QR, NFC and Smart Phones

MoreVisibility - August 15, 2011

I received an email message that CommScore reported 14 million United States users scanned a QR code in the month of June.  This begs the question, what are folks doing to leverage QR in their business?  We continue to see the reports that smart phone shipments are outpacing PC shipments; it becomes when not if they overtake the number of PCs.  All of these smart phones present opportunities for keeping your customers engaged, which means at a minimum one must have a mobile-friendly web site and content specifically developed for the growing number of smart phone users.

I think the US lags behind Asia and Europe in harnessing the marketing power of QR.  I expect we will see more uses for QR, which will shortly morph into near field communication (NFC), by advertisers in ways that continue to improve quality of service and communication with their audience.  For instance in Asia, one can scan a QR whilst commuting to work in the morning, and upon returning home that evening the product, will be at their door ready for use in the evenings dinner.  Other examples I have found include embedding a QR/Chip into monuments for our departed to be remembered in a multi-media format.  Headstone maker’s need only embed an inexpensive chip into the stone/vase/niche.  If you have been to a museum in the past year, you have probably experienced this technology at work, when you scan and listen to the art history.  Disney World’s Epcot even used this technology to allow children to engage in an episode of Kim-Possible, while mom and dad make their happy hour pub crawl through the world show case, brilliant.