Tag Archives: QR Codes

My First Friday 4-1-1

In an effort to write more regularly, I’m going to implement something that every other blogger on the planet does – a regular series. It’s called the Friday 4-1-1. And here’s how it breaks down:

Each week, on Friday, I’ll highlight 4 stories/events/implementations that I’ve seen during that week and give my impressions. On top of that, I’ll highlight the best “uh-huh” (rockin’) thing I’ve seen and the worst “duh” (what were they thinking?) thing I’ve seen. And we’ll see how it works. So, here we go.

1. Interactive Technology to Enhance Museum Experience – an affiliate museum of the Smithsonian, The Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture in Washington state, is piloting a “Passport to Discovery” project that sounds a lot like the myLOC passport system (set up in the Library of Congress). Solid idea – make the user’s experience smarter each time they visit, based on their actions/interactions from the last visit, but my question is – how much of a pain is it to keep track of a passport-like tchotchke? I would either lose it, forget it, or be annoyed that I have to sift through my catch-all drawer every time I need it. Tie this into the one thing that people keep track of and don’t leave home without – their mobile phone – and you have something.

2. Google Introduces Branded Map Icons – simple – brands can now “brand” their locations into Google maps. For OOH/DOOH/IOOH, brands can benefit in a major way. They not only benefit from the brand recognition when Google maps is integrated into a digital/interactive sign, they benefit from the native functionality that allows users to automatically click-through to details about the brand. I’m big on driving deeper brand experiences through all mediums, particularly OOH/DOOH/IOOH, and this is an example of an API unlocking that feature. This feature has been available before now, but for a brand, there is a big difference from their location being tagged by a grey dot and being tagged by their logo, especially on an interactive sign, when you want to make it as enticing as possible. Of course, this feature is only available to paying brands (using this as a form of advertising). :)

3. Eye Expands Mobile Marketing at Malls, Sans “Big Brother” Effect – this is cool, but I just wonder for the end-consumer, if they make any distinction with geo-location ads. The average consumer probably thinks it’s still creepy, regardless of “how” it’s done. EYE and Ace Marketing & Promotions are working a system based on phone proximity, nothing GPS-related. Here’s where I think digital/interactive signage (I don’t even think you’d need a “digital” sign) serves an ideal purpose – the sign is the bridge between the smart-but-creepy ad and the not-knowing-and-wary consumer. Imagine in a mall, you walk up to a sign that lets you know what to expect on your phone – in terms of store advertisements – just because you’re “in the area.” Viola, without doing anything other than being in that place, you’re pleasantly delighted when you look at your phone and see that Gap is having a sale on jeans. You don’t walk away creeped out. We need as much of this “non-creepy” interaction/advertising as possible right now – it will only help in the acceptance of digital/interactive signs (that have the potential to be very smart).

4. Seahawks Utilize iPad Kiosks for Fan Registration – first, I can’t wait for football to begin next Thursday. Second, anytime interactive technology and football are mentioned in the same sentence, my ears perk up. So, I was delighted to read about the Seattle Seahawks building kiosks with iPads to “register over 20,000 fans” at their training camp this summer. Sounds like they were also able to allow the fans to experience some premier content, which I would fully expect on devices like that. I think this is a great, relatively cost-effective solution to explore when wanting an interactive out-of-home solution. Take a $800 sophisticated piece of hardware & software, build a nice unit around it and you have yourself a feature-rich, well-functioning IOOH solution.

“Uh-huh” – I give this the “uh-huh” head nod each time I see it. Imagine what could be done with this interactive film – The Wilderness Downtown – in an out-of-home setting? Not only would the current iteration be sticky enough for people to stop, interact, and gather around, it sure would be cool to integrate the point where people are interacting with it and the point where they ultimately go (their hometown house). That idea goes against what I said earlier about the “creepiness” factor, but it would be cool.

