[NMMC] Colin Daniels introduces 2D barcodes

Colin Daniels (Publisher of The Times Online) spoke about a little known, but growing technology known as 2D barcodes. (These are the funny looking square boxes, black and white that you sometimes see featured in print, that you are encouraged to photograph and send on with your camera phone)

A bit of background:

• 2D barcodes were Invented in Japan for inventory tracking
• Store data in two dimensions (horizontal and vertical), and can thus store much more info than regular barcode
• Shapes differ (even circles are possible), different from regular barcodes
• Allows for more data to be stored
• Error correction built in
• Various “symbologies” on the market

PRE-REQUSITIES

• Camera phone
• 2d barcode reader
• WAP/3G connection
• At least 1 steady hand

USES

• Inventory tracking (Amazon uses it)
• Stationery (on business card, to store your contact details)
• Packaging, used for inventory (can be printed on plastic)
• Billboards

An example of innovative usage in Japan: Bus stops have 2D barcodes that you can photograph and get access to the gps location of bus for which you are waiting.

VIRTUAL MEETS REAL

The Semapedia Project allows you to enter the URL of any wikipedia page (let’s say for the entry on the Golden Gate bridge), and get a 2D barcode of the URL. You can then print out this barcode, and put it close to the bridge. A visitor can then phtograph the barcode, and he will be taken to the Wikipedia page on the landmark.

INTRODUCING TIMESCODE

These are examples of how Colin and his team are using 2D barcodes:

Support the Boks was a campaign run in the Sunday Times close to the World Cup final. The 2D barcode was featured in print, and once photographed linked the user to a free ringtone, that captured spirit of Boks and rugby

There were over 20 000 downloads, over two weeks.

(Incidentally, this was an excellent marketing track for the song artist whose song was used as a ringtone. It made it onto the radio).

Colin’s team runs a lot of campaigns linked to competitions, and the response rate is rising (last campaign had 5500 entries)

ADVANTAGES OF 2D BARCODES

• Convenience
• Iinstant gratification
• Highly recognizable
• Innovative and fun
• Bridges divide between print and mobile (urls are long, difficult to remember)
• Triggers different events (embed telephone numbers, etc)
• Works well with sms
• Helps build powerful databases
• Measurable

BARRIERS TO ENTRY

• Education
• Technology hasn’t hit mainstream in SA
• Software doesn’t support all handsets, must be used with a camera phone
• Mobile data costs are prohibitive
• Business models are tricky to define

Note: For photographs, videos and blog posts by Zoopy, the official social media sharing partner for the New Media Marketing conference, go to www.zoopy.com/newmedia.