OUGD502: Study Task 1 - Research: Advertising

OUGD502 Study Task 1 - Taking Care of Business 

Research: Advertising 

General research into advertising and studying A Level media studies lead me to understand how advertising is a critical component within any magazine. However we didn't want the feel of our publication to be too commercial or overloaded with adverts that it detracts from the actual content. We financially needed to included advertisements within the publication however decided to be quite selective regarding the types of advertisements. As the specialist nature of the magazine if aimed at graphic design and extending to other creative disciplines I wanted to keep this focus within the adverts, this will ensure ensure they are more relevant and appeal to the target audience. Adverts such as GF Smith, Pressision will help keep production costs down, Offering art focused universities such as Leeds college of art and UAL advertising would probably appeal to them as its a student focuses magazine. Other potential advertisers would be material websites such as Fred Aldous and the likes of D&AD YCN could provide a substantial advertising budget for us to work with. 

To get a better idea of costing for this I emailed the marketing department within the college to find out how much they spend on advertising and what would be feasible to charge. They were really helpful in regards to this informing me that they would pay around £1000 for a full page advert. She further enclosed the advertising budget of the End of Year Show held at the college, giving added insight into how much the competitors magazines charge such as creative review and computer arts. With this research we concluded an estimated £1000 advertising budget based on 10 full page advertisements which would offer a nice balance  between content and advertisements. This budget would cover the cost of the production and support the bulk of the business venture so is an essential piece of the business plan in order for the venture to be viable.