I have been aware of them for a while, but only really today (Note to self, pop in on Gurties thread about "What have you learned this week") have I realised their power.
If you are not sure, they are 2 dimensional barcodes, that can be created on the fly, read by smartphones, and cost nothing to create. The can hold huge amounts of data, and as they work cross platforms, the big companies seem to be using them more and more (Been big in Japan for years, but fairly new to the UK)
It seems that they can be made in php, so websites can be used to sell on phones, they can be tied to apps, contact details can be shared from websites to phones, and anything to phone really.
As a pure internet player, I am struggling to see all the benefits, but for anyone cross chanel, it has got to be hugh.
A present, I am thinking about:
1) Something on the contact page.
2) by product page, so people can select then order on the phone, or share pages on the phone
3) special offers on affiliate sites (can even track them)
3) Going into print ... oh no!
http://searchenginewatch.com/3642255
Quotebillboards
That's what I was thinking, for the curious young mind to investigate
I'm amazed it hasn't had more uptake. I keep wanting to try it with one client who has retail stores - to link to more info, technical data, other products you may like etc... seems like almost no one, even techies with smartphones, has really heard of it though.
Thx ukgimp, nice article.
Just thinking of those cheap billboards on the sides of motorways, but then we don't want to cause a crash do we :)
Just the QR would get some interest, like the origonal orange adv. I still remember that.
Would get QRs a higher profle if nothing else. Surprised they arnt used on TV..... got to be quick to catch it... (But then repeat often enough that any idiot could)
ah, you could have a treasure hunt... remember, year saw it mentioned here first!!
Damn, and I thought that was my idea!
I tried to persuade an estate agent to put them on forsale boards. Each board would have a unique one + a unique human readable number. Their CMS would tie the number to a particular property. Beautiful - scan the code and see the full details whilst you are stood outside. Even offered a smartphone app for the guy who sticks the boards up so that it could be instant.
Simple. Useful. Could really drive enquiries. They didn't get it. I even drew pictures FFS.
Also suggested them to a visitor attraction as part of a system to have guided tours on your smart phone. similar reaction. No bugger gets them. Weird though - everyone recognises them, but never seem to have wondered what they are.
there are so many potentially good ideas you could use 'em for.
Personally I want to paint one on a roof and see if anyone finds in on Google maps. Reckon if you were prepared to give a special offer which was worth having to anyone who got to the destination page that would, after a perhaps substantial wait, get a lot of coverage when someone finds it.
Although of course even that may have been done, my bit of Google maps is at least four years out of date.
I am working on a mate who owns a student pub....
A treasure hunt round pubs,
Free Nobbies nuts with a pint if you can show you scanned it.
Pick up facebook followers (I assume you can do that fairly simply)
Deal of the week in the student union... pay in advance with Paypal...
I love this brain storming, but none of it helps my business ??? keep thinking Rupert :)
Jason,
thx... I knew I could relay on you :)
I have considered this in an app, but not thought to bring in the QR code. Unfortunately/fortunaltely there are so many brands out there, that it is never a direct comparison.
Either way, I need to go round the shop with my barcode scanner, seeing what info I can pick up from the different stores. Thank you. If I can pull this into my app...
I HATE Shopping! Need to find a young girl who doesn't........
ok - why not send people out to an event where there are a lot of people who are likely your target audience. Have them wearing your jackets etc, and have a big tag with a QR code on it attached to each one. On scan drop them into the product page together with a nice voucher for 10% off.
Obviously if you can get Princess Beatrice in one at Ascot then you get bonus points. Fergie not so much.
clothing with QR codes - hmm.. many posibilities there I think
QR Tattoos ? How brave do you feel? :)
wow!
Can also be created with Google Charts: http://code.google.com/apis/chart/image/docs/gallery/qr_codes.html
Target: Customers on the Go
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704132204576285631212564952.html
When customers scan the little squares with their smartphone cameras, a coffee menu pops up on their screens. Then they can order a cup of coffee on the train—and have it waiting when they arrive at one of Ethical Bean's shops.
Yes not many people seem to get it but it is getting there, there are so many posibilites for cross platform promotion it is unreal. I don't want to give to much away on an open forum but we are introducing it with a number of clients where items in the real world are being accompanied with a QR code that links to multimedia content. All of our new business cards, marketing documentation and correspondance documents will also have a code once I have launched our new website.
To me the problems seems to be that geeks and marketers are in to them, but the public isn't. Needs some big players to put more freebies on the end of a QR code to get people engaged with them.
