Prototypes of Volkwagen Up! display QR code to boost interest in Germany

Volkswagen Up! prototype vehicles were camouflaged earlier this year and driven around Germany in its major cities featuring a QR code that would allow mobile device users to scan it and obtain more information.

When the users of devices such as smartphones and tablets use a QR code scanning app in combination with the device camera to scan the barcode, they are redirected to a mobile website that would allow them to sign up to obtain more videos and pictures of the Volkswagen Up!, which is the auto manufacturer’s latest city car offering.

This promotion was a very temporary one that was designed to create a rapid burst of hype. The vehicles are no longer being test driven around the cities, and as the QR code is no longer available, nor is the mobile site where the registrations had been made available, or the video of the car.

This advertising campaign for the Volkswagen Up! occurred at almost the exact same time that Mercedes took their new A-Class vehicles out onto the streets for their road tests. Those vehicles wore their own QR codes to encourage consumers to find out more about these cars before their releases.

This almost simultaneous occurrence of a very similar mobile advertising campaign was not done deliberately. Instead, these two different auto manufacturers hired two completely independent advertising agencies – Grabarz & Partners, and Jung von Matt/Alster – who developed extremely similar ideas at the same time, and for deployment at similar times.

Similarly, in California, Chevrolet road tested a QR code liveried Spark EV prototype soon afterward.