The potential for TV + mobile is something to celebrate not an excuse to carp

In response to Simon Andrew’s latest Mobile Fix article, Tess Alps, CEO of Thinkbox, says “if TV ads don’t work how come you’re expecting people to pick up their mobiles to interact with them?”

“It’s such a shame that Simon has used the rather wonderful Honda TV + mobile app innovation to have a dig at attention to TV ads.

Anyone who has read all the science behind low attention processing will know that attention is not necessary for effective communication; we call it the Derren Brown effect.

In fact, attention can sometimes impede effectiveness because it engages the cognitive brain where ideas are rationally assessed and sometimes rejected.  Attention is vital for things that involve text (print and online) because we are decoding strange symbols whereas AV works without this.

I would tentatively suggest that we pay attention to very few ads, whatever the medium, and we never have done, but it doesn’t stop them working.

The potential for TV + mobile is huge and exciting, from brand engagement to e-commerce; this is something to celebrate not an excuse to carp.

My question to Simon would be, if TV ads don’t work how come you’re expecting people to pick up their mobiles to interact with them?

TV engagement (not attention) is the single biggest individual catalyst for mobile activity during two screening whether social and search.  Feel the love.”