VW uses creative QR codes in advertising

The barcode was used in a commercial for its Crafter commercial vans

Volkswagen has taken a unique and create QR codes approach to the way that the barcodes are used in order to generate some awareness about its Crafter commercial vans and their significant capacity.

It created a commercial where the quick response codes were made out of orange crates.

The commercial ran in Mexico and didn’t have any dialogue or narration. It simply showed the process of the creation of a massive unique mobile barcode out of orange crates, which was then put together in the main wholesale market in Mexico City, Central de Abasto. That complete construction was then dismantled, and each of the crates that had been used for it were loaded into the back of the vehicle being advertised. This was a clear demonstration of how much the van would hold.

When these creative QR codes were actually scanned by an individual with a smartphone, the point was to have a video resolve, so that individuals and businesses could learn more. Unfortunately, the format of the video was in .mov, which is not a compatible format with Android mobile devices, which have a tremendous penetration in Mexico.

Though this may have been a very well thought out campaign in terms of drawing attention to the brand, it is unfortunate that it fell flat when it came to reaching out to the consumers that have one of the two main mobile operating systems.

The creative QR codes campaign was developed for Volkswagen de Mexico, by DDB Mexico.