“Duh” – I don’t know if this is the right word for this category. Nor do I know if it’s a “what were they thinking” category. I just know it’s opposite of the cool, “uh-huh” category. But this week’s installment of the un-cool comes in the form of QR codes. And not one specific implementation. Just as an overall solution. I saw this one and this one, not to mention this one in a magazine I was reading:

Now, look, there’s not another enabling technology that I’ve written about more than QR codes, but the more I learn, read, see, not to mention actually work with QR codes and other mobile technologies, the more I question whether or not the average consumer knows what the heck to do with them. It’s all about the audience – the JFK/Twitter example will probably get more interaction because Twitter, in and of itself, does not attract the “average” consumer, but I just might be at the point of QR code over saturation. Good to see so many examples this year, but are they working? Jury is still way out.

So, there you have it. My first Friday 4-1-1. What do you think?

Glee’s QR Code Fail

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Fox and Glee, what are you doing?

This code showed up right after the announcement for Glee, Season 2 and stayed on the screen for no more than 5 seconds. Knowing what this was and having the curiosity to interact, we paused the TV so I could snap a picture of the code. It being Glee, I held out hope that I would find something exclusive on the other end, something fun, engaging, unexpected.

Wrong. Just another mobile site with videos.

While I was happy to see videos (and even a choice of videos), I just felt jilted of a unique experience, which is what I expect from the Glee “brand.”

Here’s my takeaway from this, one that I haven’t verbalized before now – the brand identity trumps everything. It sets the context for everything a brand does. For the Glee brand, it’s not about implementing new technology (QR codes) like everyone else does. It’s about implementing new technology in the Glee “way,” commiserate with the brand identity.

Right now, with new technology like this, I’m sure brands are merely experimenting without any expectations. On the consumer side, it’s raising awareness for this type of technology and satisfying an urge to know “more” about their favorite show. But with this audience, in particular, Glee could take the experiment much deeper while still exposing their audience to the technology. What about a mash-up? What about an all-Glee scavenger hunt? What about a simple ringtone? These are Glee-type executions that, without consciously thinking about it, I already expect from the brand. So, when I don’t get it, it makes me care a little bit less, not wanting to engage a little bit more.

Will NYC Save QR Codes?

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And here we are, QR codes again. There’s no other enabling technology that I’ve blogged about more here than QR codes. For good reason – I think they have good potential, but I just don’t know if they make the general consumer’s life easier. So, I don’t know that they’ll ever take off here in the U.S. (And I do have the perspective of actually implementing a program around them for a large brand.)

That said, I read what amounted to a good post this morning on QR codes, but it was another example that supports my doubt. The post was titled, “NYC Garbage Trucks Take QR Codes Mainstream,” so it piqued my interest. But when I saw what it was, I just had to shake my head:

How many people take pictures of garbage trucks? How many people want to get close enough to garbage trucks to take a picture of them? I mean, who came up with this idea? I just don’t get it. What are they trying to accomplish? Apparently, there’s a video behind the code that supports a recycling initiative in NYC, but it’s also going to run on TV. Why don’t they just advertise the details of the TV spot? Or just paste the URL big and bold on the side of the garbage truck that would accomplish the same thing?

I don’t think this is going to take QR codes mainstream by any stretch of the imagination. I mean, if Calvin Klein can’t do it with a super-large QR code on the side of a building, I doubt that the city of NYC can do it on the side of garbage trucks.

There is something to be said with delivering (exclusive) content through technology like this. More and more, technologies are enabling brands to merge the offline with the online. (This is the future of marketing, in my opinion.) QR codes are no different. But brands are still a ways away from utilizing these technologies correctly, and to their fullest ability.

What do you think of this garbage truck initiative? Will they bring QR codes into the mainstream?

Celebrating (and Reflecting on) the 1st 6 Months

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We’re at a good halfway point in the year, so I think it’s an opportune time to look back on the first 6 months of this blog and reflect.

All in all, I think I’ve done a fairly good job of finding a relevant and clear point of view. It’s evolved from something narrow when I started to a bit broader now. Most everything has been grounded in OOH – I just look at things with more experience and exposure as time has gone (and goes) on. I’m also surrounded by different people in my everyday life who have impacted my thinking. So, naturally, my point of view will evolve. I just don’t want it to slow me down and/or turn into something crazy and incomprehensible.

