But why? According to QRcodepress, this effort is an attempt to get individuals more interested in the world around them and to raise awareness about the importance of trees in the urban environment. Twenty-four of the species in the park are now equipped with quick response signage, which allows anyone in the immediate area to learn about the tree.

Ron Muller spearheaded this project and was integral in creating the codes and affixing them to the trees. He said, “I think it’s important for the younger generation, who use these QR codes for sure, to get acquainted with what’s around them and trees are certainly an important part of what we are and what we have.”

It is definitely a unique take on integrating technology with nature and engaging the population of people that most need to learn about the importance of urban trees.

To learn more about this innovative use of tech in nature, check out the full story here.

The post QR Codes Really 'Branching' Out appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

By the beginning of 2014, no one seemed excited to be using QR codes—at least, not like they used to.

They used to be all over everything, and every smartphone came standard with a QR scanner. They were supposed to make finding the webpages and information you wanted easier, and they were a great way for marketers to direct individuals in the physical world to the virtual one.

Though they have been slightly out of vogue in recent years, could they still be a useful marketing tool? I mean, they still do what they always did—direct a scanner to a landing page. It’s easy and convenient, especially on the small smartphone screen, where it can be difficult to navigate to the right page.

The key is correct implementation. You can really see the death of the QR code in how they have been used on billboards. How is a driver ever supposed to be able to scan that code? But using QR codes on product tags, in paper advertisements, and around brick-and-mortar stores is still a great way to incorporate the virtual into the physical, especially if the QR’s destination is useful and engaging information.

For a great piece on contemporary QR codes and how they could “make a comeback,” check out this recent post from Business2Community.

The post So… Whatever Happened to QR Codes? appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Though price is always critical, today service has become a key differentiator.

“To earn a sale and repeat visits, retailers need to deliver the very best in service, every time a shopper walks through the door,” notes the Mobile Marketing Association. “And in-store mobile marketing can make that happen — automatically.”

A webinar set for Thursday, October 2 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. EDT will help retailers learn how indoor mobile marketing take the brick-and-mortar store to a whole new level of personalized service.

Webinar topics include indoor locationing trends, Beacon technology, QR codes, mobile marketing platforms, ROI measurement techniques, analytics, consumer privacy, and more.

To learn more and to register, click here.

The post Webinar Alert: ‘Ten Things to Know About In-Store Mobile Marketing’ appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

uQR.me, if you’re not familiar, was created by Mobile Leaves, which also provides free QR codes.

According to Mobile Commerce News, not only does this free service generate QR code statistics, but it is already calculating the success of millions of QR codes from around the world.

The goal is to help businesses and online marketers determine the conversion rates of their QR code campaigns as well as to provide general QR code statistics and trends from around the world.

The free tool provides specific QR code statistics and even filters the results by a wide range of factors, including demographics, originating country, and the type of mobile device or operating system utilized for scanning the code.

To check out this new resource for yourself, click here.

The post Marketers Invited to Check Out New QR Code Generator Stats Page appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

When he invented the Quick Response or QR code in 1994, inventor Masahiro Hara was actually looking for a way to increase the amount of information that could be stored on a simple paper label.

Recently, however, he told the U.K. Telegraph that the emergence of better image recognition software will likely make his invention obsolete in about 10 years.

Awarded the “popular prize” at the recent European Inventor Award 2014, Hara believes that there are a number of evolutions which will help to give the QR code a little bit more life but, in about a decade, it will fall out of use completely.

When he invented the QR code in 1994, one-dimensional barcodes, which are limited to about 20 alphanumeric characters, had been around for over 20 years. The QR code, developed by a team including Hara and Takayuki Nagaya, was the first two-dimensional code and increased the amount of information that could be held by approximately 250 times.

Since then QR codes have found their way onto virtually everything, from business cards to airline tickets and in warehouses and manufacturing plants all over the globe. Extremely easy to use, they can be read with either a dedicated reader or practically any smart phone or tablet computer. Even if a significant portion of the code is gone or corrupted, an error correction algorithm developed by Reed-Solomon still allows them to be read.

The post Time is Running Out for QR Codes appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

If you’re keeping score at home, that’s a 20% increase from Q1 2013. Scanbuy says this expansion demonstrates continued strong growth and interest among mobile consumers.

“Mobile triggers continue to help consumers make product choices, engage their favorite brands, receive more informative information, quickly download their favorite apps, and much more,” explains Mike Wehrs, CEO of Scanbuy.  “With millions of mobile engagements completed each month, and with user activity distributed fairly evenly across age groups, and areas of interest, there’s no question consumers continue to value ScanLife for the quickest route to more information and the best deal.”

The top user type for both Android and iOS devices was “Value Shoppers,” demonstrating consumers most often scan to get information, reviews, prices, deals and more, making it apart of how they shop.  The most “liked” QR Code category by users were app downloads, a category that is gaining momentum as consumers see the benefit of accessing apps marketed to them in contextual, real-world circumstances.

Other highlights from the Q1 2014 report include:

• The most popular type of content accessed in mobile engagement campaigns was product information, video, customer relationship management, app downloads and mCommerce
• 51% of scans came from Android OS devices compared to 46% on Apple iOS devices
• The most “liked” brands by the ScanLife community were Lego, Lucky Lotto, McDonalds, Novartis and Taco Bell
• Cities around the world that scanned the most frequently: Houston, Madrid, Barcelona, Dallas and New York City
• Industries that saw the most scans included food and beverage, consumer electronics, entertainment, media and wireless

The post QR Code Scans Reached Record Heights in First Quarter appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

ZinMobi – a so-called specialist in marketing software for pizza chains – is setting up shop in North America.

