If you’re noticing more than usual that QR codes are popping up everywhere, it’s not your imagination. These little black and white (and sometimes other coloured) block designs are everywhere: on billboards; print ads and even on street art.
Some hugely successful QR code campaign have included MyToys, an online toy retailer in Germany, who made QR code billboards made entirely out of Lego blocks. The boards were colourful, 3D and of course, got people onto the MyToys website with their mobile phones. Each QR code board was unique, and once scanned it revealed some imaginative ideas about they could do with a Lego box.
The campaign inspired consumers to open their minds to the possibilities Lego offers as a toy, and got them buying Lego boxes from the MyToy website.
Turquoise Cottage, a popular bar and venue in New Delhi, India, created the Buddy Stamp, a QR code stamped onto patrons wrists when they entered the door. For one night only, the QR code led to time-sensitive content, with drink specials until 10pm, and then details for cab services from 10pm to 6am. The campaign was a huge success, and got patrons scanning the stamp on their wrists left right and centre.
These are some fantastic ways that companies overseas are implementing QR codes. Locally, they can be found in more and more places, including in restaurants, on menus, on billboards and there are some awesome custom-designed codes coming up in print advertising.
The trick with a QR code is that you’re not forcing someone to see the information behind it, but rather inviting them to find out more. It’s cool and mysterious, and in the instant the QR code is seen, a relationship is established between the viewer and the brand.
So locally, where to from here? If you haven’t got QR code scanner for your smartphone, download one by browsing the Android market, Apple App Store, Blackberry App World, or simply Google for it in your phone’s browser and download it from there. To create a QR code, you can use a URL shortener like Goo.gl or a QR code generator like this one.
