QR codes get a Google rebrand – 2D mobile barcodes

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QR codes have failed in most places but Japan. The reason being their simply isn’t enough awareness about how to read them to make them a viable platform for advertisers.

In Japan though, that educational piece is driven by the government and the operators, meaning more people know about it and crucially all handsets sold have QR code readers installed (Nokia currently pre-installs in the UK but even then not for all handsets)

A few brave advertisers in the UK have tried to crack it, most notably probably Pepsi by printing a code on 400,000,000 cans with fairly limited success. People simply didn’t know what to do and the explanations offered, whilst helpful weren’t enough to get over the education chasm.

Pepsi added QR codes to 400m cans in UK

There have been a host of other advertisers who have tried, but none to great success. Interestingly, a few companies are using them internally such as Outdoor poster companies to keep track of what ad should be where and when to change them. The reason it works in this case is that they are educating their workforce as to how to use them.

It is a great piece of technology and deserves to succeed, but it also shows the need to make it plug and play, it has to be easy enough that people don’t realise they are using it (think iPlayer).

So it is interesting to see that Google are incorporating it into their offering and encouraging shops and restaurants in the US to use and display them on their window fronts. Embedded in the codes are discounts and coupons, reviews and other information that Google can provide and a map presence under the headline “favourite places on Google”.

Google has currently sent out 100,000 of the branded bar codes across the whole of the US through some 9,000 towns and cities.