Has anyone ever used QR codes in printed ads?

Stamply

Solair wrote: »

No, I'd just shorten it to something like this : http://url.ie/ftam

I would prefer to scan than type that awkard url in.

Ure missing the point completely..

It brings nothing new to the table and i work in marketing ! Sooner its gone i,ll do a jig on this forum

QR technology is not a company, it will never be "gone". Marketing people might get over the fad of sticking them left right and centre without properly measuring their return.

Here is a question: As a marketing person, how do you measure the effectiveness of a particular print ad relative to another? How do you know how many people it "stimulated" or engaged relative to another print ad? I don't mean how many people saw it, but how interesting it was relative to the next print ad you run?

Well you could potentially measure that relative value by the number of people who scanned a QR code in the bottom corner of the two ads.

Have you ever thought of it that way Apprentice? Or did you only consider it a way to get a person onto a website with their phone?

The Apprentice

Measuring the campaign is one thing but to measure that you are going to annoy not only me but thousands of others who get irked by QR codes.

So in simple terms, i dont want to spend 22 seconds of my life pulling out my iphone 3 and detaching screenlock with code and opening app and clicking.

Its as simple as that ! I fully agree, when u can measure u can improve but not to the detriment of my insanity. Its adding an extra step to something that is not broke.

I will continue to use an browser on many of my devices rather than pick up this extra method to see what the QR code leads me 2.

Bluejet

My gut instinct with QR is that, although there are good opportunities for its use, peoples' understanding of how to use it properly (on both sides of the "user" fence) won't catch up with it in time before something else less "grating" comes along. At the moment, the QR just stands out too much from a practical point of view. So, it'll work well for easily-changed media, but is limited elsewhere for fear of becoming dated.

Stamply

The Apprentice wrote: »

I fully agree, when u can measure u can improve but not to the detriment of my insanity. Its adding an extra step to something that is not broke.

The idea that you'd be made insane by this relatively innocuous unperturbing tool is ridiculous. And the statement "not broke" is also stupid. Everyone knows measuring the effectiveness of print ads is a big problem. QR codes may or may not be the solution, but something is certainly "broke"!

I think the fact that Apple are using them in Passbook makes my argument for me.

You all seem to think you know more than Apple, the most successful tech company ever (only rivalled by IBM), who certainly don't believe QR codes are "dead".

The simple fact is that QR codes will be popular for at least the next 10 years, probably longer, because its a useful tool for allowing a single device (as opposed to the less frequent phenomenon of two communicating devices) to interact with a database "in the wild."

Yawl needa watch this bitches...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r1CZTLk-Gk

'nuf said...

The Apprentice

Print ads smrint ads - Qr code on a f&cking bus flies by at 40mph ..
Qr code on a newspaper - last sunday
Qr code on a website - Everyday


Can you see out of the three where something is not quite right ?? Or am i making another stupid statement ??

Btw Qr codes, not quite in their current format are around for a long long time - what makes them so special today, just because you said they measure the effectivess of a direct mail advert ??

oh ok .. well that makes it usefull so.. because it isnt usefull in its current format in my humble opinion.

The Apprentice

Print ads smrint ads - Qr code on a f&cking bus flies by at 40mph ..
Qr code on a newspaper - last sunday
Qr code on a website - Everyday


Can you see out of the three where something is not quite right ?? Or am i making another stupid statement ??

Btw Qr codes, not quite in their current format are around for a long long time - what makes them so special today, just because you said they measure the effectivess of a direct mail advert ??

oh ok .. well that makes it usefull so.. because it isnt usefull in its current format in my humble opinion.

Stamply

The Apprentice wrote: »

Print ads smrint ads - Qr code on a f&cking bus flies by at 40mph ..
Qr code on a newspaper - last sunday
Qr code on a website - Everyday


Can you see out of the three where something is not quite right ?? Or am i making another stupid statement ??

Btw Qr codes, not quite in their current format are around for a long long time - what makes them so special today, just because you said they measure the effectivess of a direct mail advert ??

oh ok .. well that makes it usefull so.. because it isnt usefull in its current format in my humble opinion.

Not a single line in that post makes any sense whatsoever...

Stamply

And the real truth behind hatred for QR technology is that what ever you do with QR codes can be instantly replicated, which means their value to large tech companies in producing scalable competitive advantage is almost zero.

Thats the real reason for all of the "QR codes are dead" BS that goes round. QR codes are old tech, but so is the combustion engine...

The Apprentice

Stamply wrote: »

The idea that you'd be made insane by this relatively innocuous unperturbing tool is ridiculous.

