QR Code This…

Heather // September 10, 2010 // Advertising // 4 Comments

Flipping through this week’s gossip magazines (I love Thursdays), I came across FOX’s seven-plus page advertisement promoting their season premiers. In the bottom left-hand corner of each show’s ad was a QR Code. I’ve become somewhat familiar with these just from working at a digital ad agency and I know our team just used a QR code recently in their work with the Del Mar Racetrack. Yet, despite all this, as a consumer I found myself perplexed by what to do with these little guys.

After finally figuring out how to download the QR application to my phone, I was taken to a web page featuring various clips from the show’s new season. My immediate reaction was “how the heck am I suppose to see anything on this small of a screen?”

As much as it thrills me to see companies mixing print advertising with digital, I think there were a couple of things I would change here if I was working with a client who wanted to integrate QR codes into their advertising.

1. Tell people where they can download the app and maybe even what they should do with it. If I didn’t work at a digital agency, I most likely would have had no clue what that was or that I was supposed to take a picture of it, let alone that I needed to download an app.

2. Make sure that the page it serves to people is mobile friendly. For me, it was challenging to watch videos on my teeny tiny screen.

3. Ideally, a QR code could also serve as a key that unlocks value to the consumer, such as a coupon, or a ring tone, or points to a rewards program, etc. To me, this just makes more sense than sending someone to a page on their website that they could have easily accessed via the internet.

Clearly, QR Codes have the potential for providing a tremendous value to consumers and I am looking forward to seeing how this technology evolves. And a big kudos to Fox and other companies who are continuously working to meld traditional print advertising with the online world.