Almost like QR Code Orienteering!

Mote Park Roscommon

This is a great way to learn about the history of a location, local habitat and wildlife.
The Heritage Tour leaflet comes with a full explanation and an easily downloaded QR code showing all the videos on the tour in case you can't physically take part.

This is a real inventive way to use QR Codes and one i have not seen done before in Ireland.
So at each point on your trail, you scan the QR code where a short video is the outcome.

Drawback: Stable video streaming subject to mobile operator plus the obvious data connection charge. Only suitable to those with mobile phones and weather dependent - who wants to get their phone wet?   Besides that, it's a fun way of promoting a location and definitely worth a try.

Standard Data Rates Apply

Tony & Buy  - Hair Serum Drops

This is a nice clean and effective QR code with sizing and quiet space making this an easy scan.
Probably one of the first QR codes i've scanned warning me that 'Standard Data Rates Apply'. This therefore gives the new consumer the knowledge that it is not exactly a free application they are proceeding with, though we know that most people will have understood this.

The scan outcome does not compliment the product directly, instead it bring to a sales page displaying a number of different products in the range.

Suggestion: Make it relevant to the product. e.g: video demonstration

Not the scan i thought i was getting!

Noticed a competition on a carton of milk (right image). Green section tells you how to enter the competition then below this it says to learn more scan here or visit or website.

I thought to learn more would bring me to more information about the competition or better still a direct link to the entry site. However, this was not the scan i got. It was to learn more about the product (peak fresh story).  Even though the site was user friendly and mobile optimised, i think it was a missed opportunity to bring the user from the offline world into the online world in a fun way (competition). It was not the scan i thought i was getting and exited soon after.

To conclude, i feel it is better to let the customer know what they are getting when they scan the code especially if is not what i think the customer was maybe led to believe. To learn more.. is too vague especially when QR codes are not widely used at present.

Increase your email database with QR Codes!

Email Sign up with QR Codes:

This clever idea i noted from Tiger Stores which is part of a Danish chain store network of retail shops. They have sign up cards next to the cash register. Here a customer can fill it in right away or take the flyer with them and sign up via scanning the QR Code. It then opens onto a Tiger Danish page where the user is offered the English translation. (location specific). Here the user clicks yes.
Then they pop in their email address and are then registered for news from Tiger stores.

They have the QR code bug in Lanzarote!

From a recent trip to Lanzarote and Fuerteventura plus from recollection of Tenerife, i have noticed a huge difference in the uptake of QR codes in these islands compared with Ireland.

There are everywhere! Bottles, pubs, shops, advertising, menus.
Though the QR codes were prolific in terms of visibility it did not mean that they all had effective outcomes. Some did lead to mobile web sites, some to non mobile websites, others led a web page virtually containing nothing while one should have been a data matrix code. (just a reference number)
To sum up, it was definitely quantity over quality but nonetheless they must be popular and understood by users for them to be ubiquitous?

It is also worth pointing out that some of QR code images have big international brands behind them. Their marketing is these cases must be country specific as their QR Codes are not visible on Irish brand products. E.G: Pepsi & Heineken.


Here are some examples below:

Something different with a QR Code!

Yikes, €2.65! I only bought it cause it had a QR Code on it!
Well, it was a nice tasty drink with real Aloe Vera inside. This drink from 'alo' had a good size QR Code on the side label. Next to it read the words SCAN TO UNLOCK. This in itself is a good marketing tool and instead makes the result more secretive. This code scanned well and once opened linked to a Sound Cloud link where a piece of music was ready waiting for me to press play.
I can't really remember seeing this done before so first of all it was inventive, it was unique and it was definitely different. In terms of brand association there wasn't anything when scanned that linked me back to the product or offered more information on the product. I guess this isn't that important if you have created a new transaction with the QR Code.... ALOtones!

It completes its function but i was expecting more!

Supermac's have a QR code on the back of their fries holder pack. Maybe you will be compelled after your nice meal to want to scan the code or just get rid of your litter.  Either way, the QR code scans effectively and brings you to a mobile optimised website. They fulfil the 2 most important conditions. In this case, you cannot say much negative about it.

But i think the consumer would like more. The code could bring the user to an online world full of imagination, a competition, a fun video but it's just the web address that is written just below the QR Code. Remember when you design a QR Code it doesn't have to be so bland. You can incorporate a logo, picture or design giving it a more attractive appearance.

Good job, Supermac's : )