ZinMobi’s platform has enjoyed rapid success in response to its ability to targets customers according to their purchase behavior.

Its mobile marketing and messaging platform uses purchase behavior analytics and algorithms to create customer profiles which are then used to trigger customer purchases via targeted, timely and relevant messages, and coupons.

“Some of America and Canada’s best loved pizza chains are family-run businesses that simply don’t have the time to focus on complex technology or mining ‘big data’. We do all the heavy lifting for them so they can automate their marketing campaigns,” CEO Brian Stephenson is quoted in the report. “Our technology is designed to address the most common marketing needs and challenges. Whether it’s delivering instant sales, protecting margins, increasing purchase frequency, building loyalty and lifetime value or reducing churn, cutting campaign costs, minimizing administration and increasing brand consistency — our platform does it all, at both a national and hyper-local level.”

Before setting its sights on North America, ZinMobi cut its teeth by providing mobile marketing software for various pizza establishments across its native Ireland.

The post Mobile Marketing Provider for Pizza Chains Comes to North America appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The simple fact is that QR codes were so easy to use to route a consumer to a business’s website that the majority of businesses actually neglected to take the steps necessary to keep a consumer engaged once they actually arrived at their website.

What most businesses didn’t understand was that, just like near field communication (NFC), QR codes are simply a trigger; they can lead a consumer wherever a company wants to but, once done, that company actually has to have something engaging, interesting or valuable to keep them there.

Knowing this, one of the early pioneers in QR codes, Scanbuy, recently introduced a new platform to help companies deal with the back-end processes necessary to make QR codes valuable. They’re hoping that, with new and better experiences ready, consumers who gave QR codes a shot in the past (and gave up on them) will consider giving them another try.

“Someone used to be able to create a code but it just linked to a website,” Scanbuy CEO Mike Wehrs told mCommerce Daily. “Now it starts with what do you want to do, not what code do you want.”

Scanbuy’s new platform will help marketers to create unique experiences after a QR code is scanned using templates to create dynamic and customized results. Factors like the operating system of the device used to scan the QR code, the location of the consumer, the time of day and even the consumer’s loyalty can be factored in to the template, and YouTube videos, photo galleries and Google Maps can also be embedded.

What this leads to, after the scan, are various other activities such as sending a text or email, receiving a notification of winning a contest or making a call, most of which is much more engaging than what was offered in the past.

QR code scanning, to be sure, continues to increase. Scanbuy says that they logged nearly 90 million interactions in 2013 and that their Scanlife app has been downloaded 85 million times.

They’ve also included something extremely important to brands and businesses; back-end tracking of data. Companies can now track scanning activity, campaign comparisons, demographics, location information and first-time customers.

All of which, according to Scanbuy, should finally give QR codes the respect that they’ve always deserved.

The post QR Codes Finally Getting the Respect they Deserve appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Last night in Austin at the mega convention, Mahala introduced its new digital commerce platform, which allows consumers and fans to purchase digital content or merchandise directly from artists, labels or merchants, using their mobile phones.

The team at Mahala clearly picked the perfect event and venue to tout its newest offering.

So how does it work? Consumers simply scan Mahala’s S-QR codes, using Mahala’s Mobile Wallet application or any standard QR code reader, to immediately and securely purchase items.

Artists, labels and merchants can easily sell digital content or merchandise to consumers anywhere over any media using the Mahala app available for iOS and Android device. The S-QR codes can be placed on social media channels like Facebook and Twitter, embedded in videos, and placed in print media, like posters or magazines. Consumers then simply scan the S-QR code to make purchases.

Wu Music Group has partnered with Mahala to launch the pre-sale of the much-anticipated Wu Tang Clan album “A Better Tomorrow” at SXSW this week. Wu Music Group will sell copies of their new album via promotional posters placed throughout the SXSW event.

“We’re excited to work with Mahala to provide our fans with a great and unique purchase experience while at the SXSW event. We constantly look for ways to better engage our fans and provide them with new ways to interact with us. Mahala delivered that for us,” said Mitchell Diggs, Executive Producer of Wu Tang Productions and now COO of Wu Music Group. “Mahala gave us the capability to reach thousands of fans at the SXSW event with a direct purchase experience, something we’ve never been able to do.”

The post QR Codes Prove Hot Commodities at SXSW appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The entire millennial generation has been pegged as target demographic for QR codes if you’re a marketer looking to get the most bang for your buck.

Although some industry analysts have become concerned that QR codes are not the novelty they once were, the study reveals that a good portion of the population is still enamored of QR codes and willing to scan and use them when appropriate.

Among the three million British mobile users who have scanned QR codes, almost two thirds (63%) were men, with women making up the other 37%.

25 to 34-year-olds claimed the number one spot among most likely QR code scanners with 18 to 24-year-olds coming in second. Those deemed least likely to scan a QR code are 45 to 54-year-olds.

Promisingly, the study also found that among consumers, there seems to be a good working knowledge of QR codes, how they work, and what value they provide.

The post Who is Most Likely to Scan a QR Code? appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.