Guest comment: Mobile barcodes- To scan or not to scan?

Brands and marketers have long been using the mobile channel to interact with their customers. SMS marketing campaigns, mobile tickets and coupons, mobile websites, applications, mobile search, and mobile video/TV advertising are examples of the outreach mechanisms employed. No longer a test or emerging media, mobile marketing is now a very real and very visible part of many companies’ promotional strategies.

According to recent research by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB), 95 percent of digital budgets now include spend on mobile. Most interestingly, of the marketers surveyed, 73 percent believe mobile will be the medium that sees the most growth over the next five years. From consumers opting in to engage with a brand all the way through to measurement, mobile offers marketers a tool like no other, given its huge reach potential.

As mobile screen sizes have become larger, web browsing has improved, camera quality has advanced, battery life has increased, and unlimited data packages have proliferated, mobile devices are increasingly delivering a more enhanced user experience. That said, no matter how advanced we have become, easy access and discovery of content through mobile remains elusive. A mobile direct response method increasingly being seen in advertising is mobile barcodes (or 2D barcodes). These codes are about the size of a postage stamp and are being found on point of sale displays in stores, film posters and billboards, product packaging and in traditional and digital advertising. Barcodes offer one-click access to consumers so they can reach the exact content they want. Brands can create an immediate, highly relevant interaction with a potential customer through barcodes by providing consumers with an incentive to access information about a product, gain a money-off voucher, launch a messaging session, connect to a customer service center, or directly link to the exact page on a mobile website of a favourite brand, for example.

Consumers are already familiar with receiving “opt-in” SMS advertising, texting to a short code to receive further information about a specific product or service, and accessing mobile applications through portals to reach the content and/or brand they want. Mobile barcodes offer brands and businesses the opportunity to take this level of interaction and personal dialogue one step further.

As consumers, we demand information quickly, instantly and on the go. Mobile enables real-time communication and access to content and entertainment. It allows brands to offer us more customised experiences anywhere and any way we want – through voice, text or pictures. Barcodes use the camera feature on the mobile device. For example, I may be reading a newspaper and see a print advert for a product that interests me. At the bottom of this advert is a small barcode that invites me to scan it with my mobile phone to register to access exclusive content and receive free product samples. It is this level of instant interaction that adds value to existing marketing campaigns and engenders long-term brand loyalty.

Capturing the attention of a prospective customer using an advert in print or on television – and integrating a subsequent call to action – enables a brand to communicate further and develop a dialogue at the time when attention and interest in the brand is highest. It is also an ideal mechanism for a brand to drive customer traffic to a specific mobile webpage with an offer and information tailored more to that type of customer. For example, News International ran an eight-page trial in the UK newspaper The Sun to educate consumers about mobile barcodes, with the aim of driving more traffic to its own mobile sites. High street retailer Marks & Spencer recently ran a trial printing mobile barcodes on the back of cartons of orange juice. Once scanned with a mobile device, the consumer is redirected to a mobile site with information about the product, and a voucher for money off their next juice purchase. Incentives like these make the barcode attractive to the customer.

We’ve seen various mobile barcode trials across the UK and other European countries, yet mobile barcodes still remain relatively “siloed.”  To be sure, the use of mobile barcodes is spreading, and consumers are expressing a clear interest. According to a recent report from Juniper Research, mobile coupons  will be used by 200 million mobile users by 2013. Barcodes offer a simple way to convert the customer from interest to engagement to purchase. However, mobile barcodes still exist on the periphery of the advertising spectrum.  Why is this? Shouldn’t the immediacy to interact with customers that mobile barcodes offers be a bigger attraction for brands and businesses than it is today?

Well, yes, it should – but if you think about it from a historical standpoint, even traditional barcodes didn’t become popular until a global standard was adopted, and I believe the same will hold true for mobile barcodes. For a successful mobile barcode marketplace to exist, three things are absolutely essential: true interoperability, which allows for massive reach and scale; compelling content customised for mobile; and a simple and competitive way for brands, mobile operators and infrastructure players to realise value from this medium.  Over the next year, I predict we will see the mobile and advertising industries work together to make barcodes as ubiquitous as SMS. 2010 is shaping up to look very promising for mobile barcodes.

Diane Strahan is vice president of Mobile Services at Neustar, Inc.

www.neustar.biz

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