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What is a QR Code?

Oz.

Top Contributor
My apologies to Billy01 - I didn't see his post.

Anyway, I was just talking to another old codger domainer, and I'm pleased to say he didn't have a clue what QR codes were either! I feel a bit better now. ;)

qr codes are old news to me having lived in Japan for a couple of years. :p
u golden oldies.
 
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James

Top Contributor
Are consumers using them though? That's the question! There is a lot of marketing going on but my guess is most people don't even know how to use them or what they are. Most phones don't work with QR codes out of the box either.

I don't think consumers want to scan any type of barcode which is probably why a lot of self service machines in supermarkets are being shut down and/or removed. I'd say the behaviour laps over.

You need the app to get it working, sure gen Y is all over it. Yet other gens are taking a while to get into the game.

A good one is where they have QR codes in the newspaper example -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LI0nupl8xHU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2IOVIPh8Vw


Brining old media with new media, I think phones in the near future will come out of the box with the aps installed, some are already going this way, how hard is it to scan a QR code?
 

Data Glasses

Top Contributor
The new gens love their gadgets and they love the chance to use them, the only thing holding back the qr revolution has been the reader coming on the phone as a standard item, they are here to stay without doubt

Scanning a code takes about one second and you are directed to a site after that, i put qr code printed out on a vacant shop window and asked someone to scan it when they went past, the reply was 'how quick and easy it was to get to a site'

The local bike shop has them on the price tags so people can read up more on the product
 

payattention

Archived Member
James said:
You need the app to get it working, sure gen Y is all over it. Yet other gens are taking a while to get into the game.

A good one is where they have QR codes in the newspaper example -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LI0nupl8xHU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2IOVIPh8Vw


Brining old media with new media, I think phones in the near future will come out of the box with the aps installed, some are already going this way, how hard is it to scan a QR code?

Gen Y all over it and it's in newspapers... something doesn't fit there! Like I said, only people interested in QR codes are those marketing it as the next big thing (similar to 3D).

spacey said:
The new gens love their gadgets and they love the chance to use them, the only thing holding back the qr revolution has been the reader coming on the phone as a standard item, they are here to stay without doubt

QR codes are here to stay for the same reason they've been used for the past 17 years. Great for postal services, tracking inventory etc etc.

QR codes, 3D tv.. all the same hype (shit in other words).
 

payattention

Archived Member
It's just my opinion spacey, not a personal attack or anything like that so please don't take it that way. What's wrong with a little debate or a strong opinion? I think it's good for the forum and would spark further discussion. If I'm wrong and someone can demonstrate that and change my opinion, we both win.

Given James example, if you're using QR codes in a newspaper to target young people, you're not going to have much success.

No doubt mobile is going to be big but if companies like Apple aren't producing a native app or built in functionality for QR codes, it's not something worth investing in IMO. Of course, if they did that, it might change but I don't see any of the manufacturers doing that anytime soon.

Figured why not hedge my bets and register createqrcode.com.au just in case I'm wrong :)

 
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James

Top Contributor
New Article out today about QR Codes:

QR codes are dead (before they even began)


