Click to watch the video

What I REALLY like about this is that they can initiate campaigns and allow consumers to interact with brands WITHOUT having to change the original entry point. My Heinz bottle didn’t have a ‘scan this’ message one it, there was no sign of a code – it was a regular bottle of Ketchup. The technology work on image recognition. This is very powerful in my eyes. Brands can create interactive campaigns and allow consumers to interact with those campaigns by interacting with objects they have already. The mind races:

• What if I ‘Blippar’ my Sky box and receive a interface allowing me to see the latest box office films?
• What if I ‘Blippar’ my Oyster card for the London Underground? Because Blippar ‘knows’ where I am it could tell me the status of my Oyster account’s funds, and provide relevant information about the closest station or line.
• What if I ‘Blipper’ the McDonalds ad on the highest to receive the directions to my nearest resturant.
• What if I ‘Blipper’ my Costa Coffee card to receive my points balance, a relevant offer, a different choice of drink and the directions to my nearest coffee house?

The list goes on. However each one of these applications currently works by providing a way of interacting with the brand. All the interaction is done within the Blippar interface. Sure, I can be provided links to jump off to the brands Facebook page, but there’s still nothing personal there – it’s still ‘gimmicky’.

Remember that all the tools exists to join up the communications channels to create, establish or continue a conversation. XMPie is just one platform, so what if you were to mix an AR platform like Blippar with a Cross Media Communications platform like XMPie?

What if …. what if I were to ‘Blippar’ an advert for BMW on the high street? I might get some some more information about the model of car that the ad is talking about. Maybe, I could view a 3D model of the car. However, what if I could express an interest in that product by selecting an option. I could then be brought into a dynamic website that is tailored to my geographic location, allowing me see where I can book a test-drive, or by entering my details I can receive a  printed brochure of the car that I am looking at, relative to where my nearest showroom is? All in an instance – initiated by me! That would be cool, and would also allow a conversation to start. It’s pull-advertising at it’s finest. As a consumer, I have expressed an interest in a product, I have then initiated a conversation, by providing my details, which can then be used to create further communications and drive (excuse the intentional pun!) me further down the marketing funnel.

This method would take Blippar even further into the marketing chain, by allowing consumers to both interact with a brand and then initiate a conversation, which is then consistent, immediate and personalised.

There are some questions still outstanding for me that would provide some interesting applications:

• At the moment Blippar has to do all of the creative work to create the AR elements – which is obviously their business model. However it would be nice to see a licensed, consumer version that agencies and creatives could use to create ‘Blippars’.
• I am not 100% sure, if the content of a ‘Blippar’ is simply downloaded to a device and executed locally, with no further interaction to the Internet. It would be great if content could consist of dynamic elements. If this were the case, the content could be versioned based on geographical location, or allow the user to enter data directly to provide a personalised experience.

Either way Blippar allows for a very interactive experience – what is lacking is the initiation of a dynamic conversation. Tools like XMPie can offer that extention – it just needs someone to pull them together in a campaign….

As a small personal project, and based on a discussion that I was having with a colleague I’ve spent a few hours pulling together a Quick Response Code (QR Code) campaign today. This little project took me only a few hours, but consists of a complete marketing campaign where my fictitious company ‘greenorange’ are able to create branded marketing material for events. They can hand out the postcards carrying an offer for a money-off coupon, along with a dynamic QR Code. The QR Code, when scanned brings a recipient to a Group URL (GURL) which references the event that the recipient attended, and asks them for their details. The recipient can enter their details, at which point they are taken to a personalised URL (PURL) from where they can click to dynamically create and download their own personalised money-off coupon!

All this is being tracked, so greenorange can see who is scanning what, and who has entered their details and downloaded their money-off coupon!

A complete marketing campaign, based on the intelligent use of QR Codes (rather than just placing static QR Codes on a company’s literature) in under half a working day! Oh, and one that is being tracked in real-time, so the marketing team can see what’s happening, minute by minute.

You know what – this cross media marketing stuff is not that scary, or hard to do when you have an idea and the right tools.

I am a firm believer that QRCodes present a great opportunity for marketing purposes, it’s just that the desire to use and interact with a QRCode, on a mass scale has not been identified. Sure, there have been a lot of successes with QRCodes over the years, but within niche and relatively small groups.

As a consumer there needs to be a real desire to interact with a QRCode. Without that desire why would I purposely download an app in order to use them. The vast majority of QRCode still seem to encode a static URL, and that creates very little value in my opinion. It would take me less time to simply type into my browser and visit the company’s website, opposed to downloading an app, scanning the app and then being taken to the company’s website.

