or How to measure the reach of a Direct Mailing
Mobile Marketing: The next big thing in Marketing! But how to get from print to the new device?
In Marketing print products like salesfolders, flyer, leaflets, brochures, print ads and postcards still have a high significance. But a piece of paper has a natural limit of information it can contain for the fan of a brand and is rapidly out of date. Wouldn’t it be nice to direct the fan to more interaction with the brand by using his new smart phone? But on this device the typing of web-urls is tedious – and with the length of a facebook-fanpage-url it gets worse.
Our solution @ SPY:
We use a data-matrix or QR-code instead of an url on a printed marketing material – 
and immediately the interaction with the brand becomes just one click for the consumer and measurable for the originator.
The advantage:
Not just easier direction from print to mobile web, but also playing with the new favorite device: the smart phone – just for fun -, or for more in-depth information:
The connection can be directed to any kind of internet content, e.g. a (mobile) website, a film- ad on youtube, a competition on facebook, or a blog with product tipps . . . For Shokomonk we link to the facebook-fanpage: much easier than the „I like“-button.
The QR-code can be printed on any kind of medium: not only postcards or print ads, but also Citylights, product packaging, window decoration banners, just to give you a few ideas. Imagine the use on T-shirts or removable tattoos on a promotion team!
For our projects at SPY we generate a scorecard, on how often a specific QR-code has been used. For the launch of Bvlgari Man, we used different codes for the direct mailing and the window decoration at the Gallery LaFayette 
department store in Berlin. This gives us insight into the reach of each. At the same time, the consumer, who uses the code becomes a more valuable fan, because he actively chose to interact with its dream brand.
The pre-requisite:
You need a smart phone with internet access and a camera, like the IPhone 3GS. And studies show, that not only the IPhone, but android-based alternatives like the Google-Phone, and the mobile flatrate monthly plans are spreading rapidly. The fun-factor in using Apps as a brand ambassador is getting higher with this.
Do you already have an IPhone?
Do you want to try it?
Here you can find the projects with QR-codes, which were designed by SPY.
You can just scan the code on the screen, and find out where they link to.
Reader Recommendations:
The App, that your phone needs for the decoding of the QR-code, can be downloaded easily, if you don’t have one yet. Maybe you are already using barcoo (Scan Happy!). This very usefull little app is a barcode scanner, that enables the consumer to research information like price comparisons, and test reports, when scanning a product. But it also reads QR-codes and is available for Nokia, Samsung and Android phones besides the IPhone.
I myself use a beetagg reader.
But there are lots of very good alternatives:
* Kaywa
* i-Nigma
* UpCode
* NeoReader
If you need any advice on this, or if now you are curious, how to use this for your own brand, feel free to give us a call, we are happy to help!
More Information:
Additional information on how-to, what-is-it, and showcases can be found here: