By: Kunur Patel
I really, really don’t love QR codes. And I can’t understand why magazines and marketers really do.
Yes, I see the sex-appeal. Quick-response (QR) codes let users actually do something with old media: They make packages, print ads and magazines clickable and linkable to websites or apps. They’re big in Japan — that’s always good. They definitely look like they’re from the future. This weekend, I saw a black-and-white dress that can only be described as QR-patterned. Yep, I bought it.
But I’m skeptical. Painfully skeptical. Do they even work? There are far too many steps: To scan a QR code, you have to carry the right phone with the right camera, be connected to the internet and have downloaded one of the many QR scanning apps out there. Then, you have to stumble across one of those boxes, which actually isn’t hard because, like I said, marketers, especially retailers, are in love with them.
For a recent campaign we tested in the newsroom, one reporter couldn’t get the QR code to work because her BlackBerry didn’t have an advanced enough camera. My phone has the right camera and a couple reader apps downloaded and ready to go. But I see most QR campaigns in the New York City subway, where there is absolutely no internet — meaning no way to get a QR scan to actually launch anything. At the bus stop near my apartment in Brooklyn, my husband found a code on a billboard in full range of 3G. To scan that code on the bottom corner of the poster, he’d have had to lie down on the wet sidewalk.
Obviously some people are cuckoo for QR codes: One reader app, Scanbuy, globally saw scans for QR and barcodes in the “double-digit millions” last year. Major marketers like Miller Lite, Home Depot, Macy’s and Post Cereals have recently launched QR campaigns. But, with QR technology tripping over itself, I’m betting on other companies that can job done with tools that are actually easy to use.
Enter Zoove. Here’s one mobile direct-response company I can actually get excited about. You can get the QR results — a link to a website or app download, a coupon, a video — but to get there, you there’s no camera, app or smartphone required. All you do dial is a number on a mobile phone and make a call.
Continues at: Zoove: Something Better Than QR Codes | DigitalNext: A Blog on Emerging Media and Technology – Advertising Age.
Related articles
- Why QR Codes Aren’t Being Used Correctly (thedhsblog.wordpress.com)
- QR Code Advantages (rockyj.wordpress.com)
- Whats a QR code? Consumers still arent sure (theglobeandmail.com)
- The Majority Rules: QR Codes Are Memorable (seome.me)
