QR codes have been becoming more and more popular through these last couple of years. It has become a creative integrated marketing campaign with the use of technology. My friend, Jason, wrote a post on QR codes. He talked about an effective way of marketing using QR codes by putting the codes at “Kodak Picture Moments”. I agree that QR code is a very creative marketing tactic and certainly grab consumers’ attention for those who do have smartphones.
Here is another example of using QR codes for marketing. PUMA launched a new designer menswear line at the London Selfridges store. To promote this launch, PUMA had 50 QR codes decorated around the city taking people to different web content. The different web content displays a story behind one of the designer’s range. Also, they placed 1500 QR codes on cubes around the city taking people to the PUMA’s youtube page. This is a great example of a successful marketing campaign using QR codes.
However, I cannot help but to think if this is just a fad. More and more businesses are using QR codes because they are inexpensive and effective. When I see these codes nowadays, I don’t bother using my phone to scan the code because I don’t want spam and I don’t have time for it either. And I think a lot of people feel the same way. I think creative and attention-grabbing advertisement would have to supplement the QR code in order to get consumers’ attention. However, this might just be a phase because we’re intrigued by this technological trend.
