We’ve all seen bar codes, but colourful ones that your target audience can snap and scan on their mobile phones? Sounds niche, but last month, Singapore’s largest media group, SPH, signed a contract with patent owner Colorzip to help market the technology.
Sony Ericsson took the lead with a week-long print campaign running its own colour bar code. After snapping a photo of the colourful box, the user is automatically entered into a lucky draw for a free phone.
Meanwhile, the telco stores the user’s details in a server and can send more call-to-actions in the future. And unlike ubiquitous black and white formats, colour bar codes can be placed in TVCs and websites, as well as print and outdoor surfaces.
After Singapore, Colorzip will filter throughout the region, Europe and the US. Could this be the year that colour bar codes actually infiltrate the industry outside Japan and Korea, where advertisers are already well-versed in the technology?
1 Ken Mandel, CEO of Neo@Ogilvy, doesn’t think so. Although he says he loves colour bar code technology, he doesn’t see 2007 as its lift-off year. “The major barrier for adoption will be getting the reader application on users’ mobile phones,” he says. Colorzip’s bar codes require you to download its patented scanning software (free) onto your mobile phone.
2 Paul Meyers, CEO of content provider Acme Mobile, agrees that before it can appeal to advertisers, the company needs to find compelling reasons for a consumer to adopt such a new behaviour. “Anything to make purchasing easier will help,” he says, citing payment options at convenience stores as one example. A common application in Japan is via business cards, where people can snap a bar code and automatically input a new acquaintance’s contact details onto their phone.
3 Technicalities aside, it isn’t hard to see why Newsweek headily called colour bar codes “an advertiser’s dream”. Once you’ve purchased a unique colour bar code, you can change the embedded content whenever you like, allowing advertisers to interact with consumers for an extended period of time. Furthermore, the use of colour allows advertisers to design a barcode with its own corporate colours and logo.
4 According to Colorzip’s website a colour bar code costs anywhere from S$100 to $15,000 (US$65 to $9,800), depending on time frame and medium used. “Savings can be phenomenal,” claims Colorzip CEO John Moore. “For example, instead of spending $50 million a year to print and refresh brochures for all your products, you can spend just $10 million buying a code and change it any time you like.”
5 Moore notes that developing markets are especially receptive to this sort of technology, where mobile penetration often exceeds internet or PC usage. “People there can’t always afford a computer,” he says. India is a prime example — mobile penetration is double PC penetration. Just keep in mind that the technology still requires mobiles to have a camera and GPRS function, often taken for granted in developed markets. Still, ironically, Moore adds that the US is roughly a year behind, given that only 20 to 30 per cent of mobile phones come equipped with cameras.
6 In individual markets, Color-zip technology is backed by a slew of heavyweight corporations. In Japan, this includes Dentsu and broadcasters TBS and Fuji. In Korea, SK Telecom is a key partner and in Singapore, it’s SingTel and SPH. After this, the company will tap into the ICC Cricket World Cup in the West Indies, followed by tie-ups with major companies throughout the US and Europe.
7 Colorzip appears to be moving quickly but Moore claims that a key problem is that most advertisers are “way behind” where the user is. “The challenge of agencies is to convince clients to buy in,” he says. “You’ve got to get onto mobile or you’ll lose out.” Ultimately, his vision is to create a culture where a person will sit down to read the newspaper or switch on the television, and automatically whip out their mobile phone. “If we can create this culture, it will be a success.”
What it means for... Advertisers
Extended lifespan of your campaign. “The consumer can drill down for further details in a WAP site, or leave an email address for a sales rep to email them,” says Ken Mandel, CEO of Neo@Ogilvy. “Once they get the email, the brand journey continues.”
Potential cost savings — rather than redesign and reproduce a brochure for every new product, you can just change the content embedded in your bar code.
What it means for... Agencies
As with the online movement, some big clients have already begun asking agencies to devote more energy to the mobile medium. To stay ahead of the trend means understanding how to apply new mobile technologies, such as bar codes. “While a bit clumsy still, code readers are going to bridge the gap between on and offline,” says Mandel.
The added colour dimension can give designers and advertisers more flexibility to brand their own colour bar codes.
Colour bar codes fit neatly into a traditional medium, but agencies will likely need to work with mobile content providers, digital specialists and telcos in order to sustain the mobile touchpoint with fickle-minded consumers.
