Making the link

June 8, 2009, 8:42 AM
Filed under: Uncategorized

For quite a while now, we’ve struggled to bridge the gap between offline media and online action. Or, maybe more to the point, we’ve struggled to quantify how effectively offline ads can drive people online. This is a challenge given lots of brands have websites these days, us being a sophisticated lot and all, and interestingly despite all this new fangled interweb business, they also still like buying ads in largely unquantifiable environments like bus stops in East Tamaki.

Lo, the QR code is coming to save us. Well, that and the mobile phone. QR codes allow users to scan images into their phone which ‘open’ websites whose address or details are encoded in the image.

Recently the winners of the Yellow Pages Group Cannes ad compeition was won by Patrick Murphy and Sue Young from Rapp with an idea featuring QR codes as a key device. Their idea, using QR codes to link ads in the Yellow book to websites, shows one application. Other applications include in outdoor ads like I mentioned above, in print ads and even in more ambient executions like tattoos or stenciling.

QR codes used in a Billboard in Tokyo by Ogilvy Japan

QR seems to be a great way to make (and track) the link between your offline promotion and website. I’d wager that as phones include QR code readers in their software as standard, they will become a very familiar sight in ads and in our lives as a whole. To kick things off, here’s ours. You can download a QR code reader for your iPhone here and give it a whirl.

wag the dog qr code large