show what is included in the magazine • The phrase “Free gifts” is mostly shown on the top left corner of the cover - this is the side of the magazine that is displayed on shop shelves • The cover images are mostly of people/ characters from TV shows or films that are easily recognisable • The colours used = subtle - mainly blues, greens, yellows, reds, oranges • Textures = metallic, smooth • None of them outrightly promote a healthy lifestyle
GIRLS MAGAZINES: • Running themes are beauty, friendship, jewellery, dancing and singing • Free gifts are given, usually makeup products, jewellery, stickers • Creativity is encouraged • Stars, clouds and hearts are the main shapes used • TV characters are used, but the cover images are mostly of celebrities intead of cartoons • The covers are extremely busy; the main image tends to be on the right hand side - the free gifts are on the left • Colours used = bright and colourful pinks, purples, yellows, light blues • Typefaces = bubbly, curly, fancy, pink • The phrase ‘free gift’ is either in the middle of the top panel or to the left • “They’re all full of princesses, ponies, dolls, makeup, cute fluffy animals, pink things, and Zac Efron!!!”
OVERALL, MAGAZINES FOR CHILDREN • Include free gifts • Don’t talk about ‘becoming healthier’ in an outright manner • Encourage creativity using various methods • Show TV characters on the cover • Use a mixture of objects, animals and people, however the objects and animals are mostly shown with human qualities • Include puzzles, games, facts, posters • Are very geared towards to complimenting the TV programmes they may be based on
Visual Language of Health Organisation Websites KEY • Grey = page layout • Red = logo • Black = text • Blue = imagery • Green = main shapes
THINGS TO LOOK AT • Colours • Layout • Text • Information presented
MEND
MEND - Move It
CHANGE 4 LIFE
Change For Life - For Kids Different Aspects of Change For Life: • • • • • •
Play for life Small steps for life Swim for life Bike for life Walk for life Breakfast for life
Change For Life Let’s Play Poster Giving parents different games that they can teach to children in order to get them active and play with friends Ways for children to ‘change their life’ different options shown on the website
Small Steps For Life - Primary School Children
The three main ways that kids can become healthier. When clicked on, each aspect has its own game that children can play through.
Street Steppin’ (Getting Active) - Online game that involves the user making the character run down a street and jump over/duck under obstacles that are in the way. Used to promote what kids love doing - playing!
Fruit Fun (Healthy Living) - Involves the user playing as a superhero character, collecting all the different fruit that shows up on screen.
Match-Maker (Feeling Good Inside) - Involves the user finding ‘friends’ then leading them to the different activities that pop up.
Overall Observations • Websites are a lot more text heavy • Aimed more at parents/teachers • Not as visual and vibrant as children’s magazines • Users need to browse through many pages in order to find all of the relevant information that they may want to look at • On the Change 4 Life website, it can be quite easy to end up ‘lost’ - information is scattered everywhere on every page • Takes awhile to find the downloadable materials that are available • Children may not read through all of the information - will most likely play the available games • Parents may be too busy to read through the website and pass on the messages to their children