'nuf said...

Ye clearly were not on the same level my friend i dont half understand your gibberish.


1. Putting QR codes on a Bus is retarded, even an intellect such as your own can question this
2. Putting QR codes on a bloody website is retarded, when a link could clearly be shortened, or even hyperlinked.
3. Its been 16 Years QR codes are finally taking off eh - To the future i say.. snigger
4. I FULLY accept that measuring the QR code clickthough could be a step forward for direct mail advertisers..

5. Im still lost for words on ANY other use for this still.. PLEASE please bulletpoint your uses for this QR code because this is getting old quickly and ure comments are getting more personal.

The Apprentice

Are u the guy that produced an alternative QR code here on the boards not 4 months ago and were pretty much told the same story ??

Also if not what sector are you in please im confused as to why your pushing this upon the world, the benefits of such a tech ??

Stamply

The Apprentice wrote: »

Are u the guy that produced an alternative QR code here on the boards not 4 months ago and were pretty much told the same story ??

Also if not what sector are you in please im confused as to why your pushing this upon the world, the benefits of such a tech ??

Doing a Higher Diploma in Web Tech, learning to code, aspiring to be a Product Manager/Designer in software, I just generally know a lot about them, and I know about software on a high level - no professional interest in QR tech beyond their usefulness. Nobody has any vested interest in QR code technology because its open-sourced. (As a matter of interest, do you know what that means?)

There are many many uses for QR codes. I'm not going to bullet point them as you could easily Google yourself if you were really that interested.

I'll just say three things quickly:

1) the reason people put them on websites is that users are logged into different accounts on their phones and many websites want them to download their mobile apps, which is often where the QR codes lead (a location on the app market). It takes 3 seconds to put a qr code on your website and gives the user another path to your app download (on the premise that more paths equal more app downloads).

2) buses are sometimes stopped, and often people are standing beside them with their phones in their hands already, but that one you should have figured out yourself.

3) A QR code can be a long hash (string of characters like this: weHJFOIWUEGHFO8327FIUWEBHFIOUBWDEBFIUWHEBF23987YRE8GFWEUFHWEHA) that, when scanned by a phone that is logged into some app, can send information to update a database, which has nothing to do with guiding the user to a website, which is the common function.

I still haven't heard an argument against QR codes that is about the technology rather than a misuse or misunderstanding of it.

Stamply

The Apprentice wrote: »

Are u the guy that produced an alternative QR code here on the boards not 4 months ago and were pretty much told the same story ??

No, not that guy, but I think there are many variants, especially ones for specific applications that can't be read by normal QR readers.

Another misuse of QR tech is when graphic designers take advantage of the redundant data in the code to add a visual pattern, which makes the scanner less reliable, especially "in the wild," like on buses that are far away and on cheap smartphones with **** cameras. But again, thats about bad marketing people, not QR tech.

The Apprentice

Stamply wrote: »

D. (As a matter of interest, do you know what that means?)

I still haven't heard an argument against QR codes that is about the technology rather than a misuse or misunderstanding of it.

Yes i recieved 5% under the highest grade ever achieved in my college for web design, and actually i am currently recapping this week - on what i had pre-learned - Crazy timing i know !
Also i actually am a project manager - i tell geeks, that design stuff - how i see things playing out how things go, all that jazz in the quickest manor possible. - Even Crazier i know --

So im in a decent enough position to give an qualified "opinion" on this my friend !

I would like to disect your points again.

1. People have different accounts on their phone ?? Really ?? for what ?? Facebook and twitter u mean ? Im just not seeing this one happening on a website - maybe the mobile version i would tell my team, put it on a regular website and you get your wings clipped.

2. People stand around with mobiles waiting for moving buses to stop - Not in the parts of dublin i walk through my friend lol

3. I havent a clue what this gibberish means. I dont think u understand i dont care how it works or why it works. I want it to do something worthwhile. The other suggestion that it recorded clickthoughs for direct mail marketers was WAYY better .. Clearly now im very unimpressed with this !! Frowny face !



As i thought you are clearly looking at this from a different perspective than the general populace.. im sorry but its your mindset -
You see lines of code with your right brain.

I see what does it do for me .. thats what u cannot see and this rant can go on forever and u still wont see my left brained version of what this QR app does for me.. the regular joe !!

