QR Codes in the Wild: July 2012 Edition
Posted by 
on Monday, July 23, 2012 
at 7:00 AM 
in Each month we write tons of blog posts on QReateAndTrack.com about the QR Codes that we come across while we are out and about. This month like every other month, we saw plenty of creative ways that people are using QR Codes in their marketing efforts.
Below are some of the pieces that caught our attention over the past month. We hope that you enjoy them.
University of Regina is using QR Codes
Bar Louie uses QR Codes to Grow Its Mailing List
Boston Market using QR Codes this Summer
Taco Bell Builds a Hunger-Inducing QR Code
Wendy’s Restaurants using QR Codes
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Tags barcodes, Direct Mail, example, ideas, inspiration, interactive, mobile, postcard, print, QR Codes, Video Using Email to Increase Social Media Engagement
I’d like to thank Katie Sadlier for sharing the example below with me.
It highlights how one Credit Union is running a multi-channel campaign to connect with their audience.
In this example, they are using email as a way to encourage their customers to interact with the Credit Union’s Facebook page. They also make mention of a contest that they are running as well.
Here is a screenshot of the email:
Of course, we must say that running a contest on Facebook requires some caution. They do offer some specific rules that have changed over the years regarding how contests can be run.
But no matter what, we think the inspiration here is clear: companies must use multiple channels to reach their audience today and to increase engagement on their social networking sites.
Incorporating QR Codes into Packaging
I wanted to share a recent example of how HP used QR Codes to make packaging interactive.
HP hosted a Lunch & Learn event on a golf course in Washington (Our CEO John Foley, Jr. was one of the speakers that day). To help provide a memorable takeaway to attendees that also fit the show’s theme, HP produced and gave away a box of golf balls.
On the outside of the package, they also included a QR Code.
The QR Code directed the attendees, which were primarily print service providers, to a mobile website where they could answer a survey regarding Digital Press equipment. HP sales reps were notified via email whenever someone completed the survey and requested additional information.
If you would like to see more, we recorded a brief video that demonstrates how people were able to interact with this box. Enjoy!
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Tags example, golf, HP, inspiration, interactive, labels, Packaging, print, QR Codes, Video Milford, New Hampshire Uses QR Codes in Voters’ Guide
I’d like to share with you how a town in New Hampshire has used QR Codes to make their printed Voters’ Guide interactive.
Here is a video of how they shared information with their growing mobile audience:
I hope that you enjoyed this example. If you are interested in creating QR Codes and tracking their effectiveness, please feel free to check out QReate & Track >>
A Multi-Channel Marketing Campaign in Action
We love to talk about the importance of why you should take a multi-channel approach to marketing efforts.
I mean, it makes sense — people see hundreds of marketing messages each day. They may need to see, hear, and experience what you are trying to sell multiple times before they realize that they need it.
Also, people are consuming messages on more devices than ever before. They might be taking information in from their smart phone, on the web via a laptop, radio, TV, social media site, billboards, magazines, iPad and more, all at varying times throughout the day (and sometimes, through multiple devices at the same time).
To make an impression, we certainly need to reach people through multiple channels. We also need to allow them to respond through multiple channels.
Multi-Channel in Reach and Response
An interlinkONE customer recently ran a campaign for a small college . The goal was to push a survey out to their alumni, and collect valuable feedback. The college has been around for nearly a century. Thus, they have a wide variety of ages in their mailing list of alums.
To maximize the chances that they would effectively reach and receive a response from all in their list, they developed the following campaign structure:
Yes, they decided to reach their audience through multiple channels: Direct Mail and Email.
On the Direct Mail piece, they offered people two ways to respond. One was via a personalized URL (for example: http://JasonPinto.MyUniversity.com). People could access their Response page by simply typing their PURL into a web browser.
However, to reach the growing mobile audience — the people that own a smart phone and carry it everywhere they go — they also included a QR Code on the direct mailer. If someone scanned the QR Code with their smartphone, they were directed a personalized landing page that was mobile-optimized.
Accounting for the fact that not everyone may respond to the direct mailer, the customer also sent out emails to alumni whom they had an email address for. To respond to that channel, people simply needed to click a link which directed them to a personalized landing page.
Measuring What Worked
Through our ilinkONE Version 8 marketing software, the customer was able to build, manage, and execute a campaign that used these multiple channels (Of course, they could have possibly included other channels — social media, text messaging, banner ads, print ads, etc.).
But our software also provide real-time reports to help them see the effectiveness of each channel. Here are some examples:
Responses by Channel/Media
Response Profile/Traffic Analysis Report
Moving Forward with More-Than-One
We hope that this campaign provides some form of inspiration. Sure, there are certainly times when you need to use many more channels than they did in this case. But here’s the bottom line — never rely on just one! Consumers and prospects have more control than ever before as to how they interact with marketing messages — it takes a multi-channel approach to reach them and receive a response.
