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.

A New Wave in Mobile Marketing – part 7

QR Codes and Outdoor Ads

As I promised before, I’ll be talking about QR codes use in Outdoor advertising today. QR codes are widely used for outdoor advertising in Japan. QR codes can be visually attractive especially when it’s colored. For example, some publisher of comic books and magazines in Japan launched a unique outdoor campaign to promote its website for mobile phone(shown picture above). They placed many large-sized posters made of a QR code mosaic in Subway.  The intention was to catch the attention of young people who are the primary users of mobile phones and comics. Every QR code in the posters had the same URL directing the users to company’s mobile website where users can find comics and watch them.

Another example would be an outdoor advertising of Uniden, an electronic appliances maker in Japan. People wearing some kind of asbestos suits with Uniden TVs strapped to their chests were walking around subway entrances in busy districts trying to catch people’s eyes. QR Code was on their back of the suit and it directs people to Uniden’s website. Since Uniden was an on-line seller without any physical stores in Japan, it was essential to attract people to its mobile website.

As I said, the strength of this outdoor advertising using QR codes are its visual attractiveness and eye-catching ability. Moreover, the fact that users can be directed to any website just by scanning the codes with their cell phone minimizes users effort to write down URL or name of company. Consequently, for advertisers and marketers, it’s very effective way to attract costumers with low cost.

QR code at bus shelter in San Francisco

A New Wave in Mobile Marketing – part 6

As I said last week, I’ll be talk more about QR code today.

One of the huge advantage of QR code for both consumers and marketers is the cost. While image codes often require services from mobile marketing firms that will involve setup and/or maintenance fees, QR codes cost nearly nothing for mobile marketers in Japan. This can be done because QR codes can be generated using publicly available free software applications. This low cost was the key advantage in mobile communication and has been a key driver for the wide adoption in Japan. Another advantage would lie on its aesthetic side. QR codes can be visually attractive, especially when they are used to create large image ads like outdoor advertising.

Before I talk about the outdoor ads using QR code(I have alot to talk about!!), I’ll briefly talk about QR code use in print ads. In Japan, it’s not hard to find QR codes in magazine, newspaper and/or catalogs. For marketers, by having QR codes on print ads, it can induce readers to the websites where they can find more information about products and/or services. Here are some examples.

A New Wave in Mobile Marketing – part 5

QR Code.

Finally, I get to talk about my favorite, QR Code. QR codes were invented by Japanese company Denso Wave in 1994 for tracking parts in vehicle manufacturing. OR codes are a two-dimensional image that can be created by a software application using textual information. It could be URL, text, phone number, SMS, and so on. It’d be easier to understand by thinking of it as a sophisticated version of barcode. A camera phone with a QR code reader can scan and convert a QR code into textual information on the phone’s screen. Since the codes were first used in mobile communnication in September 2002, it gained it popularity quickly in Japan. Although its usage in the states are still limited, as many other countries like UK starting to adapt this japanese technology(Pepsi UK recently adapted QR Code, see the picture), I can reasonly expect that someday we’ll get to see QR codes in states.

As it become so popular, the demand increased for different types of QR codes to store more information and attract consumers’ attention. As a result, 6 new types of QR code were developed to save space, increase information storage, and attract users’ attention.

Like I mentioned earlier, QR codes are my favorite , therefore, I intend to talk more about the usage of this QR code , mainly in Japan. Alongside some camparison  with the other two methods that I talked about ealier, I’ll explore the use of QR code in different form of Advertising. 

A New Wave in Mobile Marketing – part 4

Image Code

Continuing from last week, today I’ll be talking about Image Code, also known as image recognition-based codes. What it is basically, is that you can scan image codes with your camera phone and send the scaned image via MMS(Multi-media messaging service) or an email to receive further information from the mobile marketer. For example, you can send an image of a print advertisement and the mobile marketer to send you a coupon for the advertised product or a link to a Web site where the user can find more information.

There are a few leading companies in the states. Mobot Inc. is one of them. Mobot Inc. first used its image code in a campaign for Jane magazine in 2004. Almost 60 popular brands were featured with a Mobot image code, and readers could scan the code and send it via text messaging to get a free sample and/or dicount for the brand. Snaptell Inc. is another leading firm in the image code business. Their code were used in campaigns for Rolling Stone, Men’s Health and Random House. They also provides a service called Mobile Entertainment Explorer, which you can take a picture of a poster or a cover of a CD/DVD and send it for prices, reviews and links that you can purchase the product. Because image codes can be any picture or graphic, they are often generated from the covers of DVDs, CDs, albums and print ads.