Clients In Action
Facebook entry: cnet hires Apropos to help drive business to their site at the CES Tradeshow in Las Vegas! These shirts are an example of QR coding put to great use. How do QR codes work? Read below and check out our Facebook page!
QR Codes
A QR Code is a specific matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code), readable by dedicated QR Barcode readers and camera phones. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a 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 abbreviation for Quick Response, as the creator intended the code to allow its contents to be decoded at high speed.
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 URL or to compose an email or text message. 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. Frank C. Hudetz, a US Marketing Services Professional, claims to have invented the idea of mapping bar codes to a URL.
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 a QR Code reader is not natively included, but some iTunes Apps, for free, are available with reader and metadata browser URI redirection.
Use in marketing
Recently, QR codes have become more prevalent in marketing circles and have been integrated into both traditional and interactive campaigns. Media 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 spending on marketing budgets. QR codes have also been used at trade shows and in conferences.
QR Codes can be seen on an art festival map for Canton Ohio’s “First Friday”. The QR Code was designed by Think Roth, a multi-media marketing company from Ohio. The QR Code on the festival’s map takes you to a “phone friendly” map with coupons for free coffee and art discounts around town.
In street art, La Pluma Eléctri*k (street art collective based in Madrid) and Space Invader (from France) are only two artists who use it in the street for art purposes.
In July 2009, QR-code was created for character design and promotional materials in the Shane Acker film 9. The use of QR-code was part of the characters in the movie and culminated into a promotional campaign with unique QR-code cards, posters and street advertisements on billboards or public transportation for major popular art events. These advertisements were largely focused upon the attendees of the 2009 San Diego Comic Con and 2009 Oscars. QR-codes were integrated into the artwork and symbolized individual characters in the movie. Instructional pamphlets and videos were released to explain how the codes could be retrieved and deciphered. QR-coded artworks could be read with QR-capable cellphones for prizes and access to exclusive online content. This was one of the first major integrations of QR-code with Hollywood studios and urban environments. (Per Wikipedia).
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