RATM

Would agree with other posters that it is the use of them that is at fault not the application itself. QR codes seem to be an accepted industry standard for getting people from offline to online domains. But the use of them should add value for the user and the experience they have, if you don't have a way of adding value then I would stay away from using them as you'll only be successful at annoying people who got their phone out for nothing. If used in the wrong way QR codes have the potential to cause brand damage rather than the intended consequence of enhances sales or awareness of the product.

I've seen estate agents use them in print with a different QR code for each house ad- a good use I would say as you can then use the QR code to see another 5 or 6 photos of the house rather than the single one in the paper, in other words the QR code ads value to the consumer experience and at the same time it brings them to a mobile enabled site where they are just a couple of screen taps away from sending an email to the estate agent to inquire further. That is a good use of QR codes as it gives the customer something extra. On the other hand having a QR code that just sends a user to todayfm.ie seems like you'll just annoy the user.

As another poster mentioned it is how they are used. They have to integrate with something bigger than just the code. Someone said why aren't they on food packaging with a code linking to recipes which is a very good idea. So would linking to a 10% off voucher on supplying an email address, it also helps to build a database for further email marketing. Having them on the backs of buses (which tend to move a lot) is a terrible idea, even if the bus was stationery taking out a €600 smartphone and scanning a code at a bus stop is a perfect opportunity for a snatch and run thief to take that smartphone off you.

QR codes themselves might get replaced down the line by some kind of near field communications embedded in papers but the concept of scanning something to get something on top of the ad your looking at will still remain I feel, but especially more so if marketers use them in an appropriate manner.

Stamply

Yes i recieved 5% under the highest grade ever achieved in my college for web design, and actually i am currently recapping this week

High achiever in Web Design but can't understand this:

3) A QR code can be a long hash (string of characters like this: weHJFOIWUEGHFO8327FIUWEBHFIOUBWDEBFIUWHEBF23987YRE8GFWEUFHWEHA) that, when scanned by a phone that is logged into some app, can send information to update a database, which has nothing to do with guiding the user to a website, which is the common function.

Can't say much for that college so...

RATM wrote: »

Would agree with other posters that it is the use of them that is at fault not the application itself. QR codes seem to be an accepted industry standard for getting people from offline to online domains. But the use of them should add value for the user and the experience they have, if you don't have a way of adding value then I would stay away from using them as you'll only be successful at annoying people who got their phone out for nothing. If used in the wrong way QR codes have the potential to cause brand damage rather than the intended consequence of enhances sales or awareness of the product.

I've seen estate agents use them in print with a different QR code for each house ad- a good use I would say as you can then use the QR code to see another 5 or 6 photos of the house rather than the single one in the paper, in other words the QR code ads value to the consumer experience and at the same time it brings them to a mobile enabled site where they are just a couple of screen taps away from sending an email to the estate agent to inquire further. That is a good use of QR codes as it gives the customer something extra. On the other hand having a QR code that just sends a user to todayfm.ie seems like you'll just annoy the user.

As another poster mentioned it is how they are used. They have to integrate with something bigger than just the code. Someone said why aren't they on food packaging with a code linking to recipes which is a very good idea. So would linking to a 10% off voucher on supplying an email address, it also helps to build a database for further email marketing. Having them on the backs of buses (which tend to move a lot) is a terrible idea, even if the bus was stationery taking out a €600 smartphone and scanning a code at a bus stop is a perfect opportunity for a snatch and run thief to take that smartphone off you.

QR codes themselves might get replaced down the line by some kind of near field communications embedded in papers but the concept of scanning something to get something on top of the ad your looking at will still remain I feel, but especially more so if marketers use them in an appropriate manner.

Good summing up

Peterdalkey

Hey Apprentice

At least now we know that the child has no real world business/marketing experience. If you look back the posts, you will see his attitude is explained by his parents voting Hitler into power or some such, alternatively it is all my fault. Maybe he just throws all the toys out of the pram when his nanny puts his nappy on back to front!

Very QR indeed! Market reality, most poster hate them, time to get over it!

Cheers

Peter

The Apprentice

Jesus wept lol ..
Well i guess that wasnt on the curriculum bud .. i think i may have purposfully forgotten it ??

On another note, im adding to my education im hitting up DBS you,ll be glad to know stampy,
the way he figures pete its only taken off now in 2012 after 16 years in existence ..

I just cant fathom where it will be in 32 years, back of moped helmets perhaps ?
The personal insults you could leave out,
i guess you,ll grow as a person when you hopefully get a qualification you can substantially argue your point across a bit more effectively without offensively insulting.