Personally, I think that the opportunity with advertising is stronger. Imagine me receiving my monthly tech magazine (which I subscribe to) and then within the pages are QRCodes alongside articles and advertisements. If I were then to scan a QRCode against the latest DELL laptop, lets say, I would be taken to a personalized microsite which welcomes me; knowing that I have visited that site only because of me scanning my personalized QRCode. It then either present more information about the product in question, or stores that as a ‘favorite’ and allows me to scan several more codes, before collating all my interests together and presenting back to me a personalized PDF or email with relevant product details, offers, and retailers in my area. The growth in the tablet marketing could well fuel this adoption.

This would first present me with some value, easier access to relevant and timely content, and present the publisher with an increased ROI because they are generating measurable interest from an advertisement.

Imagine a tradeshow, with QRCodes on all the exhibitioner’s stands. Whilst walking around and interacting with various suppliers I could scan the QRCodes. It’s then easy for the show organisers to see exactly what I have expressed an interest in, and present me make all the information that I need post-show directly to me.

There’s still a need for mobile phone manufacturers to embed the scanning technology within the base OS – but this may not happen. In the meantime the responsibility lies with the marketers to create QRCode campaigns that absolutely add value. Please no more QRCode on fizzy drink cans that simply take me to a mobile version of their website? Why would I want to do that? Even if I had a QRCode app on my phone?

Unfortunately we had some issues in the call logistics, which meant that some people were not able to attend – but we also had a number of groups sharing connections to listen. So the final number will be a lot higher I think. Either way, it was a pleasure to present this topic to our customers and business partners.

For those that were not able to attend the call, we will be communicating out the recording so there’s always a chance to watch it.

During the presentation I didn’t focus on what social media is, more on the opportunities that it presents when used creatively within a cross-media campaign. I focussed briefly on why this is such an important topic from the marketer’s perspective, and I referenced in several places an interesting report by Forresters.

In my mind there are three distinct areas in which social media can be used:

• Using social media as a broadcast medium to extend the reach of a cross-media campaign;
• Using social media as a way of actually acquiring new customers directly into a cross-media campaign;
• and integrating social media and cross-media campaigns together so they both add value.

Each level offers different advantages and opportunities for both the providers and the marketers. Each level demands an increase in the skills that you need to build these campaigns. However the higher the level of integration, the higher the rewards and return on marketing investment. Looking around the marketplace already there are companies that are starting to offer this integrated approach to marketing, and the rewards are obvious (well to me!).

Have no fear, social media is not going away, nor is cross media marketing. They will, and should come together to drive results and customer interaction.

Over the coming weeks I am planning on adding some more detail to these levels, and give you some ideas of how they can be used in the real-world. So check back in soon. If you have already been using social media within your cross-media campaigns then please share it with me. I am always after good examples.

Well, I stumbled across http://www.fakenamegenerator.com/ today. With 26 languages and 22 countries, the Fake Name Generator is the most advanced name generator that I have come across – and it’s FREE. It will generate names, addresses, social security numbers, credit card numbers, occupations, UPS tracking numbers for any number of recipients – all in a few minutes. Arriving nicely as a CSV zipped file in your inbox. Marvelous!

If you want to jump straight in and order (for free) in bulk then visit http://www.fakenamegenerator.com/order.php

The days of joe Bloggs turning up in my samples (999 times!) are long gone now.

Using the Facebook tools it’s easy to allow users to do this. Using the http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php facility you can share any link.  This also takes several parameters:

http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u={{URL to Share}}&title={{Title of the Link}}

So if you were running a campaign, containing a printed mailer then you could place a QRCode on the mailer, allowing the recipient to immediate ‘share’ the campaign online via Facebook. So if we were sending out a mailer promoting the XMPie Innovation Showcase then we could use the following URL in a QRCode:

http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://www.xmpieinnovationshowcase.com&title="XMPie Innovation Showcase"

This would give us the following QRCode, which would in turn send us to Facebook and allow us to immediately share the campaign with others.

Referral or Affiliate Marketing

The real power of this can be seen if you look at referral or affiliate marketing. For example. Let’s assume that last week I had been on an Experience Day racing an Aston Martin DB9 around the track (God, I only wish!). If I got a mailer through the post today offering me some other Experience Days, but also offering me the chance earning money, or the chance of earning another Experience if I promote the day I had just been on. It’s simple says the mailer…

Just scan the QRCode, post the link to your Facebook page
and we will track any visitor that buys an Experience Day
based on your referral.
The more people that also buy an experience day, the
closer you will be to getting another one for free!

Now that’s something that would make me read the mailer, and scan the QRCode to publish it online!

As there is a growing buzz around the use of QRCodes I thought that I would create a real-world concept that could be used.  

