QR Codes

Mobile Connections with QR Codes

Today’s sophisticated consumers are tech-savvy and always on the go. Reach them with mobile connections using QR codes, instantly giving them access to your company’s contact information, special offers, web page, videos and more.

QR Codes can appear on any print advertising where users might need further information. For example, on a business card, QR codes make it easy for clients to add you as a contact on their cell phone. On brochures and flyers, QR codes connect your clients to product specifications, a coupon, Twitter and Facebook, or even a link to a YouTube video.

What works on a desktop monitor, though, won’t necessarily work well on a smartphone screen. Mobile landing pages ensure that all your information is legible, attractive and easy to navigate.

What is a QR Code

A QR Code is a matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code), readable by QR scanners, mobile phones with a camera, and smartphones. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on white background. The information encoded can be text, URL or other data. Common in Japan, where it was created by Toyota subsidiary Denso-Wave in 1994, the QR code is one of the most popular types of two-dimensional barcodes. QR is the acronym for Quick Response, as the creator intended the code to allow its contents to be decoded at high speed.

Use in marketing

Recently, QR codes have become more prevalent in marketing circles and have been integrated into both traditional and interactive campaigns. Mediums where QR codes have been deployed include: billboard ads, in-store displays, event ticketing and tracking, trade-show management, business cards, print ads, contests, direct mail campaigns, websites, email marketing, and couponing just to name a few. QR codes are of particular interest to marketers, giving them the “ability to measure response rates with a high degree of precision” allowing for easier ROI (return on investment) calculation, thus helping justify spend on marketing budgets. QR codes have also been used at trade shows and in conferences. One company, Webbmedia Group, launched an Ultimate QR game at the Online News Association conference. QR codes were posted all over the conference site, hidden in planters, bathrooms and even showed up in PowerPoint presentations. Some codes were designated as a prize winner, while other codes offered trivia about ONA. More than 1,000 attendees played the game. Webbmedia Group asked that participants “steal the game,” since it used open source technology. Newspapers and others did just that, and used Webbmedia’s Ultimate QR game codes and workflow for publishing, civic engagement events and business development.

How could you use a QR code?

Your business, no matter how small or large, could use QR codes in a number of ways. You might auto generate one next to every product on your web site containing all the product details, the number to call and the URL link to the page so they can show their friends on their cell phone. You could add one to your business card containing your contact details so its easy for someone to add you to their contacts on their cell phone. Add them to any print advertising, flyers, posters, invites, tv ads etc containing:

• product details
• contact details
• offer details
• event details
• competition details
• a coupon
• Twitter, Facebook, MySpace IDs
• a link to your YouTube video

What is it all about, really? Well, some may not see it yet, but it’s another example of the blurring of the edges of media, as we all rapidly enter this totally connected world. It’s the blurring of the lines between our cell phone and the Internet, always on Internet connectivity wherever we are, whatever we are doing and whatever device we have on hand – whether it’s a cellphone, netbook, laptop, pc, camera, or TV.

History & Overview

Although initially used for tracking parts in vehicle manufacturing, QR Codes are now used in a much broader context, including both commercial tracking applications and convenience-oriented applications aimed at mobile phone users (known as mobile tagging). QR Codes can be used to display text to the user, to add a vCard contact to the user’s device, to open a URI or to compose a text message or email. Users can also generate and print their own QR Code for others to scan and use by visiting one of several free QR Code generating sites. QR Codes storing addresses and URLs may appear in magazines, on signs, buses, business cards, or on just about any object about which users might need information. Users with a camera phone equipped with the correct reader application can scan the image of the QR Code to display text, contact information, connect to a wireless network, or open a web page in the phone’s browser. This act of linking from physical world objects is known as a hardlink or physical world hyperlinks. Google’s mobile Android operating system supports the use of QR codes by natively including the barcode scanner (ZXing) on some models, and the browser supports URI redirection, which allows QR Codes to send metadata to existing applications on the device. Nokia’s Symbian operating system is also provided with a barcode scanner, which is able to read QR Codes, while mbarcode is a QR code reader for the Maemo operating system. In the Apple iOS is not natively included, but some iTunes Apps, for free, are available with reader and metadata browser URI redirection.

License

The use of the QR Code is free of any license. The QR Code is clearly defined and published as ISO standard. Denso Wave owns the patent rights on QR Code, but has chosen not to exercise them.[4] The term QR Code itself is a registered trademark of Denso Wave Incorporated.