Rating: We still reckon they don’t understand QR codes though
Crickey! It seems the Guinness QR code campaign which we previously criticised in ‘A couple of drinks related QR codes which don’t quite work’ here, is actually a multi-award winning campaign. It couldn’t win more laureats. However, our criticism still stands. The guys responsible aren’t totally aux fait with the way 2D/QR barcodes could and should work. It turns out that the Guinness QR Cup campaign is actually circa 12 months old. So it’s not wonder the code points at a defunct URL. But it shouldn’t. QR could should be dynamic.What you can do with any QR code is to avoid the ‘static’ QR code which was adopted in the Guinness QR Cup campaign by making the actual QR code dynamic.
Rather than point to a single location, the QR code can point to a provider’s servers.
So when the QR code is resolved it points the user to whichever URL you want at the time.
You don’t even have to go through a single supplier such as NeoMedia, for example.
You can go through a clearing house such as the Mobile Barcode Clearing House service offerd by Neustar. See our previous story here.
So if the current campaign has ended – as is obvious in the case of the QR Cup, Diageo and its agency BBDO could revise where the QR code actually points.
It could then take those who scan the code to a completely new (and contemporary) campaign.
Incidentllay, the creative director for the Guinness QR Cup was Adam Reeves and the chief creative officer was David Lubars @ BBDO.
The campaign won a Golden Award from Montreux; a John Caples International award; and an LIA award.
The clue was that two of those awards were given out in 2011.
But if even the best in class don’t fully appreciate what QR codes are capable of, the mobile industry is still failing to get the full QR code story across.
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I happened upon your previous article about the Jameson and Guinness QR codes not working. I totally agree that a simple redirect to a current campaign would be much better than a landing page stating that the campaign had finished or worse, that the url was dead.