Hakuhodo DY Media Partners Institute of Media Environment Announces the Rapid Rise of the “Smart Masses” and Eight New Typical Life Scenes Involving Smartphone Users

The rapid rise in the popularity of smart devices had led to the emergence of a new class of people, which the Hakuhodo DY Media Partners Incorporated Institute of Media Environment has dubbed the “smart masses”. Information on eight new typical life scenarios (“eight new smart scenes”) that characterize the smart masses has recently been announced by the institute, which is headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo, and headed by Hiroshi Yoshida.

 

As recently as last year, smartphones were the province of tech-savvy 20- to 39-year-olds and students preparing to search for jobs. This year, however, we have seen a rapid rise in smartphone use among other sections of the population, particularly older children and teenagers age 10 to 19.

 

Accompanying this explosion in smartphone use have been changes in the way smartphone owners actually use services. The Institute of Media Environment recently conducted a Smart Masses Study* and found several differences between the first and second generation of smartphone users. The newest group of smartphone owners buy fewer paid apps, use business-related applications less frequently, and are more likely to use applications designed for amusement or communication. This is a different model than the way cutting-edge smartphone use was once conceived, and suggests that relatively casual communication and services have begun to be the norm when it comes to the way smartphones are being integrated into everyday life. It also seems that an increasing number of smartphone users do not take full advantage of the increasingly powerful features and performance that their smartphones offer (see reference document #1).

 

As we enter an era where more than half of sei-katsu-sha own smartphones, the Institute of Media Environment expects a shift from “cutting-edge usage” scenarios to “everyday usage” scenarios. Smartphones are now becoming prevalent among housewives and older adults as well as among teenagers, and finding ways to create familiar, amusing content that can be conveniently integrated with daily life will be the key to developing future smartphone services. In anticipation of these upcoming trends, the institute has dubbed the new crop of smartphone users the “smart masses” and has come up with the following eight typical life scenarios (“eight new smart scenes”) in which these masses are likely use their smart devices to link to media content in the near future.

 

Eight new smart scenes (see reference document #2)

1.FUN: Sei-katsu-sha gravitate towards entertaining content

2.VISUAL: Simple visual communication

3.ACCESSIBLE: Buy or sell from anywhere

4.DIRECT: Direct business transactions between involved customers

5.FIXED: Flat-rate media services

6.INTEGRATED: Engage content whenever, wherever

7.PUBLIC: Medical and educational sectors join the smartphone world

8.HIDDEN: The service itself is no longer visible

 

 

The Institute of Media Environment will continue to research future media environments in the hopes of uncovering clues to effective next-generation advertising, enhancing its communication planning ability and finding ways to media more effectively.

Institute of Media Environment website: http://www.media-kankyo.jp/ (Japanese only)