A Blog by Jonathan Low

 

Mar 4, 2011

Keeping Track: Black and White Square 'QR' Bar Codes Proliferate to Mine Consumer Data

You may have wondered what those black-and-white bar-code squares are on ads. Turns out they are a versatile way to encode marketing data and deliver it to companies anxious to analyze the message. They are part of the new trend in getting faster results to retailers and others charged with making inventory and other resource allocation decisions based on assessment of trends.

Matt Wilson has the story in Ragan:

"The requested In the past year or so, you may have noticed the black-and-white, bar-code-style squares on ads and elsewhere popping up more and more, and wondered, “What are those all about?”

Those are QR, or “quick response” codes, and they’re not necessarily new, says communication strategist Linda Pophal. “They've been around for quite a long time—originally developed in Japan by a Toyota subsidiary back in 1994 as an inventory-tracking tool,” she says. “But they've been seeing somewhat of a resurgence recently, primarily because of the emergence of mobile phone technology.”

Here’s how they work: A smartphone owner can download an app—and there are many to choose from—to scan the codes. Once scanned, a code directs the phone’s Web browser to a URL that is likely to lead to a website, a video, audio or a personalized message.

Often, QR codes are featured in advertisements to send marketing messages to customers, but those aren’t the only uses, communicators say.

Where it started

QR codes originated as a way for Toyota to keep up with inventory, and they still could be used for internal data management, Pophal says.

“They can also be used as a database management tool for product descriptions by cataloguers, for instance, that may have variable data that changes frequently,” she says.

Andy Brown, IT manager at Core Communications, says he knows of some companies that put QR codes on their production equipment to keep tabs on it. The system helps them a lot, he says, because it keeps managers from having to take the time to type in an ID number. “It’s a very quick way to jump from a print medium to the Web,” he says.

Other uses

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation opted to include QR codes in its annual report this year. In a video explanation, Kellogg Foundation communications manager Rebecca Noricks said including them in the report was a way to direct readers to companion videos. In an interview with Ragan.com, Noricks says the foundation will probably find additional uses for the codes.

“What we’re most excited about is the potential to make our content accessible to people in our print publications,” she says. “Before, you would just put up a Web address in a print publication and hope for the best.”

Noricks says she can’t put a hard number on the report’s readers who have used the code—the report is still being distributed—but her aim was to get people of all generations to check out the videos. “Sometimes boards of trustees think, oh, online content is just for young people,” she says. “I think these QR codes could really be for any age group.”

Another good use, Noricks says, is to put a QR code on your business card. “Sometimes when you say a mission statement, people aren’t really able to grasp what you do,” she says. “Short videos really show what work you’re doing in the community.” Plus, Noricks says, the QR code could lead to a file that would download all your contact information into someone’s phone.

Chicago’s Anti-Cruelty Society began using QR codes in its ads on public transportation to send people to its main website, says spokeswoman Nadine Walmsley, but the animal shelter is using them in other ways, too. QR codes posted in the shelter’s windows lead passers-by to an adoption website, she says.

Delta Airlines and others use QR codes to provide travelers with paperless boarding passes or to give passengers a quick way to check their flight information.

The possibilities are virtually endless, says Pophal. “They've even been used at events on jumbo-trons to display messages that those with mobile phones and the right app could decode,” she says. “I've also heard that McDonald's uses QR codes in Japan to include nutritional information about their products.” They could even personalize clothing items or provide alternative endings to books, she suggests.

To keep in mind

There are lots of uses for QR codes, but remember, Pophal says, they’re not universal.

“Not all phones will work with this technology, and, as with traditional bar codes, the clarity of the image is going to have an impact,” she says. “So, like many new technology-enabled communications, it's another option but not a replacement for other communication tools.”

At Core, clients can generate QR codes that lead to personalized URLs that send users of certain demographics to different Web pages.

For instance, Brown says, a direct-mail ad for a sporting goods store could include a QR code that leads to a video of a male spokesman for male recipients. Women could get a postcard with a different QR code that leads to a video of a spokeswoman athlete.

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