Hornsby Brand Design | What's New | QR Codes: Support Technology that Increases Brand Impact

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QR (Quick Response) Codes...
Support Technology that Increases Brand Impact and Draw

You’ve seen them many times. . . QR (Quick Response) codes. They are everywhere AND remotely activated. . . meaning a consumer can easily use their camera phone to scan a bar code for recipes, product demos, detailed real estate information, promotional offers, and a vast array of other digital content within seconds. This new technology is helping the resurgence of an old one...print.

What this means for your business is that any traditional media from print to packaging is now trackable and interactive with the new world of mobilization. The future for this technology is very bright, because not only is packaging completely interactive with the UPC code and its detailed information about any product, but video demonstrations, slideshows, and even apps meet your prospect where ever they are, without much effort from them. This puts a huge amount of marketing power back into packaging and print media.

PepsiCo’s Pepsi Max mobilized its advertising within the Danish Rail system using 2D bar codes that connect commuters to a variety of content and information. The soft-drink giant tapped Scanbuy technology to mobilize the ads. Commuters could scan a code from a poster or window cling to instantly get information about a music festival that Pepsi sponsored in Copenhagen in September. Consumers could also get a free sample of Pepsi Max.

Marketers are always eager for data about their customers, and increasingly they are realizing that much can be gleaned from a QR code campaign. At the same same time, the industry is also studying who exactly is most apt to take the trouble of scanning a QR code.

comScore reports that the people more likely to scan a QR code may not be who you think. 60.5% of QR scanners are male, 53.4% are between the ages of 18-34, and 36.1% have a household income of $100,000 or above. They are also more likely to scan codes found in newspapers, magazines, and on product packaging, and they do so while at home or in the store.

Surprisingly, another study by Ypulse, meanwhile, finds that younger people are not so likely to take the trouble. Fewer than one in five students have ever used them and nearly two-thirds of students have no idea what they are. Some 6% have seen them but can't figure out how to use them. "We think of teen and college students as being so tech savvy that they can figure out anything, but QR codes have them somewhat baffled," said Melanie Shreffler, editor-in-chief of Ypulse.

As with any brand push, knowing your target market and how to communicate with them is the biggest factor to success. The keys to getting results with this particular technology is to give the consumer something of value and communicate a clear and strong call-to-action. Call us at 865-660-7261 or e-mail us. We can help.

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