The cover page of any magazine is one of the most important factors with regards to how much it will sell. It must attract the eye of a potential customer as it will probably be amongst scores of other magazines, some of which will be targeting the same audience. Zoo magazine uses a ‘pin-up’, an attractive lady on it’s cover each week, along with an outline of the main features that lie waiting inside. Again, the colour and layout reflect the general feel of the magazine, using bright, bold colours and lettering, as well as language that the target audience can understand. The use of slang is obvious throughout the magazine as well as being used on the cover, this being another similarity to the tabloid newspaper. At the top of the page ‘Zoo’ is printed in bold, red capital letters, on a white background, helping readers to familiarise this with the tabloid newspaper.
Having established that the front cover of the magazine is the most important factor in selling it in the first place, I think it would be safe to say that the content of it is what will ultimately persuade readers to purchase it on a regular basis. There are regular news features that provide readers with an unconventional look at the news that would appeal to the readership. For example in issue 9 there are four pages on the Leicester City footballers who have been embroiled in scandal in recent weeks. Along with an article concerning the impending court case, there is a sub feature which informs readers of how much money they could get for selling a scandalous story to newspapers.
In all men’s magazines there are a number of pages dedicated to cars, and Zoo is no different. The cars are almost presented in a similar way as the females in the magazine, sexy, but ultimately accessible, and the reader is left with the sense that maybe one day he will be able to afford one. The editors of Zoo know that everyone aspires to bettering themselves, and even though the readers of this magazine may be of the middle to lower classes, and may not be able to afford these cars, they will still aspire to one day owning one.
In each issue of the magazine there is a Television guide, set out conventionally as you would expect to see in a tabloid newspaper, but with a manly twist. Each terrestrial channel has a column showing every programme to be shown on the day, yet there are no descriptions of daytime television programmes, because the intended audience are presumed to be at work, and these programmes are generally aimed at the female audience. Programmes that may be of interest are highlighted in bold print, and the programmes that the writers presume will be of interest to the audience are boxed – off and coloured yellow. These programmes are then featured in the “unmissable!” page which is opposite the main TV Guide. “Unmissable” programmes tend to be sport, crime drama’s, films, etc.
Also the magazine features a weekly review section, where music, films, and books are reviewed by people of the same social group as the readership. This means that readers can trust what the reviewer has to say about the product, and know that what they are spending their hard – earned cash on is going to be worth it. The section on book reviews is surprising, as generally men aged between 16-30 and who are said to “go to the pub, drink beer and watch football” generally do not tend to read much. Saying this, the books that are reviewed could be described as “books for blokes”, and tend to be autobiography’s by sports men, books about gangs, and war stories. The music reviewed is described in the magazine as “Proper Music” and always features music from genres such as rock, indie, alternative, and dance. Thus separating themselves from what is seen to be fashionable (hardly any of the albums reviewed have ever made it into the top 10 chart), and making a statement about what good music is about.
As well as the weekly features such as news, girls, and cars, many pages of the magazine are filled with random stories such as “The Football of the Future”, a page dedicated to the introduction of a new football consisting of five separate layers, and is destined to improve the quality of the game as a whole. Another example of these what I can only explain as a ‘random but entertaining’ story is “Ice Breaker”, a very small article about an ice hockey player who broke his neck playing the sport in America. These articles tend to rely on imagery more than the actual story, and the outline of them proves this. The images often cover a whole page but the story may only be a few paragraphs. This all maintains the ethos of the magazine, relying on wording as little as possible and backing up the story with shocking, entertaining and informative images. Indeed, in many articles in Zoo magazine you can understand what the story is about from the images and headline alone.
There is also an extensive sports section at the back of the magazine, mainly covering football, but also looks at the latest action in rugby and motor-sport. For the gambling men they offer their hot tip’s for sporting events. The location of this section in the magazine (at the back), is another similarity to tabloid newspapers. Many people, once they’ve bought the day’s Sun or Daily Star, turn straight to the back pages as they know that this is where the sport section is. This is the same in certain broadsheets also. The traditional location at the back of the paper / magazine gives the sport a sense of separation from other articles also, which is important as certain people may not be interested in sport and will not be dissuaded from purchasing the magazine/paper. Zoo magazine has obviously used this convention so that readers will be familiar with the layout, thus making them more comfortable with the magazine.
In conclusion, this magazine successfully appeals to the audience it targeted, by offering a weekly alternative to the numerous monthly “lads-mags”, including all the content that men age 16-30 want to read about, and providing an easy on the eye, and all – importantly familiar layout. In their press pack, they describe the brand values of their magazine as being “Topical, sexy, sporty, and funny” , and this is exactly what it is. The whole ethos of this magazine is that it’s not designed to inform you but keep you entertained on those train journeys to and from work. It doesn’t last long, and is not as daunting to read as some of those super thick, glossy magazines such as Loaded are, but it sufficient for a weekly. Zoo Weekly is all the pub ammo a young man needs to know what to talk about and how to talk about it – every week.
