PaidContent.org reports on the growth of “mobile action codes” in US periodicals during 2011, noting that in the top 100 US magazines there were 352 of them during the first quarter, and 1,899 of them in the fourth quarter - an increase of more than 400 percent.
Mobile action codes, the site says, include “2D barcodes, QR codes, Microsoft Tags and watermarks.” They are said to be far more prevalent in advertising than editorial content, and more than half the time were used to link to a video promoting a product or service.
In addition, the site says, “Nearly 40 percent of codes were created by the beauty, home and fashion industries and the codes were especially likely to appear in women’s magazines.”
Mobile action codes, the site says, include “2D barcodes, QR codes, Microsoft Tags and watermarks.” They are said to be far more prevalent in advertising than editorial content, and more than half the time were used to link to a video promoting a product or service.
In addition, the site says, “Nearly 40 percent of codes were created by the beauty, home and fashion industries and the codes were especially likely to appear in women’s magazines.”
- KC's View:
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I think the jury may be out for the moment about how many consumers are actually using these mobile action codes; it seems likely to me that marketers may be more enamored with them than actual shoppers.
But that’s okay. You have to keep working these angles, because consumers eventually will catch up. In fact, they’ll probably catch up faster than anyone expects. And I think that it is important for marketers to be ahead of the wave in using this technology ... experimenting with options and opportunities in a way that will make them more relevant and accessible to shoppers in the long run.