As you mentioned earlier this has been popular in Japan for many years. They're on everything. Every phone in Japan can read them. The only phone I've owned recently that didn't natively support QR codes out of the box was the iPhone 3G. Many saw this as a sign that Apple phones would fail in Japan. It didn't take long for an app to come out to handle that functionality. You really do need to have a QR code reader to get along in many areas of Japanese society, thus I had assumed all phones sold here could handle them.
QR codes may have taken a while to become common in Japan, but once people realized what they were then marketers put them on everything. Every fast-food restaurant has QR codes on their packaging that gives links to pages about their products or promotions. Posters in public transportation, stations, kiosks, and other public places often use them instead of a URL. I know of a particularly difficult to navigate underground mall where they use QR codes to link to maps to help visitors navigate. Nobody wants to type in a URL on their phone, so QR codes have long been the defacto standard here. What took you guys so long to catch up? ;-)
we're not caught up yet :)
I noticed today the Metro (major commuter paper on trains and buses in South England - not sure about up North) is using qr codes for their in-paper promos rather than url's now.
>tattoos
http://www.psfk.com/2011/07/qr-code-tattoo-makes-your-heart-sing.html
I saw that here:
http://www.computerweekly.com/blogs/it-downtime-blog/2011/07/meet-qr-man.html
a slightly humorous take .
(https://th3core.com/chat/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fdatamatrix.kaywa.com%2Fimg.php%3Fs%3D8%26amp%3Bd%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fhttp%253A%252F%252Fth3core.com%252Ftalk%252Fmarketing%252Fqr-codes-and-the-web%252F&hash=45e32216607d1c32741a1a18224819126f960068)
I'm trying to get it, but I keep on thinking there is a lot more I'm missing. Everyone is using this thing in place of something I could have understood... and in most cases, a URL. So why not just put the URL? Why take out your phone and go through the hassle?
It makes me think it's marketing spin. i followed the links (above) and read about a cool idea where a coffee shop put these ads at train stations (near their shops) and people in a rush could pre-order their coffee. But all the QR code did was make them curious and bring them to the url of an app.
I keep thinking there is some kind of lock and key opportunity here, between customer and retailer. Also, how much more complex relationships between things get, because of the added dimension of your physical location (at times). And if the QR content has data associated with (or generated by) the customer, then that opens up a whole bunch of other possibilities. Same with knowing a person is at a given place, at a given time. (But that only depends if the desired action takes place offline. etc.)
Quote from: dogboy on July 17, 2011, 12:41:39 PM
(https://th3core.com/chat/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fdatamatrix.kaywa.com%2Fimg.php%3Fs%3D8%26amp%3Bd%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fhttp%253A%252F%252Fth3core.com%252Ftalk%252Fmarketing%252Fqr-codes-and-the-web%252F&hash=45e32216607d1c32741a1a18224819126f960068)
I'm trying to get it, but I keep on thinking there is a lot more I'm missing. Everyone is using this thing in place of something I could have understood... and in most cases, a URL. So why not just put the URL? Why take out your phone and go through the hassle?
It's quicker to pull out the phone and start the QR code reader than to type in a long URL, since these usually point to a special landing page and not the home page. In Australia, my phone company doesn't include a reader with the iPhone they stock and I had to add it manually. This would be a barrier to adoption.
3-4 years ago a previous employer (Yellow Pages) had done a trial of placing the codes in shop windows and one of the issues was that glass interferes with proper reading of the code. I wasn't close to the trial but the people involved were put off that idea for good.
Saw 2 interesting QR code related things last week:
1. QR Code on a gravestone : http://mashable.com/2011/07/15/qr-code-tombstone/
2. BBC Using QR Codes on a cooking programme . Haven't got a grab of this though sadly - however I was particularly pleased with this as the use of them is what is needed to encourage take up: ie it was mass market, a trusted source, useful and them explained it ("scan this for recipe" I think - mention of phone would have been better).
I saw the cookery programme ones and no one believes me! Would probably help if I could remember what programme....
I'm interested to see how well it works as apparantly glass interferes with the readers, although it generally works off a computer screen so I guess no different?
Wait so I can scan a QR code off a LED screen?
Here in the Mid-west US QR codes seem to be only used on a few real estate agent signs and by package shipping companies. I suspect this will change quickly but here in flyover country we tend to lag behind The Coasts by months or years even.