QRCodes, as we know are fantastic at bridging the offline and online world. Unfortunately many marketeers still seem to be stuck in a rut of using them to bring people to a generic landing page. This is just one use. Personally I like to explore the more interesting concepts of what can be achieved using QRCodes.

This concept is to take the humble advertising billboard or poster. Traditionally used to promote brands and offers. Well, what about creating relevant, location based brand awareness? I have used a well know retailer for this example, Next. What if Next had the following poster outside Picadilly Circus Underground Station in London? There’s a Next store just 15 minutes walk away – but you wouldn’t know that unless you had seeked out that knowledge previously.

Well what about a billboard or poster showing the brand as well as directing people to the nearest store? Passers-by could scan the code, and immediately be directed to Google Maps to show them the walking directions to the nearest store. Because we know the actually location of the advertisement, we can using the correct location.

The Google Maps API is easy used.

http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=start&daddr=end&dirflg=w

The start should be the starting location,
The end should be the ending location,
The dirflag=w simply indicates that we want walking directions.

We can simply use a database of starting locations, ending locations, store names and store images. Using this together with XMPie we can completely create the example shown. XMPie’s uDirect can connect to the database and read in each line, using the correct store image, and producing the correct QRCode for the Goggle Map route. For a quick video on how easy it is to use XMPie to create QRCode click here.

The hard work, needed upfront is building the database of known advertising point locations, and their respective nearest store. It’s probably best to use longitude and latitude points opposed to  street names and postcodes, as these can be slightly ambiguous at times, as I found out during my tests.

Further use

To extend this example – you could use the QRCode to bring visitors into a relevant landing page – personalised for the nearest store, showing and relevant offers as well as offering the walking directions. This landing page is not a typical PURL (or RURL) as we do not know the person that is visiting the page. However you could create a Group URL (GURL) showing the visitor a site which has been versioned for the local store. This could then be used to collect data, offer local incentives or simply provide tracking and directions.

In conclusion

Personalisation of this sorts tends to be within the hands of cut-sheet printers – well why not use it in a wide-format environment, and start producing relevant wide-format advertising material. In this example, using QRCodes could add significant value back to the end-client, to engage and drive visitors to their stores, as well as providing  tracking and reporting. The same principle can also be used for driving visitors to local attractions and sites.

I’ve spoken to various creatives, service providers and marketers about this technology over the past few months; admittedly because XMPie now supports the technology directly inside uDirect. Whilst they all seem excited about the prospect of this technology very few that I can see are actually using it creatively or at all. There’s a very useful site at http://2d-code.co.uk which covers alot of the technology, as well as many of the examples of where 2D barcodes have been used.

Now that XMPie supports the use of PDF417, AztecCode, DataMatrix, MaxiCode, MicroPDF and QRCodes directly within the uDirect InDesign CS plugin it is easy to insert personalised data into a 2D barcode and place it on a printed piece. This obviously means that any data (from a datasource) can be used to create a 2D barcode. Want to create a 2D barcode that contains someone’s RURL or personalised URL so you negate the need to have them type it in? What about embedded personalised information about a recipient within a voucher code, presented as a 2D barcode?

It’s not an insignificant fact that XMPie’s approach to QR Code is easy. XMPie’s ADOR technology means that any data and logic contained within the data can be used repeatable and consistently within the campaign and QR Codes.

One of the biggest factors holding back the adoption of this technology is the support for barcode readers already installed on the mobile devices – so the initial campaigns need to provide enough of an incentive to get people to spend the time and install one. However with most smart phones and camera-enabled phones capable of supporting QR-Code capture this is rapidly becoming a non-issue.

Hopefully those creatives that would like to implement some form of support with a DM piece or personalised campaign should be able to do so a lot easier now, as all the various commercial printers and service providers that already have XMPie now have this ability. ” Ta Dah”.  All it needs now is a forward-thinking creative team to come up with some good campaign material.

Any takers?

Initially focusing on the public sector, and in particular the education market, where the response to student enquiries to Colleges and Universities offers an ideal application, Customationhas assembled an experienced team with expertise in marketing communication, creative design, content layout, personalisation, web design and development, and print management.

Initially focusing on the public sector, and in particular the education market, where the response to student enquiries to Colleges and Universities offers an ideal application, Customation has assembled an experienced team with expertise in marketing communication, creative design, content layout, personalisation, web design and development, and print management.

Customation uses XMPie to create the customised content.

All organisations continuously search for improvement in the effectiveness of their marketing communications and the Customation approach offers significant benefits over the traditional bulk printing of generic collateral with the associated storage costs and wastage. Building a positive relationship with your prospects and customers while simultaneously reducing your carbon footprint must be an attractive proposition to everyone.