Diwali SMS (Simple Mind Semiotics)

Morning newspaper says, "Average noise level in Bangalore yesterday was 122 Db." Authentic news and I can assure you that because no amount of ear plug, muffler, sound masking or closed window could help me reduce the noise. Isn't Diwali supposed to be a celebration of light not sound? Anyway, "We Are Like This Only."

Around 4 pm, my mobile started beeping continiously, some 70 SMSes in one go. Felt enlightened on the festival of light. SMS is a great subject for semiotic studies.

So here are few observations and my take on the human psyche:

Type 1. "Wsh u vry hppy Diwali n prsprs Nu Yr" or "Thnks wsh u da same" - Good understanding of the medium. Heavy user of the medium. Technophobics. Non Experimental. Boring. Single. Nanominded (believes in short and simple) Less emotive. Individualistic. Schizo. Busy. Talks straight and less. Politically (grammatically) correct. Non-multimedia phone owners. One to one communicator (P2P).

Type 2. "Wish you and your family a very Happy Diwali and Prosperous New Year" or "Our best wishes to you and your family for a most blessed and prosperous diwali...x, y, z1, z2" - Straight. Simple. Happy-go-lucky. Understands the medium but value conscious. Uses the medium on only purpose. Mostly group message senders. Techno-ambivalent. Feature driven. Narrow-minded. Family oriented. Very emotive. Lazy. Fun loving. Talks more. Non Multimedia phone owners. One to many communicator.

Type 3. "You received a Flash File SMS/ Picture Message/ Emoticons (.flv .swh .jpeg)" - Creative. Expressionists. Confused. Energetic. Image conscious. Heavy user of the medium. Technophile. Experimental. Gizmo freak. High Sociability Quotient. Late adaptor. Possessive. Multimedia phone owners. Many to many communicator.

Type 4. "Bursting cracker in front of the house. Have a blasting Diwali. MMS (.mpg.4)" - Heavy user of medium and features. Creative. Technophile. Experimental. Gizmo freak. Trend setters. Early adaptor. Family oriented. Thrill seeker. Gamer. participator of group activities. P2A, A2P communicator, oops many to many communicator.

Well, this is how I did a quick classification/ segmentation of the 70 SMSes. As a planner, I think this small observations and mental notes help is developing hypothesis that can be later used to validate brand problems. VAS (value added service) is the highest revenue generator ($ 1.2 bn) for service providers yet not many brands are utilizing this medium effectively. So, how can a brand talk to these four types of SMS users. Which brands will talk to whom? Only HSBC, RR City Taxi and Airtel were kind enough to send me a Diwali wish. Where are other brands present in this medium? No one will sue you or get offended when you send a good wish unlike your irritating messages like buy now, discount on immediate purchase, send SMS to 4455 etc. Now, isn't this an interesting hypothesis?

Do discuss.

Mama knows best

Observing my mother’s TV watching habit closely for over a month threw some good pointers. She is quiet a professional when it comes to handling the TV remote. Close observation will reveal she uses the sleep, mute and the swap button frequently. She doesn’t surf but remembers which number to press for what channel. At any point, she remembers seven to eight channels. NDTV on 24, DD Bangla on 64, 43 is Sony, 49 is Zee Cinema, 23 is Star Plus and 28 for Set Max, 39 for Travel and Living and something like that. Of course she was disappointed with India’s loss at the World Cup but that hasn’t restricted her from keeping a tab on what’s going on. The reason is simple, she’s doesn’t want to be left out in any cricket related discussion with my father or with some guests at home.
Seven pm news on DD Bangla is a must that’s because she is at Bangalore and wants to know what’s happening back at home. Maybe because of the Singur, Nandigram issue but that’s a must every evening with a cup of tea. Between 8.30pm to 10 pm it’s Zee, Sony, T&L or Star Plus. That means it either a K serial or a Bollywood flick depending on the content. Barkha Dutt’s show on NDTV ‘we the people’ is something she never misses. In the afternoon she prefers watching DD National, Bangla or Zee/Sony depending on the movie. Apparently, she sometime finds Malayalam channel like Asianet interesting because of the quality of movies they air. She doesn’t understand the language but makes a serious effort to understand the basic emotions from the moving visuals. If she sees something interesting, dinner time is when she clears her doubt or tells me the essence of the story.

So out of 75 channels that our cablewala provides us, she devours only 7. Okay 8.

Observation 1: Her viewership depends on the time of the day, likings and nature of relaxation. Afternoon is nap time. Sleep and swap button comes handy. Therefore she makes the most out of movies. If content is not good she’ll swap orelse sleep. Post her nap in the evening, its refreshing with tea, therefore news that too news about home. Later in the evening its light watching, so a K serial, movie or travel around the globe. At her age – She wants to relax, keep herself updated and travel. Her TV habits are skewed towards that.

Observation 2: She likes advertising (maybe because her son is into advertising) and tries to understand the meaning. She keeps asking me ‘what did they mean by that ad?’ That means most advertising in their bid to be creative don’t communicate in a language simple enough for people to understand.

She probably may not be the TG of most advertising but remember she makes most purchase decisions at home, at least when it comes to her domain - the kitchen.

Observation 3: Content drives her. Give her shit and she’ll swap. Content is her source of knowledge, topic of discussion. As long as she gets that she’s happy. ‘We the people’, ‘Foodie’, ‘Floyd's Cooking Show’ etc. proves that point.

Did you observe any interesting media habits recently? Share it, am waiting.