If you have ever been to Japan or Korea there are good chances that you have come across tons of people sticking out their cellphone in front of posters/groceries/consumer electronics etc. Your immediate reaction on seeing this would probably be “Whoa!!! Am I in a cellphone obsessed nation or are these guys plain insane?”. Well the news is that the folks are miles away from being insane, in fact they are doing something really smart to instantly get information on their mobile about any product/service they see around. Confused??? Look at the video below:
As you can see, by just pointing the camera at the Quick Response(QR) code and snapping a picture, one can instantly get information about anything that is embedded within the code. For instance: On taking a picture of a QR code/ Mobile barcode on a Pepsi bottle, information like number of calories, different flavours available and an option for entering Pepsi contest can be immediately displayed on the mobile screen. Some phones also come with inbuilt QR code scanners so one can just swipe their mobile over the code. Either ways, mobile barcodes surely open up a world of opportunities as consumers can interact with the brand in real time.
European countries have been slow at embracing this technology despite its apparent mobile marketing success in Japan and other Asian countries. However, The Telegraph reported that Pepsi is driving a major QR campaigh in Britain, printing over 400 million QR codes on its products for the first time. Using these mobile users will get instant access to games, videos, websites, prizes and other entertainment by just swiping their cellphone. This is surely going to reshape the way we think about mobile marketing in UK. I hope pepsi and others overcome the hurdles of educating the not-so-mobile-savvy customers on using these codes and also dealing with those customers who are likely to complain about data charges.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
hey Rohit
do u have any idea about the software which the ma in the d video talks about?
is it available for iphones??
Hi gemini!!
You will find applications like QR reader, BeeTagg Reader etc on the iTunes app store..Go give it a try..It’s pretty neat when you take the snaps of the qr codes from a short distance…However since the iPhone has jst 2 MP camera long distance shots wont be recognized.
Hi, interest post. I’ll write you later about few questions!
@Kelly Yea sure Kelly.. Just fire away the questions.
Hi, gr8 post thanks for posting. Information is useful!
I think I will try to recommend this post to my friends and family, cuz it’s really helpful.
@KattyBlackyard am glad that you found it useful
@GarykPatton That would be brilliant :)