Black-and-white squares can be scanned with a smartphone and linked to a website
Are they black-and-white bathroom tiles? Newfangled bar codes? Postage stamps honoring artist M.C. Escher?
Thanks to increasingly prevalent smartphones, many marketers and organizations are convinced that the square symbols, known as QR, or quick response, codes, will capture the fancy of consumers curious about what's behind those black-and-white boxes. Used in Europe and Japan for years, businesses and institutions in the U.S. are increasingly slapping the symbols on print advertisements, on the sides of buildings, even on trees.
For QR codes to work, owners of iPhones and other smart devices must download a QR-reading application, often available for free, if it's not already built into the phone. When a QR-enabled phone is pointed at the shape, it locks onto a Web link to text, photos, coupons or videos.
A QR code on the side of the Palmer Printing building at 739 S. Clark St. last week linked to a coupon for a $7.95 shrimp taco dinner at Flaco's Tacos around the corner.
A recent Jimmy Fallon TV performance with Stephen Colbert and Taylor Hicks featured a QR code in the background, linking to a Fallon video.
"Hey, you guys, you found it," Fallon later said on his QR video link. "You tech-savvy nerds out there: You found the QR code."
On Michigan Avenue on Friday, beverage-maker Silk passed out pamphlets that included QR codes, and on Tuesday, trees in the Loop featured Morton Arboretum fliers embedded with the code that linked to a Web page.
Jackie Paulus, WGN Radio marketing and digital innovation director, said it took her about 5 minutes to make a QR code for a Chicago Cubs event.
"QR codes are great, especially for print marketing materials, because it allows you to give supplemental information without inundating an ad with clutter," Paulus said. "What's also nice is that the links can go straight to a page with the information you're looking for as opposed to generically referring people to WGNRadio.com, where you'll then have to search, if it's not displayed prominently." WGN, like the Chicago Tribune, is owned by Tribune Co.
Two weeks ago, Cook County's Forest Preserve District added a QR code to its website and Facebook page for an upcoming program. The owner of such properties as the Brookfield Zoo and the Chicago Botanic Garden is planning to make QR codes even more prevalent.
Source: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-05-04/business/ct-biz-0505-qr-codes-20110504_1_qr-codes-quick-response-web-link
