Are QR Codes Hitting Critical Mass?
Last week we were fortunate enough to have VP Van Eiseman from marketing firm Digitas join us for a panel discussion at the annual Limelight Networks January kick-off meeting. As a Limelight customer, Eiseman has worked with our mobility and creative ad tech teams to design and execute branding campaigns for Digitas clients. He had a lot to say overall about the growth of mobile marketing in corporate campaigns, but he also specifically highlighted one mobile trend that has taken off in the US very recently: the use of QR codes.
QR codes, or Quick Response codes, have been around for a few years, but have been relatively slow to take off in the States. The 2D barcodes can be scanned with an app on a smartphone and then used to link a consumer to further details on any topic. According to Eiseman, companies are increasingly incorporating QR codes in their marketing campaigns, even using the links to direct people to mobile videos that extend the brand experience. Digitas tells its clients that, while the phenomenon is still in its early days, now is the time to experiment with QR codes. There’s no better way to activate a brand at the exact moment when a consumer is seeking more information. QR codes bridge the gap between the online and offline experience.
Need further data on the barcode trend? Scanbuy recently released the results of a survey on mobile barcode scanning including stats on UPC and QR code usage.
- Traffic was up 16x in 2010 overall
- Traffic doubled between September and December
- The largest scan days were the day after Thanksgiving (“Black Friday”) and Christmas Day (as people received gifts, many being new Smartphones)
