Cross Media Convergence and Synergy

Q Cross-media convergence and synergy are vital processes in

the successful marketing of media products to audiences. Discuss
how the magazine industry uses cross media convergence and
synergy to appeal to a variety of audiences.
Media products require successful marketing
such as cross-media convergence and synergy in
order to appeal to various audiences. Media
convergence is the merging of mass
communication outlets print, television, radio
and the Internet along with portable and
interactive technologies through various digital
media platforms. Synergy is the combined working together of two or
more parts of a system so that the combined effect is greater than the
sum of the efforts of the parts.
The magazine industry has recently started to include cross media
convergence and synergy in order to appeal to a younger more
technology dependent generation. They specifically use social media
platforms in order to appeal to a larger audience and examples of these
are Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.
A particular example of a magazine company that uses cross media
convergence and synergy is that of
Hearst Magazines. Hearst owns a
variety of magazine titles such as: GQ,
ELLE, Vogue, Cosmopolitan and
Esquire. Cosmopolitan displayed cross
media convergence with its launch for inclusive beauty campaign with the
collaboration of 4 prestigious beauty brands: Origins, Clinique, Smashbox
and DKNY, to form #IAMBEAUTY. The campaign #IamBeauty was launched
in January with the aim of creating the UKs first ever Beauty Portrait by
unveiling how the nations skin actually appears. Cosmopolitan will
commission a series of influential photographers to capture the diversity
of beauty by taking candid images of women in five different cities across
the UK, which will then be shared across various social media platforms
such as: Instagram, Twitter and Facebook etc. Women were encouraged to
share their own beauty portraits on social networks. Cosmo supported the
campaign through editorial promotion on multiple platforms in order to
raise awareness of the campaign and to also inspire participation.
It is fair to say that this campaign used a variety of media platforms to
carry out their cross media convergence. It was to this successful

marketing that the campaign was able to reach large audience, mainly
due to the use of social media, editorial promotion, beauty exhibitions,
beauty articles, ethnic fashion and the filming of portraits being shared on
brand marketing channels. Cosmo certainly increased their awareness for
the campaign, thus increasing their audience and also establishing their
morals and values.
In addition, another
example of ELLE using
synergy is the
launch of the innovative
and responsive
mobile product called
the ELLE Fashion
Cupboard. This is a
mobile pop up
(#ellefashioncupboard) which
contains a live feed from the fashion
cupboard centred in its unique hot
desk environment. In response to
this launch, ELLEUKs mobile
audience now makes up 30% of its
total monthly users, with page views up
82% year on year. The mobile app
has been specifically built around
the way its readers use their
phones, designed to be interacted as seen by the concept that users pop
bubbles to access more content. The content is also immediate as it
changes every 45 minutes as the app showcases rails and installations by
fashion and beauty houses whilst also incorporating the latest technology,
including a 360-degree panoramic camera. This clearly shows that ELLE is
adapting to the more technology dependent generation, by providing
different content on a range of multimedia channels. Thus, this allows
ELLE to appeal to a variety of audiences using their 360 reach in order to
choose the appropriate content with the suitable platform in order for the
particular female readers needs to be fulfilled.
In conclusion, it is evidential that cross media convergence and synergy
are vital processes in the successful marketing of media products such as
magazines in order to reach and appeal to a variety of audiences. The
magazine industry has adapted in various ways in order to appeal to a
more technology dependent generation, with conglomerates such as
Hearst and Cond Nast using various digital platforms in order to appeal
to a large contemporary audience. They use social media platforms and
audio visual in order to carry out synergy and cross media convergence,
enabling them to offer their audience various gratifications. Therefore
magazines would not be so well established and successful without
various marketing on multimedia platforms.

Emma Cording