Mobile Insider Summit: Putting Customers First with QR Codes

by Adam

I recently had the pleasure of speaking at the “Mobile Insider Summit”, a Scanbuy-sponsored event hosted by MediaPost. Having attended at least three or four times previously, I was prepared for a few quality days of discussing the many virtues of the mobile ecosystem.  As expected, there was an impressive line-up of panels with speakers who each had relevant insights to share.  However, what was most exciting to me was the common change of perception around QR Codes.  Of course I have a vested interest in QR, as the VP of Sales for Scanbuy, but similar to the rise and fall and rise again of the internet, QR Codes are experiencing an unprecedented renaissance. Over the years most brands, retailers and marketers have dabbled with QR Codes –just to see what they could do, but over the last few quarters they’ve embraced the technology to achieve more ambitious mobile marketing goals. The underlying theme of this year’s Summit was CUSTOMER FIRST, and we were treated to some great examples of success.  Eric Weissberg, Executive Creative Director at JWT shared some terrific use cases including Macy’s use of QR within their red star logo. He said, “QR usually leads to crap on the back end”, but he believes they are very valuable if you use them properly.  Gary Shechner, Advertising and Marketing Manager for BP’s Arco AM/PM convenient stores shared a similar thought on QR.  In fact, he suggested QR has been very well received by his clients and has resulted in great success for his promotional campaigns. We heard similar stories from others including Melanie Allgood, Sr. Manager of Mobile for Autotrader, “consumers ability to scan a code on a car for information is the ultimate!” Bon Mercado, Head of Mobile Solutions for Google kicked off and shared some incredible stats around mobile traffic to Google.  Only five years ago they saw 1% of traffic via a mobile device, today 13%!  This is overall traffic –which is amazing when you think of the billions of interactions Google sees daily.  With more and more interactions being executed via mobile each day, the need for marketers to deliver more personalized and relevant content is now expected by consumers.  When this mobile experience is done well, engagement increases, which in turn improves conversion--the Holy Grail. At Scanbuy, we have spent the last few years in the market experiencing the “shiny object” effect to the “NFC will take over” effect. Now we are at a point where brands understand that there is a value and they are seeking the strategic advice to use QR Codes properly.  We are seeing this everyday with the clients that we work with.  Today, we have evolved our QR Code platform to a “Mobile Engagement Platform”, with the power to help our clients deliver personalized relevant content, regardless of the trigger (QR Codes, NFC, etc.) being used.  Circling back to the theme of the conference, CUSTOMER FIRST, there is no better way to achieve this then by delivering what they want, when they want it, and where they want it.  It was a great event and I look forward to attending it once again. The video below includes the presentation that I delivered at the Mobile Insider Summit. Please send me an email at adam.gold@scanbuy.com if you’d like to discuss further. You can also watch a video of my presentation embedded below: Video streaming by Ustream   For expert advice or questions on QR Codes and mobile engagement opportunities consider reaching out: -  Visit ScanLife.com - Join LinkedIn Group “Exchanging Smarter Ideas on Mobile Engagement” - Or, simply contact us at sales@scanlife.com