QR stands for Quick Response, and it was created by the Japanese company Denso-Wave, a subsidiary of Toyota. Not only does it allow contents to be decoded quickly (hence the name) but your customer get s a quick response to a request for more information. QR codes come in all sizes—they are common in Japan, and the photo here shows a giant bar-code billboard intended to be scanned and read with a smartphone. For a short definition in lay terms, check out SearchMobileComputing.com’s definition.
The iPhone App Store, for example, features a variety of scanner apps both free and paid. Once downloaded, you can launch the app to scan the bar-code—and get the information delivered straight away. The 2DCodeMe app, for example, then keeps a history of the videos, Web pages, etc. of the ones you have decoded. You can go back and review the material. Google’s Android system includes a native bar-code scanner, as does Nokia’s Symbian operating system.
This technology will become a player in the school marketing world—just like YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter have—as part of the social networking revolution. People are going more and more on their smartphones, putting access to the world in the palms of their hands. Imagine sending a postcard to your constituents with a brief message about a program that needs their support. You can include a 2D bar-code on the postcard that can launch your constituents into a video of your students explaining how this program will make a difference, or directly to a Web page featuring a “donate now” button. Or, how about a video “thank you” from you kids after a successful campaign? Pretty powerful stuff.
In its holiday catalog, the beauty/cosmetics retailer Sephora includes bar-codes that link to videos about the exclusive products being offered this season. The band Green Day included a 2D bar-code in the campaign for its new CD, giving special offers like downloads by using the code. Newsday, Long Island's biggest newspaper, has a variety of college clients using 2D bar codes in its publication.
The Vancouver charity Union Gospel Mission has embraced QR. “This technology costs about three percent per donation, which is nothing compared to what it costs to use text to donate," according to Union Gospel spokesman Derek Weiss. The Mission operates programs for the poor and homeless. The bar-codes appear on bus shelters, with the goal that people standing in the cool bus shelters will scan the codes with their smartphones and make donations on the spot. See the story from the Vancouver Sun.
Of course, using 2D bar-codes means you need to create the materials the bar-code will link to, whether it be a download, a podcast, a video, or a Web page. The 2DCodeMe Web site allows you to create your own bar-codes free and link to URLs, e-mail, contact info, calendar events, phone numbers, SMS, geo locations or text. You then save the bar-code to your computer as a .png to put in print material. (2D also offers products you can purchase to feature your bar-code).
Of course, the technology is not perfect. The bar-code must be flat and in good light for the scanning and decoding process to work.
Read more: Check out the Web site for more information about 2D CodeMe here. And if you do use 2d bar-codes, let us know how you use it! (The comment box feature below keeps your identity private.)
