Hello fellow Marketers! We introduce a different type of Marketing Moan this week, more of a comparative analysis of adverts, where marketers have attempted to use the conveniences of technology and introduced QR Codes.
QR codes are just a spec of sand in the continual development of technology and its advantages on Marketing, however with advances in technology comes a decline in human intelligence. Let’s start with the adverts that almost leave us speechless.
QR Code Fails
Ok, so for any seagulls out there, who haven’t yet been sucked into the propellers, get your phones out and scan this code whilst you’re flying at 600mph.
What Nitwit would think putting a giant QR Code on a plane would get scanned? Maybe when stationary at an airport but even then, I’ve got better things to do than try and point my phone at a plane from an odd angle.
Ok, so I’m on the highway and see this billboard with a QR Code on it, let alone I only have a split second to scan it at exactly the right distance, asking myself what part of my brain is going to convince me to ignore all instincts of safe-driving to direct me to a website which I would need to spend time and concentration looking at?!
You’ve got to laugh when the advert itself reads “Guiding & Protecting America”. Yep, this advert really signifies your ethos for protection!
QR Code Success
Finally! Someone’s used it properly! This is a QR Code design carved into the glass, so that whenever a dark drink goes into it, the QR Code is revealed! This was introduced by Guinness so that their drinks could get scanned but the beauty is that even other dark drinks will allow their scan and visit rates to go up. Their Competition is helping them without realizing it!
What have we learned?
QR Codes are useful for tech-savvy consumers who have the QR Scanning application, however marketers need to consider other methods for those who are not. Maybe this is the reason QR Codes have been dying out recently. Their innovation deserves respect, granted, however ironically, although they were created for practicality, they are considered impractical by those who do not have the time to take out their phone, get in the right position and distance and then scan.
Marketing methods by nature are becoming ever more experience-orientated, so that consumers remember the experience by which they encountered a brand, such as playing football with a Nike ball, but scanning is not seen at one of the most exciting of activities. There are ways to use them, however, such as when the consumer is in a stationary position or when the QR Code is portable, like on a business card. These, ultimately, will create effective brand engagements.
Marketing Moan 