QR codes; a smart way of advertising?

QR codes, or Quick Response codes, look like a two dimensional squared barcode (for the persons also following the course media use in organizations, take a look at the profile picture of ‘Mediause’ on twitter). These barcodes can be scanned with modern mobile phones and after the scanning they display ‘hidden’ information. Because information can be included in such a barcode, QR codes are used more and more frequently as a marketing tool.

In the Netherlands, the QR trend is still developing, but in countries like Japan – where it was invented, it is already a real phenomenon. Food product place a QR code with a nice recipe on the package and QR codes on billboards often refer to the company website. This small piece of smart technology seems to have its advantages, but when I heard of it, I could only think of the disadvantages…

First of all, not everybody has a mobile phone which is capable of reading these codes. At the moment, it are only the Blackberry’s and the Iphone that are commonly used and support this function. This means that you, as an advertiser, already miss a part of your target group only due to the fact that they do not possess a fancy phone. Furthermore, another part of the target group is missed because they simply do not take the time to take out their mobile phone and scan a QR code as they walk past a billboard or advertisement. Most people are still annoyed by the thousands of advertisements we are exposed to on a daily basis and so, if they get the opportunity to miss out on some of this information, they will take it with both hands.

For these reasons I believe that QR codes are not a good marketing tool; they ask from us to become active consumers of advertising while most people are not the biggest fan of the advertisements we are spammed with.. But I guess only the future will tell how this trend develops in our country…