Top of the Pops Brand Identity Analysis

The house colours of Top of the Pops in this edition are bright pink, deep purple and white. The pink and purple have connotation of being feminine and fairly quirky. The colours clash, which is quite dramatic, but this is broken down by the white space which has connotations of young and pureness, which reflects on the audience of young girls. Top of the Pops usually contains pink as a house colour, as shown in the images of previous covers, and this theme continues throughout the magazine.

The masthead is in sans serif. This makes it more casual and appeal to the younger audience. The masthead also includes a logo which is part of the brand identity, making it noticeable in newsagents. It also contributes to the ‘young feel’ of the magazine.

The tagline ‘More gossip! More scandal! More you!’ is a ‘puff’ and uses repetition of the word ‘More’ which gives the impression the magazine has a lot to offer. This tagline appears in every edition of the magazine and is a part of the brand identity

In this issue the main art on the cover is an image of a popular artist, Justin Bieber, this would largely attract the target audience of young girls aged 7- 14. A main image of a recent ‘heartthrob’ or a popular female artist girls can look up to is usually placed on the cover. This is usually is in direct address and is part of the brand identity. Images of popular artists and also actors’ young girls will be interested in e.g. stars from ‘High School Musical’; ‘Camp Rock’ etc, are used in Top of the Pops. The typography used on the cover of the Top of the Pops is usually a mixture of sans serif and serif; this gives a twist and adds an individual and young aspect to the magazine.

The magazine represents the interests of young girls – role model artists, young male ‘heartthrob’ artists and actors and beauty tips.

Top of the Pops always offers free gifts; stickers, nail varnish etc, this is part of the brand identity and it attracts the target audience as young girls will be more intrigued to buy a magazine with a free product as it is not at their interest is not just to buy a magazine purely with the want of gaining information.

You can make the judgement that the information in Top of the Pops can be trusted but, the magazine doesn’t take itself too seriously, using terms such as ‘omg!’, this is because the target audience are not looking for a serious magazine, as to them it would be boring. Others can make the judgement that this magazine is young and cheesy, from the immature newsflashes and bright colours.

The magazine tells us the institution that made it was the ‘BBC’, this is displayed in the corner of the cover and is on every issue.