Mobile phone bar code scanners are coming to Britain. Bar codes that can be scanned by mobile phones allowing consumers to read more about a product are coming to Britain from Japan.
The QR bar codes allow users to pick up information with the swipe of a mobile phone and have rapidly gained cult status in Japan. From scanning a poster to obtaining cinema times to swiping a pack of tomatoes to find out the size of the farm on which they were grown, there are few aspects of Japanese society untouched by the codes. One example, the ChocoQR, is both innovative and edible and an addition to an ever-growing list of Japanese products into which the small square codes have been fully integrated as society increasingly revolves around mobile phones.
The technology is poised to revolutionise the British consumer landscape following the launch of the first major QR code marketing campaign in the UK. Pepsi has placed QR codes on 400 million products for the first time, offering mobile phone-friendly consumers instant access to games, videos, websites, prizes and other entertainment at the swipe of a phone. While QR codes have slowly been creeping into the British consumer scene in the past year, it is the first time a major company has employed the technology on such a scale.
Bruno Gruwez, marketing director for Pepsi UK, said: "Not everyone in the UK is going to know how to use QR codes, but we're targeting early adopters. "Young adults and our drinkers very much live in the digital world, so the way we communicate with them is evolving rapidly. "Mobile internet has formed an increasingly significant part of our communications over the last few years and QR codes allow us to go even further, transforming the can into a gateway between the consumer and their digital world." He added: "The widespread use of QR codes in Japan gives a taste of what's to come in the UK, and I expect that we'll see other consumer brands following our lead in using this technology." It was in 1994 that QR codes short for Quick Response were invented by Denso-Wave, a Japanese corporation, initially with the purpose of tracking parts in vehicle manufacturing. However, as the nation's population of mobile phone owners expanded rapidly, the use of QR codes eventually shifted towards a commercial context, from newspaper adverts and restaurant menus to shop information and bus timetables. Camera phones need to be fitted with the correct reader software which enables them to connect in an instant to a link with mobile information. As a growing number of mobile phones sold in the UK are today fitted with cameras, the use of QR codes is slowly gathering pace with a number of companies embracing the technology as an innovative means of targeting a young technology-friendly market. Last year, the Pet Shop Boys used QR Codes for the artwork and video of Integral, a downloadable-only single, while the UK DVD release of the movie 28 Weeks Later was also accompanied by a QR code marketing campaign, with the familiar square box code contained on posters.
In Japan, the technology is becoming increasingly innovative: IT DeSign is one company at the helm of the QR code revolution, designing the technology for a raft of innovative outlets, As well as this week unveiling the first edible dark chocolate QR code, the company has previously created QR codes for gravestones, enabling the bereaved to swipe a bar code in order to access tributes to the deceased and comments from friends and relatives. Koji Sakahashi, chief executive of IT DeSign, said: "In 2002, a mobile phone operator started installing a bar code reader into its phones and since then, all other phone companies have also started pre-installed them. "Today, almost every Japanese mobile is pre-installed with a bar code reader as standard which means that everyone can scan the codes which is one important reason why it is so popular in Japan. "QR Codes are popular among the Japanese, especially young people who are addicted to their mobiles. You can see the codes everywhere, in every newspaper and magazine."
Thanks to Xconomy for the heads up on the coming of QR codes.