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Is JellyFish poised to flop?

Posted in Media March 7th, 2007 by Nikki Preston

Nat Mags has made a pretty a brave move in announcing the launch of its girls’ e-zine later this month. Firstly the timing couldn’t be worse with key media agencies only just having spoken out about their reluctance to advertise in the UK’s first consumer e-zine Monkey. Even Mediacom who took the bold step and placed a series of ads for Lynx has said it was wary about doing it again as Monkey’s attempt to differentiate itself from its print competitors resulted in Dennis publishing borderline porn. And while Nat Mags is targeting teenage girls with JellyFish, which went under the working name of Project Celia, media agencies and other potential advertisers are likely to approach the issue with similar or even more caution this time around, despite the huge difference in the e-zines’ target markets.

Monkey and JellyFish use the same technology, but while Monkey was going after the traditional lads’ market and competing against print rivals Nuts and Zoo, Jelly Fish is targeting a ridiculously broad market. You don’t have to have teenage daughters to know that an 11-year-old, who possibly still owns a My Little Pony, and a 19-year-old, who has reached (and passed) second base with a boy and probably likes spending Friday nights out on the lash with her friends, share very little in common and therefore are unlikely to find a magazine that interests them both.

Potential advertisers are also probably having the same trouble seeing the connection. Only time will tell who JellyFish’s content is actually aimed at and which advertisers Nat Mags has managed to lure in by offering what I can only imagine to be as incredibly discounted rates. So I ask you this – will the advertisers be offering play toys or sex toys?