QR codes and NFC are often pitted against each other in the marketing world. NFC is gaining momentum as a potential successor of QR codes despite the fact that the codes continue to gain popularity amongst consumers and businesses. A new startup called Kimtag, which was launched earlier this year, seeks to combine the two mobile technologies and promote them as two sides of the same coin. The company has begun printing TwinConnect stickers, which feature both a QR code and an NFC tag.
TwinConnect is designed to make the most out of smart phone connectivity. The growing demand for constant connectivity coming from mobile consumers has led Kimtag to present the product in such a way that it would be enticing for businesses. The company’s stickers can be customized to suit the aesthetic needs of a company and can also be encoded with tracking information to collect analytic data.
More NFC-enabled smart phones are entering the commercial market, which may change the mobile marketing landscape to favor NFC technology. QR codes, however, are unlikely to be completely replaced by NFC due to their cost-effective and simplistic nature. Kimtag believes that the codes will remain competitive even if NFC becomes the favorite tool for mobile marketers. Indeed, the versatility of the code may ensure that it remains the most intuitive tool available to the advertising industry when it comes to engaging mobile consumers.
