A New Wave in Mobile Marketing – part 8

QR Codes and Packaging

The use of QR Codes in Japan is not limited to the use in plain outdoor advertising. All the advantages of QR codes are also effective in packaging. Let’s look at McDonald’s in Japan.  On the box(cover) of the burger has something different that we don’t see in the states: QR Code. What it does is simple. When you scan it, it will take you to a mobile web site where you can see the nutrition information of what you’re eating. The purpose of using QR codes remains  to be same that to provide the consumer with a quick means of obtaining further information. Because of its easy usability and applicability, now QR codes became a standard feature on the packages of many consumer products.

QR Codes and Services

The use of QR codes goes even beyond. When Bike Off, a bicycle and motorcycle company in Japan, launched an “Ecochari” campaign which they collect the bicycles left on streets and provide college students a free bicycle rental service in 2008, Bike Off placed QR codes on bicycles in order to attract sponsoring companies to fund them. Each QR code directs students to the mobile web site of the sponsoring companies so that students can learn about the sponsoring companies. Many small companies with little publicity and awareness participated this campaign because they wanted to recruit college students. This sponsoring opportunity attracted many small businesses who wanted to be seen caring for the environment and college students, thus facilitating their campus recruiting efforts.