Missed 2D Barcode Opportunity

Yesterday, I noticed a telephone booth billboard for the Food Emporium, a local New York City supermarket chain, and the product being promoted was the supermarket’s private label balsamic vinegar, which is made in Modena, Italy. After reading the billboard, I thought what a missed marketing and sales opportunity, and here’s why. From a purely […]

Mobile Marketing Handbook

Kim Dushinski, founder of Mobile Marketing Profits and author of The Mobile Marketing Handbook, has decided to include my list of 2D barcode best practices in the handbook’s second edition, which is due out next year. In this practical handbook, Kim offers “easy-to-follow advice for firms that want to interact with mobile users, build stronger […]

ThirtyTwo uses ScanLife ezCode

ThirtyTwo, the snowboard outwear and advanced boot maker, is running a print advertisement, which features a ScanLife ezCode. Scan the code and it resolves to an interview with Joe Sexton, a rider for ThirtyTwo. In viewing this ad, there is little doubt that 2D was part of the creative design process and overall strategy from […]

Help Prevent "2D Blindness"

Last week, a frequent and valued commenter of the blog wrote something that I totally agree with and believe is very much worth mentioning. People see, but they don’t see. With literally hundreds, if not thousands, of online and offline images and impressions (i.e., print advertisements, billboards, banner ads, TV commercials, logos, etc.) shown to […]

Ride Snowboards uses Microsoft Tag

Ride Snowboards has launched a two-page magazine advertisement (below is just the left-hand page), which features a Microsoft Tag . Admittedly, I may be a bit older than the company’s target demographic, but I do not believe a younger person could easily read the descriptive text that accompanies the Tag (the three microscopic lines of […]

Surf’s Up with ScanLife QR Code

Vans, the shoemaker, is running a two-page advertisement, which features a ScanLife generated QR code. Scan the code and a reader will be able to view an exclusive video of world class surfer Nathan Fletcher. The ad provides basic information about scanning the code with a smartphone and downloading the ScanLife reader app. For some […]

QR Codes at POS

Verizon, in collaboration with ScanLife, has created a very useful and functional point of sale (POS) display, which is based on QR codes. The “Power Up Your Droid” place mat (shown above) features 12 different Droid apps, each of which can be downloaded to a smartphone by scanning the corresponding QR code. It doesn’t get […]

American Cancer Society uses QR Code

Here’s something new…a non-profit charitable organization making use of a 2D barcode. The American Cancer Society is currently promoting its Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk, and the billboards used in the campaign display a QR code which, when scanned, resolves to a page that provides addition event information. While the billboard creative looks great […]

GAP uses ScanLife 2D Barcodes

Recently, Gap launched a major campaign to promote its latest collection of blue jeans, and a component of this campaign is the use of ScanLife generated QR codes. The image below (top left) is an in-store billboard, which offers shoppers the ability to scan the code to see customer product reviews and styling ideas for […]

HBO uses Branded 2D Barcode

HBO recently launched a three-page magazine advertisement to promote its new series Boardwalk Empire. The ad features a branded QR code which resolves to a mobile page that offers an exclusive trailer of the series…yawn. Let’s talk about content, offer and call to action for a moment. It’s one thing for a consumer to stop […]

Nine West’s Branded 2D Barcode

Nine West, the women’s fashion shoe company, launched this two-page advertisement in the New York Post last week to promote its Runway Relief campaign. Featured in the ad is a branded barcode which, when scanned, resolves to a behind-the-scenes video and enables the reader to purchase the limited edition boots that are being worn by […]

Macy’s Revisited

A few weeks ago, I posted an article about a 2D magazine advertisement that Macy’s ran, and I wanted to briefly revisit this. Whether you read the article or not, essentially Macy’s placed a 2D barcode ad in a women’s fashion magazine, and the video that the code in the ad was supposed to resolve to […]

Employees Need to Know

Last week, I noticed a QR code displayed on a ground level billboard that Newmark Knight Frank, a global real estate advisor, had installed in front of one of their New York City retail store properties. The QR code was set in the middle of the billboard and certainly large enough to notice, but there […]

FOX TV uses QR Codes

Last month, FOX Broadcasting Company announced that they will be using QR codes, known as FOX Codes, to deliver promotional and added show content for FOX fall programming. The FOX codes will appear in outdoor signage, print, on-air and online and, when scanned, they will resolve to mobile websites, which provide insider content, videos, first-look […]