What kind of media institution might distribute your media

product and why?

The term distribution within the media refers to the process of marketing and supplying goods, especially to retailers. In relation to magazines, it focuses on the process of putting magazines in retailers and making them available for consumers to buy.

The stage of distributing a publication is essential in the overall process of producing a magazine because the institute which you choose can have a large effect on the popularity of your magazine and in turn will affect the sales and profits of this magazine.

The institution which I feel would be most suitable to distribute my pop magazine is ‘COMAG’.

COMAG one of the largest newsstand distributors in the UK and the largest exporter of English magazines, supplying magazines to over 80 countries around the world. They distribute through a range of retailers, from newsagents and high street stores to convenience stores, supermarkets, petrol forecourts and travel points. For these reasons I feel that COMAG would be an ideal company to help me distribute my magazine during this vital part of production. Another good thing about COMAG is that they have an online ‘magazine cafe’ which allows consumers to browse the magazines available via the COMAG website; this means that they can compare products and the magazines which have the most bold and eye catching covers will be more likely to be bought. In turn if people enjoy the product then they may choose to buy the magazine again or recommend it to somebody they know, this would help to improve the sales of my magazine.

COMAG’s Magazines...COMAG distribute a large range of well know magazines. Below is a list of

some of the magazines which COMAG distributes which are in some ways similar to my magazine…

• Billboard• Vibe• Spin• Teen Vogue• Seventeen• Remix• Vinyl Riot• Vogue• Self• Elle• Company• Cosmopolitan• Madison

Why I believe that COMAG would be successful at distributing my product…

I believe that COMAG would be most suitable for distributing my product because, as the pictures below show, my magazine is quite similar in colour, topic, artists, style, content and mode of address, to other magazines which the company distribute.

Also, because COMAG is a very successful distributor in not only the UK, but also over 80 countries worldwide, they are well known and have a good reputation and therefore they are a popular and trustworthy.

On their website COMAG promises that “everything we do is tailored to meet the specific needs and requirements of the product”, this is appealing to people who wish to have their products distributed because it implies that they will provide a good and trustworthy service and that they will put in a lot of effort to help your product reach its full potential.

The fact that COMAG distribute many successful magazines such as Vibe, Billboard, Vogue and Madison shows that the company have helped these magazines to become so popular and also shows that the producers of the magazines trust COMAG to distribute their magazines, this suggests that COMAG will be successful at distributing many future magazines, and therefore I believe that they would be a suitable company to distribute my magazine ‘InTune’ if it was to be published.

Product Placement...In order to compare my final front cover to other magazines which are on the market I went to a local supermarket (Sainsbury’s) and I placed a printed copy of my magazines front cover amongst other magazines of similar style/genre.

I believe that my magazine, ‘InTune’ stands out from the other magazines because it has a clean white background and therefore it does not blend in with the other magazines which either have coloured backgrounds or have white background which are covered with busy pictures and cover lines. The clean, yet colourful and fun style of my magazine would probably appeal to a lot of my target audience because it shows that ‘InTune’ will be laid out clearly and will be easy to navigate and read, but will also be interesting to read and will address readers in a mature way without being boring. This is suitable for my target audience because girls in their late teens/early twenties very often wish to be spoken to like an adult however they usually also enjoy reading articles which used a relaxed mode of address. The main aspects of my cover which stand out are the image of Kirsten, the masthead (especially the word ‘In’), the clothing lure in the top right hand corner, the image of The Saturdays and the pink circle advertising a competition. It is vital that my image stands out, not only from my page, but from other magazine images as well, because this will draw the readers eye. Also, as this is the first issue of ‘InTune’ which would be available it is important that people are drawn to look at Kirsten because she is holding a microphone and this, along with the music inspired masthead, will show that it is a music magazine.

Online magazines and advertising...Due to the development of web 2.0 many people today can access media products via the internet. This is not only through computers and laptops, but also iPads, phones, games consoles, etc.

On the cover of my magazine I have included a web address which consumers can visit in order to view the magazine online and receive the latest news/updates from within the music industry. If my magazine was to become popular then, because of web 2.0, it would be possible for people to download/view my magazine on their laptops, phones, iPads, etc.

In order to encourage people to buy my magazine I would keep my website up to date with information about the latest issue of the magazine. I could also put exclusive pictures and videos on to the site to help gain interest about not only my magazine but pop music in general, which would then lead to more people buying my publication. Another idea which some magazines such as ‘Kerrang!’ have begun to do over recent years is to connect thier radio and TV broadcast to the magazine and show video and sound clips on the website; using these different forms of media helps to improve the popularity of a magazine because you can use each different format (Radio, TV and magazine) to advertise the others. Therefore this may be a good idea if my magazine was popular.

Another way in which I could advertise my magazine would be via social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook, this would encourage people to discuss my magazine and would hopefully then lead to more people

wanting to buy it. Sites such as these are very useful because they are easy to use, they are very popular and they can very quickly inform people of the latest news, products or ideas.