QR Codes Archive

Earlier this week we took a look at Google’s Real World Hyperlinks. Yesterday Japanese blogger Satoko Hibi who took a look at the QR barcode scene in Japan. Today, in the third piece in the series, I’d like to take a look at why these barcodes will take off in the U.S.

Years ago during Web 1.0, Digital Convergence Corporation produced a device named CueCat. The privacy police were all over this device from the beginning. I though the idea was brilliant but clearly others disagreed. The idea was strong, the execution was poor. The CueCat would scan barcodes in magazines and then send you to a Web site for more information. Joel Spolsky has a review of the device from 2000 which is worth reading. In the end, the device (and the company) failed.

Today we have a new barcode technology, called QR Code, coming to newspapers, magazines and outdoor advertisements. The big difference between the CueCat in 2000 and today’s QR code is mobile. In Joel’s review, he displays a barcode on an advertisement for Altoids and suggests that typing in that URL is easy. But what if you are out and about? The power of the QR codes comes because it works with your mobile device not some mouse-shaped ugly-as-ass scanner. It’s easy. Joel also goes on to say that the CueCat is a chicken-egg syndrome – advertisers won’t want to put the doofy looking codes in their ads unless enough people have CueCats installed (which was a complete pain in the rump). Today, the software is built into mobile so none of Joel’s arguments work today.

The next reason QR codes will be a game changer is because they work for information too. For example, Wikipedia displays their QR code on the Wikipedia site. I could also see QR codes as a potential business card replacement. You are at a business meeting, you whip out your mobile and the other party does as well. You "scan" her barcode displayed on the mobile and now you have all of her contact information and not only is it stored in your mobile, but it’s now on your desktop in your contact manager. Imagine the possibilities for dating!

Finally, the QR codes will work from a marketing perspective because it allows people to pull ads that they are interested in rather than push advertising that is used today. See that ad for Coke? Scan the code and it downloads the Coke ringtone. Even something as simple as replacing the store shopper cards could be handled with QR codes. Teenagers will eat this technology up.

I am very much looking forward to seeing the codes invade the U.S. as they are overseas. As a marketer, I see endless possibilities for connecting brands with consumers. On the business side, there are clear ways that the codes could become time savers. Mobile technology is changing the way we interact, QR codes will take interactions to another level. Of course the U.S. is years behind the rest of the world with regards to mobile technology so by the time the codes become mainstream here, the rest of the world will be on to something else. Let’s get moving!

How do you see QR codes being used effectively or do you see them as just another cuecat, destined for failure?

Editor’s note: The article below is part 2 of our 3-part series on QR mobile barcodes. Yesterday we took a look at Google and real world hyperlinks. Tomorrow we will look at mobile barcodes from a marketing perspective. Grab our feed to be instantly notified of the next post in the series.

In Japan, barcodes (QR codes) are being used by marketers and the media as a method for direct access to customers. They are mainly targeting mobile-savvy twenty- and thirty-somethings leading them to sales promotions for products such as snacks and beverages.

The Real Life of Japanese mobile and Internet users

Out of its 120 million population, 69.23 million Japanese people access the Internet via mobile phones. About the same number (66.01 million) access the Internet using a computer. And almost all of the mobile phones in the Japanese market now are equipped with a barcode scanner by default. More details can be found here and here (in Japanese).

Some examples of QR codes that are hand-held

Staff/Crew Recruiting Ad from McDonald’s

Promotional Site for Jagariko Snack Food

Here is my recent mobile barcode scanning history

• Downloading free ring-tones from the snack shown above
• Created a barcode for my contact info including phone number & email address by using my mobile. And then my friend could scan it from my mobile and grab all of my contact details.
• Accessing English language training services for my mobile from my mobile.
• Added the barcode to my Moo-like card!

Conclusion

The Internet and mobile phones have heavily impacted communication technology globally. Barcodes may become a smarter way to open new doors leading consumers to Internet sites in the near future as being done in Japan currently. In fact, lots of Japanese citizens who don’t even own a computer at home access Internet via mobile phone. In addition, even those who own a computer are using the Internet from mobile phone for its handiness. The same ideas can be applied in the U.S.

