Some people think QR codes make their campaign more digital, viral, or mobile - in short, more clever. I just wanted to share my thoughts on the topic.
QR (Quick Response) codes are industrial 2d [bar]codes designed to store reasonably complex data that can be encoded and decoded at high-speed by machines. They weren’t really intended for humans, or for simple URLs - unless a machine needed to parse a bunch of them.
Generally, QR codes aren’t a particularly good idea for using in campaigns because:
1. Other than in Japan pretty much no phones have a QR reader installed by default (downloading one is more hassle than just typing in the URL of the site you actually want to visit)
2. Even in Japan where QR codes were invented, around 90% of people don’t know what they are, or don’t use them.
3. QR codes are not very shareable - they aren’t good social objects. You can’t write one down, remember it, google it, share it as a link, email it etc etc.
So if you are using QR codes for a regular URL you are probably at best wasting your time, and worst compromising the effectiveness of your campaign.
So what is the point of QR codes then?
QR codes are great for what they were invented for - embedding packets of complex data into a (visual) form that can be decoded by another machine.
One great example in Japan is when you book flights, your ticket comes with a personalised QR code that contains a very complex URL to assemble travel insurance for your particular needs. It’s far too long to type out, even on a desktop keyboard but especially on a mobile, and it saves you having to fill out a complex form.
If you aren’t doing something like that, and you are just encoding a URL or doing a broadcast, then you are better off just… umm… well… using the actual URL.
Lotus release the Evora hybrid, making their work on the Tesla look like a prototype.
Range extending, audio and gearbox simulation for safer driving. Pretty amazing stuff.
Tokyomango’s friend Adam, a photographer, took this picture of a restaurant in Niseko, in Hokkaido:
It was away from the main road in the town so it was never very busy, but it stood out like a beacon in the darkness of the night. The food was mediocre. Still looked cool.
Fashion at the speed of culture + Uniqlo Customisation
Harajuku fashion trends spotted, manufactured in China, and on sale back in Japan within three weeks, plus UNIQLO’s cheap threads spawning a whole new hobby - UNI-kakushi. More info here http://tokyokawaiietc.com/archives/2935
Taking Control from Alberta Cross’s debut LP Broken Side of Time.
If you don’t have them yet, and you like your music sounding like The Verve’s ‘come down from the mountain after a season of logging and hunting deer’ then this band may be what you are after.
The Solaryman project: jumping salarymen
I started to have more respect to my father since he has passed away, who has had a whole life as a salary-man.
I, who have never lived as a salary-man, develop a thrill and hope in myself when I see salary-man find a moment to transform into a superhero, who normally dedicate all the time to working for company.
It’s possible to let them show us their individuality through a jump from ordinary life, and this is the very moment when I intend to take their photographs, thinking about an ideal figure of my own father.
Still wrestling with whether or not Win7 House Party is a deliberate viral or not… it must be surely?!
