QR codes are quite popular with marketers these days. With the rise of mobile technology, the codes have emerged as one of the best methods available for advertisers to engage consumers. Many businesses make use of the codes for this purpose as well as to raise awareness for their various endeavors. However, the codes are struggling to gain traction with students, few of whom recognize the codes. Even fewer of them can find the codes useful in any way.
The codes have been used on a number of university campuses all over the nation, but their acceptance has left something to be desired. Doctor James D. Langford, director of innovation and implementation at the Abilene Christian University, says that he’s always hearing about new ways in which QR codes are being used, but he has seen little evidence of such occurrences happening around campus.
“It’s the nature of innovation and the diffusion of it that it starts small and grows into something big,” says Langford.
Many students aren’t using the codes because they do not see them as practical. However, QR codes may be gaining momentum with students. Langford points out that when the campus began offering free downloads of the getGo application, a QR code reader for smart phones, there were more than 1,200 downloads within the first two weeks.
QR codes are having a tremendous impact on the mobile marketing industry, but their future lies with the younger generation. If students cannot find uses for the codes, their growth may be stunted.
