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Since their arrival to the digital marketing world, QR codes have, up till now, found their feet at a slow enough rate. This was due in part to the lack of devices that could handle them in a functional manner. But in the last year, their integration has increased two-fold alongside the massive surge in smartphone sales. In fact, a recent study by Forrester Research revealed that 5% of U.S. adults now scan 2D bar codes, including QR codes, with their smartphones. This figure is up from 1% in 2010.

Today’s entry comes with a simple guide on how to use QR coding effectively and not make an error that may damage your brand identity and ultimately waste money.

Take the Austrian born mega-brand, Red Bull. As we went about our daily business here at Lucidity Digital, an unexpected call from two Red Bull girls got us all a little giddy, because of the free stuff they were giving out of course. 

They visited all of our desks and dished out bottles of the stuff accompanied with a keyring. Anyone who had a heavy weekend on the social front turned their nose up at the drink but as we are a Digital Agency, the keyrings caught our attention as there was a neat little QR code on the back. Like synchronised divers, we dove for our pockets and out came the various smartphones and we began snapping. The result was this;

As our earlier blog on QR Codes explains, the codes are used to embed textual data into an image (such as a URL). In this case, however, all that our phones could retrieve were the words ‘QR Code’, that was it. Yes, we were stumped. This had to be a mistake, surely the QR Code was meant to direct us to the URL found next to the code? We’re quietly confident that the marketing team at Red Bull did not deliberately build a QR Code that would lead users to (at most) a search for the words ‘QR Code’.

We don’t see this marketing blunder causing Red Bull too many problems, but undoubtedly it’s something they will wish hadn’t happened. So there’s your tip for the day folks. If you wish to design a QR code for your brand, make sure it is done correctly. 

In the meantime we developed this code in about ten seconds using one of the services listed below. We think this is what Red Bull were trying to direct us to. 

We’ve listed some innovative uses of QR Codes below, to show how they should work.One great example was Katie Carroll’s innovative offer, whereby fans could listen and download her music though the use of a QR code.

As we explained before, QR codes are used for a variety of reasons. For the most part a simple URL is deciphered and the user is taken to the brands website. In other cases, Geico have included QR codes on their envelopes addressed to customers offering free insurance quotes.

You can develop a free QR code here or here very quickly, or if you’d like a custom QR Code built for your company, contact us today.

Red Bull, if you're listening and need a digital strategy, give us a call!

...Worth a shot, no? If you'd like to chat to us about this story, contact us on Facebook or Twitter, or leave a comment below. By the way, thanks for the drinks Red Bull!