OUGD401
Practical Exploration

As my newsletter will use a QR code to link printed media with digital I found it necessary to research more into QR codes, A QR code consists of black dots arranged in a square grid on a white background, which can be read by an imaging device such as a camera and processed until the image can be appropriately interpreted. They've become common in consumer advertising. Typically, a smartphone is used as a QR code scanner, displaying the code and converting it to some useful form. QR code has become a focus of advertising strategy, since it provides a way to access a brand's website more quickly than by manually entering a URL. Beyond mere convenience to the consumer, the importance of this capability is that it increases the chance that contact with the advertisement will convert to a sale, by coaxing interested prospects with little delay or effort, bringing the viewer to the advertiser's website immediately, where a longer and more targeted sales pitch may lose the viewer's interest. The promise of QR Codes, as presented to potential clients, is irresistible. In print space is limited. Whether it is a company brochure or a bus stop ad, there’s a defined amount of space to communicate your message. Beyond this, your message is typically static and has no interaction with the customer. With the web though, everything changes. Space is virtually unlimited, interaction capabilities are limited only by your imagination and marketing becomes possible with technologies like social media: sustained, continual customer contact.

Above is way Guinness interacted with customers using QR codes, the code was located on a pint glass to improve the experience and offer a little something more, the QR code takes you to the Instagram page to help spread social media awareness for Guinness.  What I like about this QR code is that, it is only activated once a liquid is in the glass. It is barely visible to the viewer when its empty.