QR Code Qriosity: Ideas to demonstrate their potential

QR Codes. In Japan, they’re just about everywhere and they have transformed the way brands interact with consumers. They feature on TV advertising, business cards, products, websites, newspapers, magazines, posters, direct mail, outdoor ads, and even graves! In a Japanese survey, conducted way back in 2005, 73.3% of respondents advised that they had used QR Codes. Yet, despite their popularity and prevalence in Japanese marketing for the past 8 years, seem to have only recently hit our shores (when it comes to marketing that is).

I have been watching the development and applications of QR Codes for some time now and am surprised (and even a little saddened) that they have failed to really take off in Australia.  When Telstra downloaded the reader onto more than half a million of their customers’ mobile phones in June last year and launched their Are You QRious? Campaign , I thought the time of the QR Code had finally come. However, more than a year has passed and it seems that no one has moved beyond simple qriousity with the codes. While I have seen a few QR codes cropping up in some bus shelter ads and print ads, they are yet to really take-off in Australia. Are marketers too scared to fully back this? Or is the vast majority of Australians just not ready for QR Codes? Are they too fiddley? Is it too much ‘work’ to download the reader? Are there enough QR code enabled handsets to warrant their proliferation on advertising and marketing communications?

While there are some clear barriers to consumer adoption and technical barriers that reduce the effectiveness of QR Codes, I think they have so much potential to not only add another dimension to marketing, but also improve our daily lives. I think we may have become too caught up in the technological adoption of QR Codes by consumers. We have underestimated consumers. We have failed to realise that shifts in technology are not what concern people; people are concerned with how technology can support them in their daily lives and with the things they value. And simply looking at the impact QR Codes have made on the lives of the Japanese, I still think that we will get there and that we may just be laggards in the QR Code adoption cycle.

I think for QR Codes to truly breakthrough in the Australian market, we as marketers need to take more risks and have some bigger idea behind them… rather than slapping a code on a billboard simply for the sake of it.  What kinds of big ideas? Each week I will be looking at a different QR Code campaign that that truly demonstrates how powerful these funny looking barcodes can be. And to start things off…

Spektacle: The World’s First QR Code Magazine

Combining the power of QR codes, mobile internet and camera phones, UK magazine Spektacle is the world’s first magazine to provide readers with fresh content everyday for two months following their purchase of Spektacle. Their use of QR Codes is focused on creating a unique, positive customer experience, and as stated on their site: “Wouldn’t it be grand… if magazine pages could come to life.. If publishing could only surprise us, so we could fall in love with print all over again.”

QR codes found in the magazine are updated daily and readers simply need to scan the codes using their mobile phone to access new content on fashion, design, and music topics. While traditional magazines go out of date after one read, Spektacle readers have two months worth of articles to look forward to, giving them extra value and a unique experience every day for two months. Spektacle bridges the gap between the world of offline and online content to help bring the magazine to life and the surprise back into publishing. Aside from the innovation and superior customer experience delivered by Spektacle, something also must be said for the environmental  benefits of this concept.

On a side note, there has been lot of talk about what News Ltd and Fairfax are going to do in the future to combat the inevitable decline (and thereby sales) of the traditional in-the-hand newspaper. It’s a long shot but maybe QR Codes are the answer.

You can create your own QR code from any link, text, phone number, or SMS using the Kaywa QR-Code generator. You can also download the QR Code reader here.

To read Part 2 of this series click here.

About The Defectors

Jenine Wong is a Director of The Defectors. The Defectors are a boutique marketing agency specialising in social media marketing, intelligent web design & development, SEO, email marketing and online marketing.

Image by CoCreatr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cocreatr/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

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