Simon is the director of TwoCents Group, a creative marketing and advertising team of five based across Brisbane and Sydney. From his background with Heineken and Lion Nathan, he works predominantly with SMEs helping with tailored communication strategies. Find Simon on Twitter at @IAmSimonDell, and Facebook.
Forget QR codes, the utterly pointless piece of faux-3D trickery. They’ve popped up in places we don’t want them, need them or will ever use them and we should think about taking them off the marketing pitch and sending them in for an early bath.
Radical the opinion might be, but radical a QR code is not. I sense whispers in marketing WIPs around the country discussing what brands should do with QR codes, how we should embrace them and the results we’re looking for. I sense the same whispers discussing whether the consumer actually, really cares.
A QR code is just a bar code. It’s a different shape and size but its purpose isn’t much different: to code and deliver information. They have been around for years, but with the increase in smartphone usage, some bright sparks have decided that now is the time for the QR code to shine. How wrong they are.
‘But wait,’ squeal the QR fans, ‘the QR code can deliver us exclusive content.’ Like when we’re standing in a bus stop – just the place we want exclusive content. Or an exclusive video – that a brand is going to want us to watch anyway because it spent tens of thousands of dollars making it and only showing it to five people will never justify next year’s marketing budget.
Maybe we could just forgo the ‘exclusive’ and it could send us to places where we can find useful information. Like bus times. Details about a house. Or prices on tickets for the theatre. The trouble with sending me to a website to get bus times, is that what I would really like is the bus times on the bus stop in the first place. I’d love to think real estate agents will embrace the codes for ‘for sale’ signs but we know that they’ll never part with the simplicity of a mobile phone number because they want you to call them.
The problem of the QR code is its ability to act as a gateway we simply don’t need. It’s an extra stepping stone to content that a brand actually wants us to get to. It’s getting in the way of things. We all know the number of clicks a consumer has to go on to find their ultimate goal should be as few as possible, so throwing an obstacle the shape and size of a QR code just slows our recruitment. What if my phone is dead? What if I’m on a call? What if I’m playing Angry Birds? I stop all of those and scan the code to take me to a site I’ll have forgotten an hour later? What if I’m simply not that interested?
I don’t buy it.
I stood in a room today of people and talked about social media, mobile technology and eventually, QR codes, and of all the other marketing strategies these business people could employ, I genuinely felt that QR codes would be at the back of a long line. I asked them how many had smart phones. 80% of the hands went up. I asked them how many had a business Facebook page. Three hands went up.
Three hands in 80. How do we get people to use QR codes for their own business when they can’t grasp a Facebook page? Only 25% were on LinkedIn. Sure we’re talking about a service-based industry room here that traditionally hasn’t embraced Facebook for business, but 50% of that room was under 35 and switched on to most modern tech. We were also in Sydney CBD, not a country backwater.
I have a friend who has developed software for people to put QR codes on business cards, which then allows a scanner to transfer that information directly into the phone’s memory. He’s a clever man, but as I point out to him, I just don’t think he gets consumer behaviour. Surely the early adopters might fawn over the chance to QR code a phone number into their memory banks, but many will simply say ‘just give me a f**king business card’ and then throw it into the stack of all the other business cards of people they’re not going to contact. There needs to be a critical mass of engagement for a product to succeed. QR codes aren’t going to reach that mass.
The consumer is lazy or uninterested – look at the guy in the photo looking at the code and not the product. I’m convinced that holding their phone up to something for five seconds to find out it’s a free sample of washing powder will eventually put pay to any idea that the QR code will become part of our life.
Let’s dump the idea and stop selling ourselves the belief that because the gateway to our idea seems to be cool and funky, that this makes the idea itself cool and funky. A viral idea will spread if its good, not because we’re making people jump through a hoop to access it.

source:
http://www.marketingmag.com.au/blogs/qr-codes-are-dead-before-they-even-began-8641/
 

Shane

Top Contributor
I've scanned a QR code just once, a good few years back in Anthill Magazine when it actually was a magazine rather than just a website! It was a nice novelty, but nothing more.

I get the idea that it's easier to scan a code rather than typing in a URL, but I'd still rather type from afar rather than waving my phone in front of a billboard or whatever.

In the long term I'll probably be proven wrong, but for now I think it is way over-hyped.

PS. Personally I'm more impressed by the Woolworths iphone app that allows me to scan barcodes on food items at home! But again, it's just a novelty for me.
 

James

Top Contributor
I've scanned a QR code just once, a good few years back in Anthill Magazine when it actually was a magazine rather than just a website! It was a nice novelty, but nothing more.

I get the idea that it's easier to scan a code rather than typing in a URL, but I'd still rather type from afar rather than waving my phone in front of a billboard or whatever.

In the long term I'll probably be proven wrong, but for now I think it is way over-hyped.

PS. Personally I'm more impressed by the Woolworths iphone app that allows me to scan barcodes on food items at home! But again, it's just a novelty for me.

Woolworths app is MEGA successful, I read it had over 1 million people use it!!
 

payattention

Archived Member
Blanket statements of 'it's shit' is hardly good discussion ....leave you with it at this point

I said much more than "it's shit" when compared to your one liners spacey. Like I said before, my comments were not a personal attack. James was willing to come to the table and consider the other side by posting an article contrary to his opinion.

I even went ahead and registered a QR code related domain last night after calling them out as shit but you seem to want to make it personal which doesn't contribute anything positive to the discussion or the forum. Let's stick to the topic instead of getting upset because someone holds a different opinion.
 

Commission Factory

Regular Member
Hi everyone

Just wanted to weight into the debate as earlier this year we integrated qr code support into our network. Our move was based on the fact that qr codes are gaining popularity with marketers, they are popular in more tech developed markets and we saw it as a way for affiliate marketing to be conducted in offline.

While native support in smartphone maybe missing it may also be the fault of the marketer in introducing the concept of qr codes, providing instructions to the viewer and then giving an incentive for them to use the qr code. Putting a qr code at the bottom of the advert with no instructions or reason to scan greatly limits the partication of the campaign and is a mistake often seen.

Qr codes have great possibilities and we have seen so very innovative uses such as http://www.springwise.com/?s=Qr+code (this website is really great for doing research on new concepts, businsess ideas and trends by the way). We have heard of some very successful print based campaigns normally when a discount if offered such as 10% off etc. People have to remember the QR can hold a decent amount of data and therefore can be used in various applications not just marketing.

If anyone is interested in developing any of those QR code domains then let us know.
 

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