I need to write more. I’m averaging about 10 posts a month. I feel like I need to double that so I’m providing a steady source of information. I’ve asked a couple of my work colleagues, all of whom are very bright and have an opinion and aren’t shy to voice it, to provide guest posts on as regular basis as they can. So, hopefully, you’ll not only get more content, but you’ll get more (and different) perspective. If any of you want to provide a guest post, just let me know. I’m open to it.

I haven’t found the secret sauce of doing conferences. Blogging, tweeting, meeting people, and just plain going to the conference is a lot of work and certainly requires some juggling. I’ve provided a decent mix of “live streaming” + my perspective. I feel like I need to focus on getting in front of some of “names” there and interview them (or something.) I can see how that would be valuable. So, any of you names at these conferences, take this as my initial request :)

Other than that, I’m pretty happy with everything. It’s still very new and the test is really going to be sustaining over time. I’m committed to continue learning and doing and writing. I expect big things and as a result, everyone reading this will experience that with me.

I’ve met some really great people through this avenue and that, more than anything, is the thing I’m most proud of. This blog allows for these words to live on until some Y2K catastrophe, but I hope to keep those relationships for much longer.

I thought it would be a fun exercise to share some of my favorite posts. I’ve enjoyed reading back over everything and for those who are new to this blog, it might help you navigate through some of my thinking up to now. To those of you who are not new to this blog and my regular readers (again, thank you guys for regular readership!!), I’d love to hear some of your favorite posts. So here they are, broken down by month (I picked a favorite per month):

January – The 11th Screen Puzzle – this was my 3rd post and really where I felt like I was able to really give everyone a sense of where I’m coming from and what to expect from this blog.

February – Keep It Simple Stupid – here, I showed a few examples of “simple” and effective Interactive Out of Home (IOOH) and an example of not so simple and not so effective. To me, there are many different kinds of enabling technologies that make OOH solutions “interactive.” These technologies are vital, not only for the industry, but for the future of marketing. On one hand, these technologies allow us to merge the offline with the online and on another hand, they allow brands to make “complete” experiences.

March – Facebook + QR Codes + A Good Idea? – a little snarky here, but this was on the heels of doing a big QR code initiative for one of our clients and all I was reading was how Facebook was going to save QR codes. That’s right, I said “save” because here in the US, I think they might have died before they were even born. I personally think there’s value to QR codes, if used the right way + proper eduction, but how many of you have used QR codes and like it? I just don’t know that we, as consumers of information through technology, need this particular technology. Point is – is Facebook going to save them? I don’t think so.

April – Why Business Cards and Video are the Same to Me – one of the un-IOOH-related posts, but something that allowed me to provide my perspective on more of what I do everyday.

May – Are You an Expert Learner? – I am of the mindset that if you aren’t learning, you’re wasting your time. I don’t particularly care for know-it-alls, but I really like learn-it-alls.

June – Kinect (and others) – “DOOH” Killers? – the launch of Microsoft’s Kinect should really open eyes on what can be done sooner rather than later with human computer interaction. It is particularly compelling for anyone in the “DOOH” (if you’ve read this blog, you know how I feel about that moniker) industry.

And here we are in July. Many more to come.

AR & QR – Here to Stay?

Applying Technology to my OOH Basics

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A couple of days ago, I shared my vision of OOH. It’s pretty simple. In my view, OOH is broken down into 3 buckets – categories of displays if you will – billboards, posters & kiosks. They are separated by 3 differentiating factors – amount of information, length of engagement and potential for human interaction.

This view is important to me because of what happens when you start to add technology onto it. What exactly does that technology do? And what is the true impact of technology on this medium? So, first, to show my view on the most overused moniker in the industry – Digital Out of Home (DOOH):

When you add digital to this model, you get the same exact model with just a little different shading. It doesn’t change much other than the fact that there is now some sort of technology applied to the medium. In this case, “digital” is just the addition of display technology. As I’ve said before, display technologies are a finite list of technologies – LCD, LED, projection. All it does is enable a static display to become dynamic. For advertisers, this, of course, has a substantial impact, both with advertising-based displays/networks and non-advertising-based displays/networks. But the true effect on the consumer’s experience isn’t drastically different. When you apply a display technology to a billboard, you get a different type of billboard, but by and large, it has the same effect. Ditto for posters and kiosks. As a consumer, I’m still getting the same amount of information, I’m still engaging with it the same length of time and the potential for my interaction with it hasn’t changed. The primary difference is that it now moves. Is it more effective? Maybe. If I respond better to moving images rather than static display. If the content is compelling. But I don’t think it moves the needle by itself. The true magic happens when you make OOH & DOOH interactive, which I’m calling Interactive Out of Home (IOOH).

