Uses for QR Codes in Journalism
(Sorry, there was just no way to get around using industry jargon to introduce what I'm about to tell you.) It's really easy to take a camera-enabled mobile phone, download a bit of software, and make your PRINT publications interactive.
Yeah, you read that right. I'm going to tell you how to make some digital use out of your newspaper or magazine.
Allow me to reminisce for just a moment. Years ago, when I was still living in Japan, I was using one of the very first i-Mode phones. The design was elegant: a miniature joystick tool just below the screen for easy navigation, hotkeys for instant email and other access, a camera that even worked well in the dark, a numeric keyboard that worked equally well as a phonetic keyboard (take that, BlackBerry!)...the list goes on. I can remember vividly back in 2001 attending a press conference where some vending machine folks were about to launch a device that would allow mobile phones to pass over a scanner, have money deducted from a designated account, and pay for a can of Asahi beer.
How'd they do that? QR Codes. QR really stands for "Quick Response" and was created in the early 90's in Japan. It's a two-dimensional bar code that stores data that can be reinterpreted. While Denso Wave, that Japanese company, filed the original patent and released a Japanese standard for it, an ISO International Standard was approved and released in 2000.
Now before your eyes gloss over, let me explain how this impacts journalism. If a consumer has a camera-equipped phone and has the right software, which is readily available and typically free, s/he could scan a QR Code using that mobile phone to get all kinds of information: coupons, parts of viral marketing campaigns, serialized chapters...the list goes on. Once scanned, the phone's browser automatically redirects to a URL (again, the web address is part of what gets written into the QR Code). And if you're redirecting to a mobile page within your domain, you're increasing your traffic from your print product!!!
Shall we consider the possibilities? A newspaper could start a point system with younger readers as part of a monthlong promotion. Once a day, the barcode would be hidden within the physical paper. Readers would scan it in and receive X# points towards his/her account. By the end of the month, readers with 25+ days of scanning would receive a free three-month subscription. You can target a younger, mobi audience and bring those circ numbers back up, too. How about a beauty magazine - at the end of your makeup section that month, offer a barcode. Monetize it by attaching a coupon to a featured beauty product sponsor.
Generating QR Codes and developing an overall strategy does require a bit of skill and creativity...but why not get ahead of the mobile phone eight ball? And why the hell not do that right now, as consumers are rushing out to buy data-enabled phones?
I know I'm on a mobile rant this week, but I just can't stop thinking about everything I'd do if I was a publisher right now...and since I have some work trips to Europe and Japan coming up very soon, I'm trying to research how mobile is being used and exploited outside of the U.S.
