Archive for QR Codes
The ________ is dead!
Posted by: | Comments
An advertising agency we follow tweeted last week that the QR Code is dead!
The “revelation” could not be further from the truth, and the blog post the agency shared, “Death to the QR Code,” is so off-base that it had to be written to generate comments and new readers (aka “link bait”). If you read the post, scroll through the comments as well. Either way, it got me to thinking about all of the other declarations of death in our industry:
The press release is dead – this one’s been going around for a while. Kent State Professor Bill Sledzik traces one of the earlier proclamations to 1979 in this post. The reality: there is a new role for the press release; sloppy usage by clueless PR people is the real problem. Social media is dead – Google (or “Bing”) that phrase and you’ll find post after post informing us SM is over. Twitter is dead – #exaggerations anyone? Facebook is dead – a meme resurrected this month as Google+ hit the scene; and, of course, Google is dead. As I said, anything to generate comments and links!
QR Codes Continue Mainstream Push
Posted by: | Comments
I picked up The New York Times print edition to read the paper old-school style on Sunday but soon had to reach for my iPhone after spotting a QR Code on a full page color ad by Atlantis Paradise Island. The little black icons (similar to the one in this post) are becoming more mainstream in newspaper and magazine ads. Just download a free QR Code reader onto your smartphone, snap a picture of the image and you’ll be taken to whatever the company wants you to see.
The Atlantis QR Code launched a YouTube commercial touting Crush, a new teen night club at the resort. It was kind of strange to be reading the print ad one second and then watching a related TV commercial the next.
Are you incorporating QR Codes into your marketing program yet? We used them to promote sponsors at a client’s golf tournament last year and have heard of them being used on restaurant menus, posters and t-shirts.
Get Ready for the QR Code
Posted by: | Comments
Perhaps you’ve noticed those square barcode-looking thingies in the corner of magazine ads or on product packaging. They’re also beginning to appear on posters in malls, stickers, real estate “for sale” signs, and t-shirts.
Called QR Codes (for quick response), we’ll be seeing more of them as they catch on, and lots of PR uses are waiting to happen. Here’s how they work: first you need a mobile barcode reader app on your smart phone (I downloaded QuickMark and Microsoft’s Tag Reader for my iPhone). When you come across one, aim the phone’s camera at the little icon and voila, the QR Code does its thing and instantly brings up a website or displays contact information or generates an email or a text message (whatever the generator of the code wants to share). They’re a way to deliver “saveable” info to someone on the go. Microsoft says they “add interactivity to your physical materials.”
Aim your phone at the QR Code in this post and you’ll find yourself at the Sawmill Marketing Public Relations website. It took me about 10 seconds to set it up using Kaywa’s QR Code Generator.
Jesse Kaye, who runs HomeTryst.com in Washington, D.C., told me he’s using QR Codes for his real estate company. He also created an informative how-to video on his blog. It’s a good idea starter and can give insights into how businesses can use this new technology, including ways the restaurant sweetgreen is using them!
We’re already brainstorming ideas with clients. How about you?
