QR Codes and Retesting Assumptions.
The last 2 years has seen a surge in the popularity of "smart phones" in the US market. This has us all looking for the next "big thing" to do with these amazing devices. But there's also a realization that some technologies that seemingly failed previously may have been waiting for this revolution all along.
Take QR codes, four years ago I was sure QR codes where a dead end. Nobody had a decent QR code reader, and getting one loaded onto handsets was almost impossible. I can recall watching twenty people, who worked in mobile, trying to load a popular reader onto a phone. One succeeded, and we wanted people walking into a store or down the street to attempt the same thing! Fast forward to 2010 and you'll see a resurgence in QR codes.
They're once again appearing, in street sign advertising, on store windows, as separate labels on products, on websites, and even on t-shirts. The smart phone revolution has meant that not only do we now have the apps to make use of the codes, be we also gain the all important data network in order to really make the information contained with the codes truly useful. And generally speaking, "being useful", is a great motivator to get people to use something. The codes are also easy to incorporate into current creative assets, as well as becoming well enough understood that instructions on tier use can be minimal. There's also something interactive and neat about scanning the code that's a lot more enjoyable than typing a Url. It's worth keeping in mind that sometime new technology makes "old" technology useful again. Retest your assumptions in light of what's available to you now, it's interesting to see what you might find.
Some great QR code uses:
- Google provides businesses with stickers for their window, which send the customer to a mobile friendly version of their Google Place Page.
- The Cellar Key is adding labels to wine bottles which redirect to a mobile site containing tasting and pairing notes etc.
- Scvnger is "a game about doing challenges at places", they make extensive use of QR codes inside buildings where GPS doesn't work so well.
- Google provides developers deploying apps on their market a QR code. People can then scan the code from a PC monitor, and be directed to the app on their phone. For an example see the mobile shopper app.
- Calvin Klein chose to make QR codes the central part of a recent campaign.
