I have been watching some of the ads on TV that urges silly you to keep it simple. It is necessary to keep things simple. That will help us surely succeed. Google, Apple are renowned examples that we all know. Simple things stay with humans longer as they enable us to understand and serve the purpose without any effort. But its not that easy as it is said.
When Indiatimes 8888 was started as a project it had everyone possessed in all aspects due to the endless possibilities and the hockey stick growth it promised. The services were ready, the distribution on dot, the launch was super- what with a front page 200 col cm editorial in the Times of India.
The first of the lessons of simplicity came from the management when the short code was chosen. In all our enthusiasm and euphoria surrounding the project, we took a short code 864- meaning TOI on phone as would anyone then. It was unceremoniously shot down and asked to go back for something simple. Thus cam 8888. Can anyone contest that?
But still something else really worried. The keywords were aaaa, aaa, ccc etc for each service, the menu was multi layered menu, m and life surely was complicated. No amount of education and publicity would have gotten us the desired adoption.
Then came the second wave of " keep it simple". Natural language progression, most english words are spelt the way they are pronounced (atleast the first three characters, except maybe words like psychology and others). So all things changed. Every single service was accessed with the first three characters. Most did not struggle to get their cri, jok, leo, sto, mov, res, and even dat..
Numbers grew, following grew and so did many more services.
The easy recall and the eventual success is surely attributed to the simplicity of it.
Isn't it true that the simplest things are always the greatest.
When Indiatimes 8888 was started as a project it had everyone possessed in all aspects due to the endless possibilities and the hockey stick growth it promised. The services were ready, the distribution on dot, the launch was super- what with a front page 200 col cm editorial in the Times of India.
The first of the lessons of simplicity came from the management when the short code was chosen. In all our enthusiasm and euphoria surrounding the project, we took a short code 864- meaning TOI on phone as would anyone then. It was unceremoniously shot down and asked to go back for something simple. Thus cam 8888. Can anyone contest that?
But still something else really worried. The keywords were aaaa, aaa, ccc etc for each service, the menu was multi layered menu, m and life surely was complicated. No amount of education and publicity would have gotten us the desired adoption.
Then came the second wave of " keep it simple". Natural language progression, most english words are spelt the way they are pronounced (atleast the first three characters, except maybe words like psychology and others). So all things changed. Every single service was accessed with the first three characters. Most did not struggle to get their cri, jok, leo, sto, mov, res, and even dat..
Numbers grew, following grew and so did many more services.
The easy recall and the eventual success is surely attributed to the simplicity of it.
Isn't it true that the simplest things are always the greatest.
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