Now, not only is the model shaded even more differently, it takes on a completely different form. Interactive billboards become something closer to posters. Interactive posters become something closer to kiosks. And kiosks become something they’ve never been. Interactivity and the technologies that enable it have a profound impact on OOH & DOOH. I call these technologies enabling technologies – technologies that enable personalized experiences from each of these displays. Technologies like touch screens, motion sensors, RFID, NFC, Bluetooth, mobile and its enabling technologies like GPS, 2D/3D barcode scanners and Augmented Reality – the list is certainly larger than the display technology list, but still finite (at least right now. I have no doubt it will grow with time.) But they all drastically effect the experience in the same fundamental way – they enable a level of personalization that is deeper than any of these displays provide in their raw, even digital, forms. This personalization is really the key to effective communication, which is the key to creating and sustaining relationships between brands and their audiences. This is the special effect that I believe OOH, as a medium, can and will have on marketers and consumers in this new day and age, particularly as newer technologies are introduced. But it’s all about the interactivity. A traditional OOH installation can be made interactive, just as a DOOH installation can be made interactive. In some cases, I believe the technology inherent in DOOH makes it easier to incorporate enabling technologies, but this is not always the case. It does not need to be “digital” to include interactivity. A perfect example of this is our QR code initiative at SXSW. A static (non-digital) QR code was added to a static display (car, which in this case, I would consider a “poster” in my model – not that it includes a wealth of information, but a static car like that, in that type of environment, provides a level of human interaction and length of engagement similar to a traditional poster) and with the use of mobile as the enabling technology, attendees were able to experience a deeper, personal engagement with the brand. This is why I think it’s critical to make a distinction between “digital” and “interactive” in this way. Interactivity allows the consumer to experience more information, and engage and interact with it in a deeper way. It is worlds different than just “digital.”

This sort of engagement opens up an exciting and scary world of possibilities. Brands will sooner or later understand that they can (and should) use the spaces and things around us, in our everyday lives, as effective communication tools. It has a drastic impact on them and their ability to touch their audience anywhere they want/need. We’re a ways off though, as you’ve heard me say before. But make no mistake, technology – specifically enabling technologies (not display technologies) – transforms the OOH world into something that has only truly been applied in books and movies. For now, we keep pushing and experimenting.

My Behind-the-Scenes Observations at SXSW

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I have finally been able to catch my breath from the SXSW trip enough to reflect on everything I observed and share it here. First of all, my perspective of SXSW is different than any other conference I’ve attended, just from the standpoint of how much work I was doing to make things happen for our client. It was, by far, the most intense, condensed (if that makes sense) working situation that I’ve been in with an agency. I liken it to my time working on films – in many respects it felt like film production. Late nights, early mornings, always on the run (and I emphasize run), going from one thing to the other so quickly that you’re just reacting. I like that kind of work, that kind of pace, that kind of “doing,” but it’s not something I could sustain at this time in my life. Short periods? Sure. Every day? No way. Anyway, my involvement at that level “behind the scenes” prohibited me from experiencing the conference in a way that I am accustom to. I didn’t go to any panels, I didn’t go to any parties, I didn’t spend time networking at length with people. It really was strictly business on behalf of FH & Chevy, not Mike or The 11th Screen. That said, I was involved enough in what was going on, specifically around the convention center, to come away with some good, pretty fair observations.

1. Value, value, value – it really does work. Brands can accomplish a lot and shift perceptions by providing value to people. To me, this is all about relevance. How are you, as a brand, communicating & engaging with your audience(s)? Are you engaging in a meaningful way? Is it mutually beneficial? Does it provide value?

