But what I found really interesting is that apparently, male Millennials listen to more music than female Millennials do. According to an article by Spencer Kornhaber from The Atlantic, "eighty-eight percent of all Millennial males in the U.S. listen to radio each week, spending more time than their female counterparts tuned in (11 hours and 42 minutes vs. 10 hours and 46 minutes). They also show greater interest in personalized streaming audio services-think Spotify or pandora-than other demographics." Now speaking from personal experience, I can see how this is valid. I have a friend that has a Spotify playlist called "Sheesh!" for music that is "fire" and I think this is one of the the most guy Millennial things I have ever seen. He also takes pride in his playlists, they are a reflection of his entire persona, which to me is SO extra, but to each its own I guess.
However, despite this evidence, I don't want to make my magazine gender exclusive. I don't want to just target male Millennials because I mean, how un-Millennial would that be? Millennials are really great with blurring the societal lines between male and female and challenging gender roles, so why should I promote a magazine that does this? Also, in this article by The Atlantic it specifically says that "Pitchfork has faced criticism over the years for white-dude-centrisism" and I definitely do not want that. So long live men AND women because my magazine will target all of their cute butts!
The main challenge with this target audience is that honestly, magazines aren't that popular with millennials. But, I will address this mess (look at me rhyming) by really using all the elements that millennials love to "trap them."
So let's break Millennials down.
According to an article by Jake Wobbrock from Wired millennials...• "have become accustomed to an on-demand lifestyle, expect a seamless shopping experience, and won’t hang around for long if they don't find what they need"
- Thus, my magazine will have to be easy to use, easy to find. It will be digital so that whole "at your finger-tips" thing is covered.
• "prefer to be in the driver’s seat" (this is so ironic because they use so much Uber) "They need self-service solutions; if they can’t quickly resolve their own problems, they will give up and go elsewhere, knowing that many alternatives are just a Google search away"
- Once again... user friendly, simple, minimalistic.
In addition, interactivity is huge with millennials. I want my digital magazine to have videos or artists, quizzes or polls, and to just emanate coolness. I want that "too cool for school" or rebellious, care-free attitude that millennials and hipsters love. I want to attract the artistic millennials by having cool, dope-looking pictures like Complex does. Complex is a magazine that radiates this cool factor that I crave so much. I mean look at these covers...
They are not just artistically pleasing but they are contemporary and old school at the same time. This is something that Complex completely dominates. It is sexy when it wants to be sexy and artsy when it wants to. It embodies that care-free attitude that I want because this is what Millennials go crazy for. According to an article by John McDermott for Bigiday, "Complex was third" with 20.3 million visitors or users in the Millennial category. So, they are obviously doing things right. Not only do they dominate social media usage and connectivity with users but hey also sell a "rad" product.
As you can see, there is a lot going through my head right now. When I started this process I thought I wanted one thing but now my vision is more clear and more structured I guess. I like where things are going, I think I have a more solid idea now which is pretty dope. I like this, I really do.
Kornhaber, Spencer. "Pitchfork, the Reluctant Men's Magazine." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 13 Oct. 2015. Web. 26 Mar. 2017.
McDermott, August 27 2014by John, March 24 2017by Lucinda Southern, March 24 2017by Max Willens, March 24 2017by Sahil Patel, Sponsored By Deloitte Digital, March 24 2017by Yuyu Chen, and March 24, 2017by Lucia Moses and Shareen Pathak. "Turns out Traditional Publishers Do Just Fine with Millennials." Digiday. N.p., 11 Oct. 2014. Web. 26 Mar. 2017.
"Millennials Listen to 75% More Music Than Baby Boomers, Study Finds." Digital Music News. N.p., 03 June 2016. Web. 26 Mar. 2017.
Wobbrock, AnswerDash Jake. "How Millennials Require Us to Design the Technologies of Tomorrow." Wired. Conde Nast, 06 Aug. 2015. Web. 26 Mar. 2017.
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