QR Codes Are Ugly
“QR Codes Gaining Prominence Thanks to Few Big Players,” reads a recent Ad Age headline.
Let’s talk about this headline for awhile. If you’ve been completely stuck in a hole for the past 17 years, you might read this with intrigue. Hopefully not if you’re in the tech or communication industry. Hopefully your response is, “finally!” But like me, you’re response might be a bit more weary.
I will preface by saying that I am a big proponent of Quick Response codes and I have been for years. My weariness comes from thinking there is a rough road ahead for these 2D bundles of faceless information. A problem I foresee in the near future lies in implementation strategy. Now, if you’re a small ad/marketing/PR firm who’s struggling to keep up with the whirlwind changes in communication media technology, but want to find ways to use QRs in campaigns then more power to you, use away. But think deeply about how this barcode’s effectiveness might be diminished when placed in a competing QR code territory. Meaning that soon, every client, every designer, every ad student, ad and PR firm, newspaper and magazine will be using these, and for each code placed, yours will lose it’s cache.
Yes. Cache. Right now, QRs are still relatively new to Americans—especially those Americans who don’t geek out on the latest tech trends from Japan and Europe … from the last decade. Of course our cellphones are also 10 years behind, which is why we’ve had such a slow adoption rate. But we have phones now that are plenty capable of snapping a code and whisking you away to a mobile user experience.
So how do we proceed using these codes in advertising and marketing without drowning out brand identity, a chief concern for any CMO? A few brands and their agencies have been at work on this problem long before this article was written.
Take this coke ad for example, created by Set Japan, a very creative shop who specializes in using QR codes in marketing. This is one of my favorite uses of QR codes that I have seen in a long time. Yes, the experience is there. When you scan it, you go to their site. Ok, we all get that part. The function of QR codes is limitless—and will discussed in further posts—but the implementation is the real star here. Why? Not because they found a clever way to embed a barcode in the art, but because they put forth the effort to create a more holistic experience. They did not simply slap an ugly black code in the bottom right of an ad, hoping people would scan. No. They knew people would scan it and they likely knew the kind of person who would, and knowing your target is key to arriving at a proper strategy.
Another great one for America is the Macy’s star code. Albiet a much simpler implementation than coke’s, it’s still one step further than the typical black, boxy code. This made me scan when I saw it about a year ago. Not because I try to scan all the codes that I see, but because of the extra effort that was put into their strategy. When I see this level thinking, it leads me to believe that the whole experience that they are trying to achieve will be of a much higher quality. And it is. Macy’s, as mentioned in the AA article, has been at the forefront of the QR emergence in the America and is leading mobile users to their Backstage Pass campaign that is chock full videos and other interactive content.
Another place where this star shines is in education. Macy’s has taken on the challenge of educating people about 2d bar codes with videos on the site and even a national campaign. That’s right … Macy’s target demo is now likely to be more educated about mobile technology than those who don’t interact with Macy’s. Think about that, planners.
Let’s find better ways to implement QR Codes.
- If you don’t have a good destination strategy already established. Don’t add a path to it.
- Make them personal. Embed them in your branding. Don’t just add them to it.
- Think about the type of person who is likely to scan then taylor the content to that demo.
- Don’t make them obvious. Stumbling onto something a little bit hidden will strengten the interaction and drive more conversation.
- Don’t make them proprietary. Many have tried and failed. Who really wants to spend time downloading, installing and storing a Ford QR code reader?
- Put them in places that make sense. Where do people use their cellphones the most? Where do people have their phones out? I saw one once on a movie premiere. Fail.
- DO NOT OVERUSE THEM. Little black squares should never replace genuine conversations about your brand. Think of them as the topping on your campaign cake.
- Have fun with them and don’t be afraid of the technology. The only way these will become more mainstream is if we all try and fail and learn.
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