I held my focus group to decide which of the copies of the magazine advertisement should be used for the final product. I used ten students from my class. I used students from my class because they are media students and have learnt how to analyse and be critical throughout the years of studying media. I felt other people would not be able to give me very accurate details on why they chose the certain advertisement which is not what i want from a focus group.

The results from my focus group:

• 2/10 people prefer advertisement 1 :

They gave reasons for liking this one such as ‘It stands out because of the colour red’. This means that this one would be successful for catching the readers attention whilst they are flicking through the magazine, which means in theory more people are likely to view the advertisement.

Another reason for them liking this one is that ‘You can see who the band members actually are’. Typically, one way bands become popular is because girls find them attractive, showing the band members increases the chances of this theory thus making the advertisement more popular.

• 2/10 people prefer advertisement 2:

The two people who like this version of the advertisement give reasons such as ‘The guitar looks really good with the bricks on it and you can see it all clearly as its contrasting’. Hearing people like my design felt really nice, and as for them saying it stands out, i used contrasting colours to give this effect. When flicking through a magazine something catches your eye if it stands out. I feel the black and white contrast would make a reader stop and look again. Making my magazine advertisement successful.

The other reason that one of the members of my focus group gave to me was that ‘It’s clear to read’ this makes it convenient for the reader to read and understand, meaning they wont mind spending a couple of minutes reading the advertisement.

• 6/10 people prefer advertisement 3:

The most interesting reason i got for why someone liked this cover is ‘It shows an image of the actual CD so when we see the advertisement and go out shopping we may be subconsciously looking for this album.’ This was the best way i had heard to describe why it was a good reason to place the album cover on the magazine advertisement. If we do subconsciously look for the album whilst we are shopping after seeing it in the magazine, then it would make my magazine advertisement successful.

Some other reasons included the massive ‘OUT NOW’ is clear and stands out, which relates back to flicking through the magazine. My focus group feels this advert looks more like an advert and less like a poster like the other two, which i feel was great feedback as i am getting marked on making a magazine advertisement.

Finally they liked how the background of the advert matches the background on the CD cover. I suppose this is because it draws a comparison between the two, which i feel is really important and i really like the design of this.

The final magazine advertisement: