Assignment #3: Magazine Media Kits

Response due Thursday, 10/18, in class

We read this week about the way the magazine industry and other ad-supported media industries create audiences that are subsequently sold to advertisers. In class on Thursday (10/11), we looked at a few "media kits" for magazines. For example: Rolling Stone, Runner's World. These media kits are the magazine's description of their readership: How many people read the magazine? What demographic groups read the magazine? What sorts of attitudes and activities characterize those readers? In short, what sort of person can the advertiser expect to buy if the company purchases advertising in this magazine.

For this assignment, you'll find a media kit for a magazine of your choice. There are two main ways to find a magazine's media kit:

1. Go to Google (or another search engine) and search for your magazine's media kit. For instance, you'd search for "Rolling Stone Media Kit" or "Runner's World Media Kit." 
2. Go to the magazine's website, scroll down to the very bottom of the page, and see if there is a link at the bottom of the page for "Media Kit," "Advertising Sales" or something along those lines. 

Most magazines will have a media kit that is accessible through one of these two strategies. If you're having too much trouble locating your magazine's media kit, try another magazine.

Look through your magazine's media kit. Make note of the different ways that your magazine is describing its audience for advertisers -- size, demographics, psychographics.

Then, when you feel like you have a pretty good sense for the type of person your magazine is marketing to advertisers, write up a fictional profile of that person. Feel free to be creative with this process. If you're writing a fictional profile about a Runner's World reader, you might write about a fit, ambitious woman that wakes up every morning at 6:00 am to go out running. You write about how she wants to have shoes and running gear that will help her perform best and that she's always talking about running with their friends and family. 

The fictional profile of your magazine's reader should be 3/4 to 1 full page, single-spaced. On Thursday, you'll bring this typed profile to class. You'll also bring print-outs of a few pages from your magazine's media kit that were important in shaping your understanding of what that reader is like. Please staple these print-outs to your typed profile.

This assignment is worth 30 of the 270 points available for the media explorations course component. I will use the following rubric to grade your responses:

30 points -- Executed all assignment components. Demonstrates firm understanding of subject matter. Execution is excellent. No grammar or writing errors. Is well organized and very easy to follow.

22 points -- Executed assignment components mostly as asked. Demonstrates reasonable understanding of subject matter. Execution is generally good. A few grammar or writing errors. Is fairly well organized and generally easy to follow.

14 points -- Executed only some of the assignment's components. Demonstrates limited understanding of subject matter. Execution is fair, but with key problems. Several noteworthy grammar or writing errors. Poorly organized and difficult at times to follow.

6 points -- No evidence of having given the assignment real thought. Minimal or no understanding of subject matter. Execution is poor. Rampant grammar and writing errors make reading very challenging. No organization is evident. Reads like a last minute effort.

0 points -- No assignment submitted or submitted late.