2. Don’t talk to, talk with – it’s all about 2-way communication. Listen first. Then, talk. It’s so simple. It’s what we do in our normal, everyday, real-world lives. At least what we should be doing. Effective communication and engagement is not about talking to people, it’s about talking with people. Try this with your spouse, with your kids, with your co-workers, family members, friends – just talk with them. It’s a dialogue. A give and take. When you do this, you can both have productive, fulfilling conversations. Brands who do this, particularly in the social space, create advocates and build trust. Advocacy and trust are sustainable and those types of relationships don’t go away easy.

3. It’s not what you know, it’s who you know – people are smart. And people have connections. In an ideal situation, the best people to know are smart and connected. I say this because if you talk to the right people (smart + connected) in the right way (2-way communication), they will talk about you. You as a person and/or you as a brand. And when they talk, many people listen. I could rephrase this observation to “it’s not how many people you know, it’s how many right people you know.”

4. QR codes & LBS are a ways away from mass adoption – I think SXSW majorly failed at their attempt to introduce QR codes to the masses. They had a prime audience, one who could actually warm to the use of them, yet they failed to educate and create an easy experience with them. Their codes virtually went unused. By the time attendees came to our booth, no one knew what QR code reader to load on their phone and/or exactly what to expect from them. I think QR codes, specifically SXSW’s use of them, was the most overrated technological story that came out of the conference. Again, this is from my limited point of view. (I heard that Twitter’s announcement of their @Anywhere feature was less than stellar.) I just had such high hopes for the QR code story. But QR codes aren’t the only emerging technology that is still immature over here. LBS, like Gowalla and/or FourSquare, are used consistently by such a small segment of people. But there is a huge group who have no idea what “LBS” stands for in this context, much less how to use them on their phone. There was a vast difference between the interactive attendee usage of Gowalla and the music attendee usage of Gowalla. I think a lot of this is attributed to the penetration (or lack thereof) of smart phones still in the US. The opportunity here is to continue to push these types of technologies – because I believe that they still have a life – and experiment with them in various ways. We’ve really only scratched the surface in how we can use them in relevant, meaningful ways on behalf of brands.

5. Last but certainly not least, I work with some amazing people. We were a relatively small team, but we are like family. Matt, Valerie, Cindy, Jodi, Marc, Herb, Rob, Miker, Jessica, Penny, Sarah B., Sarah F., Lane, Chris, Chrissie, Brad, Warren, Christian, designer Jessica, Matt W – you guys rock.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on SXSW. Shout back.

Facebook + QR Codes = A Good Idea?

QR Codes Here, There and Everywhere

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(Full Disclosure – I’ll be at SXSW as part of the Chevrolet SXSW team.)

It’s been cool to see people interacting with the QR codes on the Cruze over the past few days. We’ve seen some good interaction and gotten some good feedback. It seems (and sounds) like people really enjoy interacting with the car in this way. From my perspective – it feels right. These codes, while I think there are too many for people to interact with here, generate a level of interest to an otherwise static, “blank” display, which is important because it adds another element to the car to compel people to actually stop and look. But more than that, the engagement that they enable has been very interesting to watch. People like doing anything on their mobile phone, and we’ve seen that here (especially with the “geek” factor at SXSW) in the booth – they like the immediacy and intimacy of the experience. They like the comfort of their phone. They’re not intimidated by it. As long as they know how to use it, they’re willing to try it. But I’ll say it again – the payoff has to be there on the other end, though. The experience needs to be completed. And here, I feel like we did a good job of completing the experience. Again, I think we could have dialed down the number of codes that we gave people to interact with. I also think we could have done a better job of letting the people know the difference in all of the codes. Upon first look, I’m sure it appeared that they were all the same (except the “Fan-us-on-Facebook” codes), so we could have differentiated them better.

All in all, I’m proud of the experience – I think we did a good job of using the spaces around us (car in a tradeshow) to create a personalized experience through the use of enabling technologies (mobile + QR codes). This is what I look for whenever I observe any OOH/”ambient media”/DOOH implementation – does the experience drive deeper than what the user sees on the surface?

I have to commend the client for getting behind this. Without forward-thinking clients, this type of work will only trickle out into the industry and take a much longer time to gain traction than needed. We need a constant flow that turns into a flood.

What do you guys think of the experience?’ I’d love to hear your thoughts!

SXSW….with a little more IOOH