A tale of three screens by Alex Marks

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Alex Marks suggests advertisers stop thinking of computers in terms of screen size but consider them as one happy family:

Once upon a time there were three screens. Big Screen (TV), Medium Screen (laptop/PC), and of course Baby Screen (mobile).

They were as much a part of modern civilisation as electricity. Big Screen was very old and rather stuck in its ways, although people were fond of its familiarity and it had a place in most homes and hearts. Medium Screen was still quite young but had to grow up fast. Although most people liked Medium Screen it didn’t quite have the sparkle it once had. Indeed, some people were choosing to ignore it in favour of Baby Screen. Baby Screen was very young but it loved the attention it was getting as people cooed at its shiny and ever-changing clothes and rubbed its plastic tummy.

Now, because these screens were so popular, advertisers loved putting their messages all over them – mainly on Big and Medium, but more recently on Baby, too. Some advertisers even recognised that these screens had different personalities, so they adjusted their advertising accordingly. Very clever advertisers.

The three screens were happy with this arrangement for a while and enjoyed being different. But then people started saying, “I wish Big Screen was more like Medium Screen. And I wish Baby Screen was more like Big Screen”.

The screens grumbled for a while but concluded that while they couldn’t really change their shape, they might let people have more control in how they used them.

And so it came to pass that people were able to have a Big Screen experience on both Medium and Baby screens. And conversely they could have a Medium and Baby screen experience on Big Screen.

Some researchers came along, from a company called IPSOS Media CT, and they found that one in six people really liked this arrangement. And that was only a few weeks after it had been made. Imagine the implications for the future!

Advertisers did imagine the implications. Or rather, they tried to but got confused. So they consulted the wise man called Frank. He said he couldn’t predict the future but he did suggest that they stop thinking about screens individually, that they really were starting to become one big happy family again. He suggested they start thinking about the occasion in which their messages were consumed, and finally, imagine the possibilities. Especially when you could go shopping from the comfort of your living room, or watch your favourite programme on the train.

He also added this move would give Big Screen a new lease of life and that Medium and Baby might as well get married.

The End

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Posted: January 17th, 2012 | Author: Leah.Latimer | Filed under: Digital | Tags: , , , , | Leave a Comment »

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