@bill - are the phones in Japan mainly feature phones with some scan and web ability or are they mainly smartphones? I know my old iPhone had no bar code reader app although I'm sure they are available, and I just downloaded one for the Android phone. Point being, the smartphones in the US don't seem to have apps already installed.
>the smartphones in the US don't seem to have apps already installed.
I thought Androids do but iphones dont(?)
>It's quicker to pull out the phone and start the QR code reader than to type in a long URL
then we need an app that takes a picture of a url and makes it a hot link? Seems like that isn't too far off. But I get you... deep links, possibly with additional user info (like location.)
>there is a lot more I'm missing.
I'm getting the hang of it now... I'm not used to offline marketing:) The reality these things can be used in a LOT of different ways... they can be used for really simple things, as well as connecting a person at a certain time and real-life location to a website... and then getting that person to act either online or off. And like I said before, if the user generates the QR and the merchant scans it, it opens up a whole other set of options.
Pretty cool:)
>will scan from a phone screen
Wow. That is cool. Like dogboy said the possibilities are endless. It's kinda mind boggling to me.
Now I have a question on QR's and privacy: if I use my smartphone to scan a QR and go to the website what kind of info can they pick up about me: GPS coords, phone number, OS, browser, carrier? Sorry if this is a stupid question but I've heard some FUD on the topic.
@Brad
The majority of phones in Japan are still feature phones. Smartphones only have about 8% of the market. The rest are very advanced feature phones that receive digital TV broadcasts, have NFC wallets, contain media players, and of course have QR code readers built in. Back in the old days we'd have to make special WAP or cHTML pages for the QRcode landing pages for these phones, but today they all have full browsers built in.
> privacy
In general practice with a straight URL the people on the other end would get whatever info a web server could get. Your phone isn't broadcasting GPS or other info to websites unless you have an app or something else in there. A QRcode is just a URL, phone number, or some text that can be scanned.
Might be talking out of my arse here, as I haven't really done anything with HTML5 yet. However I was under the impression that HTML5 had a method to access native GPS of smart phones. I presume each mobile OS would then protect this behind a permission check.
Also... trying to remember first visit to G.Maps on android - doesn't that ask permission to access location?
bill: thanks so much for clarifying. I know some feature phones are pretty advanced but these sound very advanced.
Right after I posted, walked out the door and tried the bar code scanner app Zwart told me about, on a real estate sign QR next door. The app did ask for permission to send my location after I had scanned. The process and the technology is pretty neat, all we need to do is modify human behavior in the US and get people used to scanning codes they see on signs, screens and stuff. I kind of love this intersection point of (mobile) web and dirt world.
Woke up at a hotel in Key West and read the USA today under my door; article how qr codes are being placed on gravestone now in the NW. $60 upgrade takes you to an obituary, photos, etc.
On a gravestone? What happens if it leads to today's equivalent of GeoCities for dead people? In perpetuity with a QR code? That might be pushing it a bit.
the websites going down issue does seem to be the main objection - the comments on this article http://mashable.com/2011/07/15/qr-code-tombstone/ are generally about practicalities and whether its better to link to facebook or a dedicated site or a 'memorial specific' site.
Quote from: JasonD on July 21, 2011, 07:03:15 AM
That's no different to Latin, English or any other communication method
I see what you're saying, but I studied Latin in High School and at least I could pick up my old texts and try to figure out what was written. A QR code would require a capable scanning device and then the hope that the linked site would still be up, or hope that they have a really good version of the Wayback Machine. ;)
Technology is tricky and computer tech changes so fast. I still have a bunch of documents on 5.25 inch SSDD disks, written in both Wordstar and Perfect Writer word processor formats on the CP/M OS and all pretty much unreadable now. Those are from the mid - 1980's which is not all that long ago if one starts to think in perpetual memorial terms.
Of course we also have the recording industry: wax cylinders, 78 rpm disks, 45's, LP's, 8-track, Compact Cassette, CD's and now digital downloads with lots of different DRM schemes.
I can't help but think that while the Internet itself may be durable, the information, the individual web pages, are very transient by nature and maybe not right for a lasting memorial.
Still it's a cool idea.
This is quite an interesting use of QR codes coming from Tesco
http://blog.networkmarketingjobs.com/2011/07/11/shopping-for-trains-are-tesco-ahead-of-the-game/
In short: Billboards in train stations that look like shelves full of products. Each has a qr code. scan it with your phone and it gets added to you tesco home delivery order. Link above includes video
I can see the presentation being a short-term gimmick. However the link up to home delivery shopping could apply to pretty much any billboard - particularly for broad-reach retailers like tesco and amazon.
