Young entrepreneurs from Singapore have come up with this marketing project.
Four innovative students from the Design Entrepreneurship Center at Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) in Singapore have come up with a new way to use QR codes to reach as many smartphone users as possible.
This mobile commerce marketing effort uses a simple canvas tote bag for ad space.
These totes feature space on the side where marketers can bring an engaging mobile commerce experience to anyone who sees the bag. All consumers need to do is use their smartphones to scan the QR codes, and they will be directed to the page, video, site, or other destination that is linked to the barcode.
So far, the student team has produced about 4,200 bags, which will be distributed for free to the public on Children’s Day, which occurs on October 5, 2012. One of the creators of the idea explained that people are used to seeing company logos and are not inspired to act when they see them. In fact, they often are turned off totes and other products that are blatantly promotional in that way. What they wanted to accomplish was a more design-based approach to marketing.
There are seven designs available to advertisers, each of which is printed onto 600 totes.
Ad space on the totes is being sold for anywhere from $675 and $975 (Singapore dollars). Each of the tote bags have nine spaces on which QR codes are displayed. The team canvassed for advertisers to fill those spaces for the designs that were made locally. They focused their efforts on the Marina Bay Sands Singapore Gifts and Stationary Show, which ran until August 17, 2012. That annual trade show event’s seventh year gave the entrepreneurs access to 214 booths and approximately 9,000 attendees.
This gave the group ample opportunity to fill the spaces so that the advertisers could benefit from the distribution of the bags on Children’s Day. If the campaign with the QR codes is successful, the team hopes that they will generate repeat business and that the companies that have enjoyed these successes will spread the word.
