QR codes // no quick response here.

What exactly is a QR code anyway? What are they designed for, and how are they relevant to me, in my life? 
  

Worthy questions for this newly embraced advertising technology that continues to perform poorly, according to Kevin Moreland in an article on the B&T website here. QR codes (like the one pictured to the left) appear to be popping up on advertising material everywhere lately. In some instances they are referenced, with a line of text to tell us where they lead, but at other times they just seem to hover awkwardly towards the edge of the page. My prediction, the vast majority of people don't know what they are for or even how to use them. What a lost opportunity.

QR codes have been appearing on all types of advertising material, including press, posters, buses, billboards - the list goes on. Essentially any flat surface you can put advertising material on, advertisers have planted a QR code there. But do they really add any value? This I believe has a lot to do with context and the destination.
  
So where do they lead?
  
A number of possible destinations. The better invested QR codes may lead to an app on your iPhone, or they may lead simply to a website landing page. They can connect you with a social media page (such as Facebook) or a product purchase page. Essentially they are a shortcut that uses your smartphone to connect you straight from this offline advertisement into the online world. Quite a clever idea really, the only problem being that they have been marketed really poorly. While the QR code still feels new the destination must be much the same; an exciting and engaging game app or interactive social media page. Take me simply to your corporate website or a landing page and I will drop off, this I guarantee you will work just as quickly as the QR (quick response) code.
  
Not quite the glorious entrance to the advertising market we were hoping for, but then again QR codes never were intended for a life of glamour. They were invented by a subsidiary of car manufacturer Toyota to track mechanical parts in the production process in the mid 1990s. The code can hold a great deal of information and can be quickly and easily scanned to access this information; a great asset for the manufacturing industry. Since marketers have gotten their hands on them, however, they've became more of a novelty, a joke really.
  
It's time to pick up the game. Like anything in this new media context that is the present day, we need to add value; to be appealing to our audience and encourage them (effectively) to interact with our brand. 
  
QR code, so far you have fallen short, but you can blame advertisers for that.