Smartphone’s and Android’s such as Blackberry’s and I-Phones allow for and provide major opportunity for an increased move into digital advertising and marketing.
With Microsoft and Nokia deciding to pair up and make an ‘android baby’ that will compete with the market leaders as mentioned in my blog: B2B Mobile Marketing – What’s next?, I suggest that many more millions will be poured into digital and mobile advertising.
So, is this the beginning of the end for traditional methods advertising? I don’t think so! Ultimately digital advertising is going to rapidly increase with technology such as Augmented Reality (AR), 4G, Physicality (see first blog), Near Field Communication (NFC) etc... These advances in technology are going to increase the digital divide and those ‘in the know’ are going to rapidly overtake those that aren’t (very similar to the capitalistic division of class).
However a particular piece of digital technology created by Denso Wave in 1994, is something that isn’t going to prevent the increase in digital advertising and does in fact assist digital advertising, but it will allow traditional methods of advertising to further their abilities and have increased value.
What I am referring to are QR (Quick Response) codes. QR Codes are specific matrix code initially created to allow their individual contents to be decoded at high speed. They were originally used for tracking Toyota car parts in the manufacturing process and have now become “the biggest driver of traffic to mobile Internet by far” (Findel-Hawkins, Sales Director Nikkei BP Europe).
I am suggesting that QR codes will assist traditional methods of media to receive an increased level of budget because they provide direct links from static or non-interactive advertisements (or TV) to web pages and applications that allow for the purchase of brands/products as well as numerous other levels of interactivity. For example the QR code I have on my facebook page and that you can see below directs people directly to this blog.
“As mobile phones and other locative media develop, we will see new data layers added to the urban and outdoor environment” (McStay – Digital Advertising). People by nature are inquisitive about their surroundings, so the idea of knowing secrets or gaining information that we cannot see at face-value is psychologically built into our genetics as a positive, whether it is general inquisitiveness or greed.
QR codes ignite this innate desire and in many situations provide us with something for nothing, another incentive, free stuff. For example, if I hadn’t of told you what the QR code above was for, wouldn’t you have wanted to know? And with QR codes being thrust at us left right and centre they are bound to catch on, in an even bigger way than before. QR codes are even being used in plots for globally viewed television shows e.g. CSI, as seen in clip below.
The application of QR codes is barley limited if at all and can be placed on practically anything with visual elements in particular traditional methods of advertising such as:
- Billboards
- Buildings
- Business Cards (2nd intended purpose after tracking car parts)
- Doors
- Leaflets/Letters (Junk mail)
- Packaging
- Posters
- Products
- Promotional Giveaway Items (e.g. Mouse mats)
- Television
QR codes can even be placed on ‘traditional’ media within Virtual Environments such as 2nd life.
All of these media vehicles can have QR codes placed upon them which can contain Url’s, SMS’s, Phone Numbers and Text (Mc Gregor).
Television fragmentation has lead to budgets being spread across various channels. QR codes can be moulded quite easily to suit a particular target audience via different and varied media channels e.g. offering products or discounts for products that the TA can relate to.
If for example you wanted to target mums with a QR code that provides them with a discount (purchase/trial incentive) on Monster Munch multipacks, it can be done via a daytime television advert and then once the mums have purchased the crisps, different codes can be placed on the individual packets of crisps, which could, in turn lead to a game or a gaming website or money off an individual packet of Monster Munch, that the children can then use.
After all, it is suggested that “a relevant context, matching a brand to a related advertising environment is assumed to put shoppers in receptive frame of mind increasing the potential impact of the brand’s message” (Plummer et al 2007).
If for example you wanted to target mums with a QR code that provides them with a discount (purchase/trial incentive) on Monster Munch multipacks, it can be done via a daytime television advert and then once the mums have purchased the crisps, different codes can be placed on the individual packets of crisps, which could, in turn lead to a game or a gaming website or money off an individual packet of Monster Munch, that the children can then use.
One of the biggest issues of QR codes is supposedly that people aren’t going to be able to scan them if they are on television because they will leave the screen before people have the opportunity to scan. I originally believed the same thing.
However looking at the way in which people are watching TV in this day in age, technology such as SKY+ allows for people to pause, rewind and then also fast-forward TV. This suggests that people are very able to scan the QR codes. If people don’t want to stop their TV for whatever reason, then as you can see in the video below, there are other ways to prepare the TV audience e.g. a countdown.
The dynamic qualities of QR codes and their increasing familiarity (decreasing the barriers to entry), entwined within the innate use of mobile telephones, is a surefire blend of variables that will result in an increased amount of traditional advertising because of the value and brand interaction that they can add.
That’s what I’m thinking! How about you?
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