The Next Big Thing

In this post I'm going to be commenting on the genius that is a QR code. They are the new piece of technology similar to a bar code, which turns a little square into a URL.

According to: http://qrcode.kaywa.com/ this is the QR code (below) for my blog: pretty cool! If only I had something to read it...

QR Codes, AKA Quick Response Codes are part of the new advertising and media possibilities linked to and focussed on the mobile phone! These codes can be scanned by a smart phone, a URL will appear and then you can be transferred to that website... pretty smart right?

There are a few problems though…

Most people are probably thinking that this is rather pointless and just technology for the sake of technology. Why scan this on your phone when you can just go on the website via your home computer?

Well... Although the QR codes may be used very rarely at the moment here in the UK, in other places such as Japan they are already massive with loads of businesses using them in their advertisements as a direct link to online information. They are also set to become big in other, poorer countries.

One of the most brilliant uses of the QR Code is the tracking capabilities. An advertising agency could place an advert in, for arguments sake, 5 different magazines, each with an individual QR Code on (the magazines name would be embedded into the URL). The implications of this would be that the agency would be able to see from which magazine the online traffic came from and therefore would be able to see which magazine was the most effective means of advertising. This is one of the specific uses of the QR Code in the western world however the QR Code simply as it is, is useful in countries such as India, South America and Africa where fixed internet isn’t readily available.

In these places, most people can’t have a home computer internet base with broadband. The only means of internet access is through a smart phone. In these places the QR Code is a direct link to a website via a mobile phone and it is pretty much the only way to get customers to access it.

Although at the moment they aren’t that popular in the UK, one of the main reasons being that you have to download an App to be able to read the QR Code. Adding that hassle into the equation along with a misunderstanding of the technology means that people just wont have the motivation to do it. At the moment, because the technology is in its infancy here in the UK advertisers don’t know how to use it effectively. What needs to be recognised by traditional advertising agencies who are sticking to ‘old’ media, the QR code is a way of using digital technology but still using print or TV advertisements. You can have your normal ad using traditional media but by including a QR Code it means that it is keeping up with digital world at the same time.

Give it a few years and advertisers will have got the hang of it, most phones will have a QR Code reader built in... I think it’s the Next Big Thing.