Can quick response codes jump start mobile marketing?

source-brandrepublic.com

LONDON - If there is one word that the mobile marketing industry is fed up with hearing, it's 'potential'. It is not that mobile is lacking in it as a marketing channel; the problem is that it seems to be permanently stuck at the 'potential' stage, forever waiting for the big idea that will open up mobile marketing and bring mobile campaigns from some of the world's biggest brands to the masses.

While marketers wait, each January brings the promise from excited industry insiders that the next 12 months will be the 'year of mobile'.

There is, however, a groundswell of opinion that the hallowed 'big idea' may well have already arrived, in the form of quick response (QR) codes. These are two-dimensional barcodes that form a bridge between printed material and the mobile internet. Their use is already widespread in Japan, and some pundits believe it could soon become a popular marketing tool in the UK. Moreover, since Google launched its ZXing (pronounced zebra crossing) barcode reader for the JDME, JZSE and Android mobile platforms, the idea has begun to gain credence.

To the untrained eye, the codes look like random black-and-white patterns contained within square boxes. But to the owner of a mobile phone with a QR code reader, they are shortcuts to mobile internet sites. On taking a photo of a QR code with a camera phone, the consumer will be guided to branded content linked specifically to that code.

Simon McMaster, director of digital, Tequila London, describes the practice as 'urban bookmarking'. 'One big problem that brands have is taking someone from the offline environment and getting them to remember the URL of your website,' he explains. 'QR codes solve that problem by providing a direct link between the offline and the online worlds.'

A number of campaigns using QR are already in progress, and more are in the pipeline. Howard Furr-Barton, managing director of online marketing agency Brand Attention, cites the example of Propertyfinder.mobi, which will use QR codes on estate agents' 'for sale' boards to enable consumers to download photos and information about the relevant property to their mobile there and then. BUPA, too, is preparing a package that will allow consumers to purchase travel insurance instantly via their mobile by photographing QR codes on posters at airports.

In addition, Central Manchester Hospitals is in discussion with Brand Attention to incorporate the use of QR codes in a digital signage project at a £500m complex due to open in 2009. Visitors to the hospital would be able to snap a sign-mounted QR code relating to a particular part of the building to access directions to the relevant department.

However, these campaigns are not the first examples of such technology in action in the UK. In 2006, 20:20 London used mobile image recognition as part of a sophisticated multichannel viral campaign to promote the PSP game Gangs of London. Similarly, QR codes were used to promote the 2007 DVD release of the film 28 Weeks Later, as well as a single release for the Pet Shop Boys.

In December, The Sun ran an eight-page pull-out on QR codes, including details of how to download a reader. News Group Newspapers head of mobile advertising, Ian Samuel, says it was part of the publishing group's commitment to delivering its content across print, online and mobile. 'We saw QR codes as an efficient way to enable advertisers to make their press advertising more interactive, like the red button for newspapers,' says Samuel. He adds that 11,000 readers downloaded the QR Code reader - enough to convince the newspaper to consider using the technology again.

Despite this rash of activity, not everyone is convinced that the codes are the answer to mobile marketing's problem. One of the most commonly cited issues is that of reach.

'Recent Nokia handsets support QR codes, but beyond that, it is very limited,' explains Chris Bourke, managing director of mobile agency Aerodeon. 'We know from our experiences with Java downloads that certain demographics are reluctant to download software to their mobiles, and it is likely that the same reluctance will apply to the software needed to read QR codes.'

Some also claim that the codes present few genuinely unexplored opportunities. 'Marketers have been placing shortcodes and keywords on above-the-line material to great effect for years, and QR codes add little to the mix that cannot already be achieved by more traditional mobile techniques,' argues Tim Dunn, marketing services director at Mobile Interactive Group.

He also rejects the idea that QR codes are destined to take off in Europe simply because they have in Japan, where high-speed mobile data networks have been ubiquitous for many years and high-end browsers, handset applications and consumer uptake have grown with them. 'QR codes are a neat-looking idea, but the need for Java software is a big hurdle for UK users,' he adds.

Even for those more impressed by the technological theory, there remains a potential conundrum. 'Which comes first - advertisers needing QR codes to attract users to their mobile sites, or consumers seeking a utility that benefits them?' asks Robert Thurner, commercial director at mobile agency Incentivated. 'For the consumer to want a code-reader on their phone, there have to be enough existing codes that they want to access.'

Those driving the technology in the UK are working to surmount the software barrier. As Dunn points out, it is possible to send a photograph of a QR code as an MMS picture message and receive a reply with a link to the mobile internet site, sidestepping the need to download a barcode-reader.

A further complication is that, although the term is used generically, QR codes are just one of several types of mobile barcodes including Aztec, Upcode, Data Matrix and Microsoft's High Capacity Colour Barcode - none of which is compatible with any of the others.

Thomas Curwen, planning director at ad agency Publicis Dialog, began evangelising the technology to his clients after encountering mobile barcodes in Japan in 2004. However, he recognised the problems that would be caused by the numerous incompatible versions of the technology, and in February 2007 Publicis Groupe joined up with other companies including Nokia, HP and Qualcomm to form the Mobile Codes Consortium (MC2).

For the past year, MC2 has been lobbying for a unified standard for mobile barcodes, and in December it persuaded the GSM Association (GSMA) and the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) to commit to seeking a worldwide mobile barcode standard.

'We hope that the OMA and GSMA will encourage the industry to adopt a single standard that allows [nearly] all code readers to read [nearly] all codes,' says Curwen. 'This will also increase the likelihood that phones are sold with readers pre-installed, and will deliver a technology that helps the marketing industry to extend the measurement and response aspects of the internet to match the reach and impact of traditional display advertising.'

Mobile industry insiders believe that consumers will not care which technology wins out, as long as it works. But Nigel Dean, head of interactive sales for mobile network O2 , agrees with Curwen about the need for a unified standard. 'We have spoken to a lot of agencies in the mobile space and everyone is agreed that it will not work until there is a standard,' he says. 'Once we have that, we can start explaining to consumers what it means,how it will benefit them, and how it will make their lives different.'

That is quite a brief for a squiggly black-and-white square. But if the mobile marketing industry really wants to stop all the empty murmur about 'potential', it is probably not far short of what will be required.

Case study: Kerrang

Last year, Emap ran a QR code promotion in its heavy-metal music title Kerrang. The campaign was set up by Squiggly Square, an agent for i-nigma, which produces QR code-reader applications for mobiles.

Readers were invited to text the word 'Kerrang' to a shortcode to request the code-reader, which enabled them to scan a barcode on an ad for the band Pendulum that appeared in the magazine.

The code linked to a mobile site where users could access free wallpapers and download Pendulum's single for a fee. 'In effect, what we did was to turn the magazine into a broadcast medium,' says Chris Shepperson, head of market for entertain-ment across Q, Mojo, Kerrang and Empire magazines.

Emap has not released figures for the number of readers who downloaded the code-reader, but Shepperson is confident that the response will have been strong.

'We think this was a really good offer,' he says. 'It enabled readers to go beyond the pages of the magazine and access music content on their mobile, even if they were sitting on a train or somewhere else where they couldn't get online.'