I thought the tesco use above was pretty amazing - but no takers :(
How about wearable QR codes instead? Got this spammed to me from a staff clothing company.
it was, but I'd read it before and didn't bother again :)
Did you see the UK beach volleyball team QR codes. I swear they'd be impossible to scan
The problem is that they pick up the sand. You need to pat them down a bit first i reckon.
I take it you're volunteering Rooftop lol.
The Tesco example is pretty good use of QR code. Get products right to the shopping cart as much as possible.
A non-commercial use is walking tours, municipalities in historic districts can tell people about buildings and sites with a QR code and a website - slick and low cost.
I tried to pitch that use to one of the visitor attraction we're involved with. Blank looks all round. In the end they bought a load of iPods to use for walking tours. I give it about 2 weeks before all 50 have been nicked.
The local arboretum is using QR's on their signs in the Railroad Garden. It allows the signs to be short and if you want more detailed info you can scan the QR. Worked nice. One of the volunteers, said they are going to expand the QR codes to all the signs throughout the arboretum and gardens.
Ooh, that's new. Didn't spot them at bird world when we last went in spring.
Quote from: Gurtie on August 19, 2011, 08:34:35 AM
I swear they'd be impossible to scan
Especially when they are farting!
QuoteTwo thirds of consumers don't know what QR codes are
http://econsultancy.com/uk/blog/7959-two-thirds-of-consumers-don-t-know-what-qr-codes-are-survey?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter
Which of course means over 30% of them do.
I was also surprised that
Quote52% of respondents didn't have a device that was capable of scanning QR codes
which is presumably 52% of the 33% who know what they are - so thats somewhere around 15% of consumers who have a devise which can use QR codes.
So, allowing for a likely skew towards certain demographics, thats not bad as an alternative route to info. They don't cost a lot to impliment after all.
That is pretty good. Word and usage will spread if people find it useful. 10 years ago the same percentages might have applied to the public knowing what a URL is, now most know what it is about. 6 years ago, it was still a struggle to convince local businesses that they need a website and to plaster their URL on everything just like a their phone number, now most mom and pop businesses have, at least, some token web page.
If QR's really take off, smartphone manufacturers will start shipping phones with the QR reader app already installed like they do a browser. Thats when it becomes plumbing.
http://www.qrgirls.com/
Bit more classy, Victorias Secret
http://www.brandflakesforbreakfast.com/2011/09/qr-codes-get-super-sexy.html
yeah, I'd scan them... twice... then once again when I woke up:)
Quote from: ukgimp on September 06, 2011, 10:25:52 AM
http://www.qrgirls.com/
Bit more classy, Victorias Secret
http://www.brandflakesforbreakfast.com/2011/09/qr-codes-get-super-sexy.html
Educational!
Here is a very interesting way to use QR Codes by Coke. This sort of game could easily take off in Japan where everyone has a QR Code reader on their mobile phone.
QuoteHow Coca-Cola is Gamifying Vending Machines in Japan http://www.penn-olson.com/2011/11/10/coca-cola-gamifies-its-vending-machines/
Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) wants its customers in Japan to get to know their favorite vending machines a little better. In the company's latest move as part of its Happiness campaign, Coca-Cola is using gamification to get people to check-in and interact with its vending machines. It seems wacky in both concept and execution but the result could be meaningful.
Coco-Cola is affixing QR codes to its vending machines across Japan. For those unaware of vending machine ubiquity in Japan, the company will have over 400,000 machines with the a QR codes by the start of the campaign. By the end of March 2012 there will 820,000 machines with codes affixed and what Coca-Cola considers to be a unique identity.
I doubt this could work as well in another country that doesn't have as many vending machines.
It could work fine with a QR compatible version of Barcode Warriors. With the ready availability of reader devices these days, tie it into FB, and you've got a captive audience, a platform, and a ready made revenue stream
How about putting your logo in the middle:
http://blog.qr4.nl/QR-Code-Branding.aspx
Seems to reduce the amount of info you can store on them.
QuoteWoke up at a hotel in Key West and read the USA today under my door; article how qr codes are being placed on gravestone now in the NW. $60 upgrade takes you to an obituary, photos, etc.
Just found this thread...fascinating.
First, I have to ask you Dogboy, were you *supposed* to wake up in Key West? (It sounds like you just...'woke up' there unexpectedly.)
Secondly, what is NW?