Is pluk just a fad, or is it important for advertisers?

You might not have heard of pluk. It’s a mobile application that allows users to “pluk” offers that they see on TV. You simply activate the app, which listens to the TV ad and lets you, as the pluk site states: “make instant purchases, grab offers, download vouchers, access special content and lots more immediately!”

The idea is that this will contribute to the ‘second screen’ of advertising, allowing people to interact with ads from brands that interest them. Advertisers can worry less about moving possible customers from watching the ad to purchasing offers or interacting.

However, this is all predicated on the notion that people will automatically have pluk on when they are watching TV or will go to the effort to use it often. This is the core issue we have with pluk. Let’s say you’re watching an ad. The little pluk logo appears in the corner. Are you immediately going to get out your phone and activate the app? Unless you’re a prolific shopper this just doesn’t seem like the kind of app you would actively have on. As a result, the initial buzz of using pluk could run the risk of petering out. What is the incentive for shoppers, especially when the majority of users will have access to a laptop and/or tablet and are probably using these at the same time as their phone and watching TV?

Nevertheless, pluk has been met with quick uptake from users with over 10,000 people having downloaded the app within a few days since its launch in January last year. The Block NZ sponsors were one of the first to utilise pluk, with Kiwibank allowing users to download their nifty RenoMate budgeting tracker, while Mazda encouraged viewers to test drive their BT-50 ute, which has been seen throughout the show.

So is pluk the future of the second screen phenomenon? Maybe, but with television itself is on its way to becoming inherently digital with internet access, we imagine pluk being replaced by your trusty TV remote. With just a push of a dollar sign button on your remote, you could instantly purchase these items.

Of course, we could be wrong.

Maybe pluk does have some additional value, case in point, enhanced user experiences such as recipe downloads while watching NZ Beef + Lamb commercials, or donating to Surf Lifesaving charities.