Marketers in Minnesota have found a way to engage consumers through the use of QR codes. The codes have been showing up at the Chino Latino restaurant in Minneapolis. While some tech-savvy diners have come to expect to see the codes emblazoned on menus, few were prepared to see a code popping up out of their drinks. Paper umbrellas have been replaced with QR codes.
Life in the Twin Cities area is becoming more integrated with technology. Smart phone use is on the rise, spurring advertisers to adapt to a changing marketing landscape or get left behind. QR codes have been showing up in local newspapers, magazines and even in TV commercials. The codes have become famous for their ability to dynamically connect consumers to a virtual sea of digital content.
Lisa Foote of MixMobi, a local company that specializes in creating mobile coupons, says that QR codes have become a staple for most of her clients. Nearly 90% of her business is tied to QR codes in some way. “I’m a little surprised,” she notes, “A year ago, I wouldn’t have predicted they’d take off this fast.”
The rise of QR codes has been meteoric, indeed. Their success with marketers has inspired several projects to emerge, each based on the versatility of the QR code. Microsoft recently launched their Tags program. The Tags are quite similar to QR codes, the only difference being design – Microsoft Tags tend to be much more colorful. NFC, or near field communication, tags have also emerged in the mobile marketing industry, gaining in popularity much the same way QR codes have.