The current bottleneck of barcodes in my opinion, are ad-hoc content services that don’t provide further paths to stimulate consumers interest. Service providers need to come up with exciting ideas to continue to keep users attracted. Finally, it is also necessary to continuously improve the user interface on mobile phones.

This article was provided by Satoko Hibi, an engineer and co-founder at s21g.com. s21g is planning to release a service called, "typeout" this Spring, which is a private place for scrapbooking with some social functions including a Twitter-like inteface and a powerful search engine. Here is more information in English.

Editor’s note: We first began discussing QR codes at the Google advertising forum last week. Below we have a discussion from Steve Poland on QR codes in the U.S. Tomorrow we will have the perspective from a Japanese entrepreneur and on Friday, my summary plus opinion on where QR codes are going from the marketer’s perspective. Your input is very much appreciated as well.

Google has announced that 2D barcodes (called a "QR code") can be included in their Google Print Ads program. Here’s how it works — you’re reading a magazine and there’s an advertisement for something you’re actually interested in. Most times you’d just turn the page and forget about it, because you’re not near your computer and don’t feel like stopping what you’re doing to go find out more information on the product/service in the ad by logging onto the Internet. But now, the print advertiser can put a 2D barcode in the ad, and you can simply whip out your cell phone, take a picture of the 2D barcode (using specific software installed on your cell phone that recognizes/decodes the 2D barcode) and then your phone’s web browser opens and automatically takes you to a corresponding website with more information on the product/service that you’re interested in.

It’s quite an interesting proposition for advertisers, because it allows them to use unique barcodes for all of their advertisements and thus track which ads are providing the highest ROI (or at least the highest engagement). An advertiser could have a different tracking code for one magazine (Fortune) vs another magazine (Forbes) and determine which publication to purchase ads in again; one newspaper vs another in the same city; etc.

As we all are aware, the USA lags in the mobile sector — we’re years behind Europe and Asia. QR Codes have been used for awhile in Japan, enabling these "physical world hyperlinks". In fact, if an advertisement catches the interest of someone in Japan while they are out and about, 41.7% say they engage with the ad by scanning the QR code to find out more information.

In previous years, I had done a lot of research on this topic — how do you connect consumers from an "offline environment" (no computer access nearby, such as in a car, living room, etc) to an online environment to learn more about a product/service they see in an advertisement (whether it’s in a newspaper, magazine, billboard, TV commercial, or on the radio)? Basically, how do you eliminate needing your ad to be seen a frequency of 7 times before they can even think of making a purchase.

I even started a business (Aboutcodes – defunct now) that used VXML to allow a consumer to dial a toll-free number and input a code listed in an advertisement. This code/ad was then added to their Aboutcodes online account and the next time they logged into their account, the consumer would see links to further information on any products/services they had interest in (that they saw in ads).

A company that has been doing similar by using text messages is Houston-based QTags. The user sends an ad code via SMS, which then saves that ad to their online QTags account for viewing when they log online next. QTags charges advertisers for this service, which has been an uphill battle for them.

Seeing that the QR code has gained large adoption in Japan, it’s only sensible to assume this "technology" will gain adoption in the USA in the years to come. However, the standard in the USA right now is SMS text messages and thus I am curious whether a free SMS-based service could take off — whereby advertisers can register tracking codes for their ads (free via a website), use the codes in their ads, then consumers see an ad, send an SMS with a code, then an SMS is shot back with a hyperlink in it, which the user can then bring up in their mobile web browser — but also the code/hyperlink is saved to the user’s online account for this free service. This service I speak of would need the support of major advertisers to embrace the technology and utilize it in their ads. In the meantime, we’ll see if Google’s support of QR Codes can help them gain traction in the USA.

Editor’s Note: This guest post written by Steve Poland who blogs ideas for making money with affiliate marketing, as well as his own web start-up ideas over at http://www.stevepoland.com.