QR Codes: Interactive Bridge Between Real and Virtual Worlds
One of the most compelling trends this year has been the rise of QR codes – short for Quick Response codes – and they’re shaping up to become a big player. QR codes can be embedded with any URL, whether it is a website, video, picture, or contact information, and various sites now make it easy for any user to generate a unique code. The resulting code can be read by any smartphone equipped with a scanning app. If you have a smartphone, you can give this one a try now!
QR codes create a bridge between real-world and digital spaces. All-new user experiences are being developed through the use of these codes. Earlier this year, New York’s Museum of Modern Art put on an exhibition entitled “Talk To Me: Design and the Communication Between People and Objects”. The exhibition featured a QR code along with every single display. Viewers could scan the accompanying code to learn more about the artwork and to interact with certain pieces via text, pictures, and videos. Each object was also assigned a Twitter hashtags, so that tweets could be picked up by the MoMA website.
Tesco’s marketing campaign in Korea is another great example of QR code innovation. The multi-national grocery chain put up life-size replicas of their grocery aisles in busy subway stops so consumers can scan the QR code, thereby putting the item into their online shopping cart. After virtual checkout, the groceries are delivered straight to the customer’s doorsteps. Unlike other online grocery stores, this one gives you the experience of actually strolling down an aisle and picking out the produce.
Video integration is another unique way to utilize QR codes. One of the best campaigns we’ve seen is The World Park, which let visitors to New York’s Central Park experience the park in a new way — by re-living some of the best moments captured on film, gaining insightful facts about the park, and sharing the experience over Facebook.
Ads like the following are particularly creative and engaging ways to use QR code videos:
Although QR codes are gaining prominence, it may be some time before they reach a mainstream audience. You can see an infographic about the QR Invasion here. As the QR territory is being explored, it’s important to be aware of effective versus non-effective QR code strategies and to keep in mind these best practices. Finally, we leave you with the top 5 reasons to use QR codes: quick information sharing, instant action, increase traffic to websites, print to online integration, and smarter real-world objects.
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