QR codes are brilliant.
They can connect a physical product to authentication, product information, promotions, exclusive content and all sorts of digital experiences.
There’s just one tiny problem.
Humans.
More specifically, humans have to actually take out their phones and scan them.
And apparently, putting a black-and-white square on something with the words SCAN ME next to it doesn’t automatically make it irresistible.
Shocking, we know.
A QR Code Can Do a Lot. If Someone Scans It
We see QR codes everywhere now. On packaging, labels, restaurant tables, tickets, posters, receipts…
Sometimes we scan because we need to. Sometimes because we’re genuinely curious.
And sometimes we look at the code, think maybe later, and never think about it again.
For brands, that difference matters.
Because a QR code integrated into a security hologram can be much more than a shortcut to a website.
A unique dynamic QR can help authenticate a product and, when consumers interact with it, give brands valuable information about what is happening once their products are out in the real world: where scans are taking place, when, how frequently, or whether the same code is suddenly appearing again and again.
That can become particularly interesting when you’re trying to understand your market — or identify something that perhaps shouldn’t be there.
But there’s a catch.
First, somebody has to scan it.
Curiosity Might Be the Missing Ingredient
Perhaps the question shouldn’t be:
How do we get consumers to scan our QR code?
Perhaps it should be:
Why would they want to?
Give someone a reason to be curious and the whole interaction changes.
Instead of telling them what to do, you make them want to discover what happens next.
And suddenly that little QR code becomes considerably more interesting.
The consumer gets something worth interacting with. The brand gets a connection with a product that has already left its hands. And a security hologram stops being simply a shiny way of saying this product is genuine.
It can become a source of information from the market itself.
We’re Going To Test That Theory
Next week, we’ll be at Brand Licensing Europe.
And we thought BLE would be a rather good place to try a little experiment.
We want to see whether curiosity really can make people stop, take out their phones and scan something they weren’t expecting to scan.
So we’ve prepared something.
We’re not going to tell you what.
That would rather defeat the point.
But if you’re walking around BLE next week, pay attention to what you see.
You may come across something that makes you curious.
And if you do…
scan it.
We’ll explain everything later.
