QR Codes in Business and Marketing

This entry was created on 15 March 2009, at 17:15 , and was last updated on the 16 March 2009, at 20:12.

QR Codes

A QR Code is a two-dimensional barcode, created by the Japanese corporation Denso-Wave in 1994. They were designed as a quick method of exchanging data, hence QR - acronym for Quick Response. With the widespread uptake of mobile phone cameras in recent years, QR codes have become very popular in Japan, and are beginning to spread to the West.

QR Codes can be quickly generated through websites such as The 2D Code, and can include anything from a website address, phone number, email address or a full contact card. Information can be encoded within a specified format, to allow a QR Code scanner to deal with the information in a more productive way. For instance, a contact card can be quickly added to the mobile phone's address book, and a website address can be quickly loaded into a web browser.

QR Codes in Marketing

QR Codes can be delivered in a range of forms, from static material in magazines, on posters and flyers, to digital forms on personal computers, laptops and netbooks, television, and mobile phones.

In static marketing material, QR Codes can be used to effectively deliver further information on a product or campaign, in the form of a website address. Given the mobile delivery format, any website address encoded should be very much optimised for mobile internet. An email address or phone number could also be included.

Digital advertising can use QR Codes in the same way, but would need to consider the amount of time needed to display the code, and the size required. These considerations make the QR Code less suitable for use on public television, but it could effectively be implemented within digital point-of-sale advertising.

QR Codes can also be included along with internet-based advertising, providing a quick means of transferring contact information to a mobile phone.

QR Codes in Business

Outside of marketing, QR Codes can still be very appropriately implemented within the internals of business.

QR Codes can be included on a business card, to the side of traditional contact details, perhaps including a website address of a product catalogue. In a similar static form, contact cards in their QR Code form can also be printed on office doors, or included within a companies online contact list.