And just on another note, you actually liked or thanked RATMs post above - Several of his points were similar to my own just reworded -

There's a good lad !! Pat Pat

The Apprentice

I had to laugh today out loud on the train -

Itagged, 6 foot billboard caption was "Farewell to QR Codes" welcome iTagged

raymann

Stamply wrote: »

QR codes are a tool, nothing more nothing less. They are not some future industry-saving technology.

They have advantages and disadvantages like all technology.

People who say they are "dying" are just fobbing them off because they've been taught to have far to high expectations of specific technology features.

Many people know how to use them and in specific repetitive processes they are fine.

They are also open-source so putting them on a print ad is free. If some people scan then great, if not, who cares. Mobile optimised sites are a necessity, as said above, but that is a given these days with or without a QR code as a quarter of the population is searching and browsing more on mobile than desktop now.

Apple is using them in their new Passbook loyalty service: http://techcrunch.com/2012/08/22/chasing-apple-microsofts-neomedia-qr-code-patent-deal-puts-more-focus-on-geometric-boxes/

Simply lower your expectations and you'll understand what QR codes are for. Its also a trivial process to measure how many users are coming to your site from the QR code on the ad, so on that metric they are a perfectly transparent and "innocent" marketing tool. Considering the common belief that "half the money you spend on advertising is wasted, you just don't know which half," then that is a pretty valuable quality in a print ad. And even if only 10 people scan it, and you run another ad where 20 people scan it, so you only get a small number of people to your mobile site, you know that the second ad was 100% more engaging than the first, which equates to an additional 100% revenue generated from that advertisement. Measurement is management, right?

To sum up, for me, anyone who says that QR codes are dead or dying, especially if they work in or around tech, has lost (or never had) the ability to think and is just saying what ever the crowd says.

this sounds like the response of someone trying to sell print media advertising. the fact is no-one is actually using these things. as in it definitely has not been worth the effort of setting them up for us.

complete waste of time

The Apprentice

Print Media Advertising Effectiveness i had read yesterday in the region of - .06 %
Mobile Advertising Effectiveness 20%


There a future with mobile we all can foresee ^ but it aint here yet and i sincerly doubt its with using QR codes
Food for thought either way

Stamply

Tesco using QR codes to create supermarket in a Subway

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGaVFRzTTP4

I know its gimicky, but it worked and its an application of QR codes that has nothing to do with print ads

All yee think of is print ads, print ads, print ads!

How about this? Passbook/Apple, Passbook/Apple, Passbook/Apple!

The Apprentice

Heres an even better idea,

Implement the new google, Apple technology and implement into a discount card with similar functionality as Irelands Leap Card..

Discount gets embedded onto the account, Card get scratched on terminal includes payment, takes discount off and boom your out the door.
Fiddling with apps that cost time, rather than speed this up - is where i think the qr could go

Why not call that discount card the QR card .. i would pick one up - but i would not ever lob my mobile out and do the above its just cumbersome. It is gimmicky to some but not to others. I just wonder, and i think that the majority of people find it cumbersome. Which is probably what the uptake on it, was not as strong.

That promo for QR codes is cool to be fair, but like the automated hoover and grass cutter .. do u think this will catch on ?? I rush for a train every evening, i dont have time personally to be taking photos of a wall to get a bottle of Orange juice because im thirsty !! I wont even go into the fact of delivery times and all that molarky.

Im sorry bud but i cant change my mind as is, its doing nothing for me !

Stamply

The Apprentice wrote: »

Heres an even better idea,

Implement the new google, Apple technology and implement into a discount card with similar functionality as Irelands Leap Card..

Discount gets embedded onto the account, Card get scratched on terminal includes payment, takes discount off and boom your out the door.
Fiddling with apps that cost time, rather than speed this up - is where i think the qr could go

Why not call that discount card the QR card .. i would pick one up - but i would not ever lob my mobile out and do the above its just cumbersome. It is gimmicky to some but not to others. I just wonder, and i think that the majority of people find it cumbersome. Which is probably what the uptake on it, was not as strong.

That promo for QR codes is cool to be fair, but like the automated hoover and grass cutter .. do u think this will catch on ?? I rush for a train every evening, i dont have time personally to be taking photos of a wall to get a bottle of Orange juice because im thirsty !! I wont even go into the fact of delivery times and all that molarky.

Im sorry bud but i cant change my mind as is, its doing nothing for me !

Mobile shopping like Tesco in Korea would never work anywhere other than densely populated cities. The point was that its another application of QR technology.

I don't care about QR codes personally, my point is that they are here to stay as tools with specific limitations and are just misused by many marketing people.

Endlessly Manipulable

Interesting ideas about QR codes here