Future of Print: The QR Code 411

By now, you have probably seen a QR codes cropping up on websites you visit, magazines you read, and stores you visit. Quick Response codes allow the properly equipped smartphone to scan a type of barcode to retrieve web enabled information. Scan the code from Esquire and Robert Downey Jr talks up his Sherlock Holmes movie. Scan the window decal from your neighborhood restaurant to view the menu. Scan the burger wrapper to get nutritional information. Scan the mannequin at the mall to receive a promotional coupon. The options are endless.

Besides being ugly, QR codes are kinda dumb. Proprietors and marketers receive very little information about who is on the other side of the code. Sure the responses can be tailored somewhat by using personalized URLs instead of a generic website address, but for cost, technical, and logistical reasons most QR implementations cannot slice the data at a 1-to-1 ratio. Direct mail campaigns, where a postcard is mailed to a specific individual, are probably the only method for 1-to-1 QR marketing. On the other hand, pURLs in the magazine at the news stand are ineffective since the purchaser is random. The same is true for most of the other situations listed above.

If QR codes are destined to be mentally challenged, the back end marketing systems do not have to be! A mobile phone is almost a necessity for using QR codes but it should not be viewed as a limitation. The combination of smartphone and a QR code unlocks the possibility of targeted marketing once geolocation data is a reality. By merging the QR Code with location specific data from the phone, the server response could be personalized for more purposes.

QR Codes + Geolocation Data = Print & Marketing’s Next Step

As an example, a scan from a window decal of the neighborhood restaurant might offer a link to an instant dining coupon. The same restaurant’s online or print advertisement might redirect users not walking by the restraurant to view the online menu, etc.

(Developer Challange: A Mac based QR reading software needs to be made.)