Quick Response - Scanning the Future

Sept. 14, 2011 - PRLog -- Take a look around your office-- chances are the majority of your peers have a smartphone. Smartphones and mobile internet use are on the rise as the technology becomes more user friendly and inexpensive for the everyday user. Mobile websites, applications, and QR codes are being seen more and more frequently in advertising and marketing campaigns, and there is little to suggest that will change in the near future. Of these new concepts, QR codes are seeing the most dramatic increase in use, as they are the newest advertising tool to reach the mobile phone market and the easiest to create and incorporate into existing marketing campaigns.
Quick Response codes or “QR” codes are 2-dimensional barcodes that lead to links and messages on a mobile phone. The barcodes are typically black and white; however, recently more and more companies have begun to incorporate their themes and logos into the design of the code. When scanned with a smartphone that has been enabled to read the code through the use of specific applications, the phone is brought to a website URL, text message, application, phone number, or SMS. These websites and messages may be independent advertising campaigns, or part of a larger campaign and serve as a compliment. Either way, QR codes are being used more often by advertisers as a way to provide their potential customers with a unique bit of information, quickly and with minimal effort on the customer’s part.
Mixed-media campaigns that utilize QR codes will continue to become ever more prevalent as the smartphone and mobile-web boom grows. As use of these new marketing techniques becomes more widespread, users will become more accustomed to their presence and will understand the unique opportunities that the QR codes present. Just as text messaging was once a new and different technology, its acceptance is now worldwide and it is believed that QR codes will follow a similar path. QR codes are a new and innovative way to reach your customer and with the right message behind your campaign an old marketing plan can become new again. So if you are considering a QR campaign, look at what has worked for other companies and use their success as an outline for your own company.
The Vacation Channel has been using QR codes for over a year, and since has utilized their benefits in many different ways. QR codes have made their way onto our business cards, print material, and even onto plastic cups. Through creative placement, The Vacation Channel has provided a new avenue to draw people to watch custom videos, view our website, and increase our Facebook following. For more information on QR Codes and their uses with mixed-media and video, contact The Vacation Channel at info@vacationchannels.com .

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The Vacation Channel (TVC) serves as an in-room video concierge to over 12,000 hotel, resort, and timeshare rooms throughout Hampton Roads.