‘QR codes – passing fad or the future of advertising?’
Advertising technology is evolving at an extraordinary pace. From Goolge’s AdWords and Apple’s iAds to augmented reality ads, social media and online video, the transition beyond traditional print advertising has been gaining momentum.
All this new technology is exciting, but with adspend in newspapers and magazines getting lower every year, where does this leave the traditional print advert? Enter the QR code. Could this be the saviour of print advertising – at least in the financial services sector?
Chris Dell, Masius MD and Adam Fairbrother, Director of the MasiusQR team decipher the QR phenomenon and look at its role in the future of print advertising.
Could this be the missing link?
Advertisers have been putting URLs on their print adverts for years. They hope people will dutifully type them into web browsers on their smartphones or PCs. But it’s a big ask. People inevitably forget the URL, misspell it or become distracted. And the brand experience ends there.
QR codes, as Adam Fairbrother explains, enable the brand experience to continue beyond the press advertisement:
“A QR or Quick Response code is a barcode on an ad that can be read by QR software on your smartphone. You could think of them as ‘paper-based hyperlinks’. Once your phone has taken a picture of the code the software links you to the advertiser’s website or other branded online content. They are an incredibly effective way of taking people from print-based adverts to the all-important mobile environment – in many ways it’s the missing link”.
QR codes have been around since the early 1990s but their popularity is starting to grow at quite a rate. There are over 100 QR apps to choose from in the Apple App Store alone. That’s no real surprise, given that QR codes are based on open-source technology.
You’d expect that marketers would be quick on the uptake, especially when QR technology can give marketers rich, real-time data. Used properly, a QR code can help enormously in optimising media spend and evaluating creative tests. But many brands have either dabbled with the technology or are waiting to see if it really takes off.
Are the conditions right for widespread QR adoption?
Chris Dell comments: “For QR codes to become mainstream in the UK advertising industry there needs to be widespread adoption of smartphones, and at the rate we’re currently seeing, over 50% of all mobile phones will be smartphones by the end of the year.
“We also need a critical mass of people with the QR software on their smartphones and finally advertisers need to make sure that QR codes are giving people the sort of content they actually want.”
“If these conditions are met, then QR codes could become as familiar to print adverts as normal barcodes are on product packaging – and that’s got to be good news for print advertising in general.”
Decoding QR for financial brands in the intermediated sector
In intermediated financial services QR is gathering pace. But are brands in the intermediated sector jumping on a technology bandwagon or is this sector really leading the way in advertising best practice?
Our point of view is that the success of QR codes in intermediated financial services depends on three factors coming together: widespread adoption of smartphones; software readiness; and advertisers giving IFAs a good reason to scan them.
Chris Dell puts this into the IFA context: “If you’re an IFA, keeping ‘ahead of your game’ is getting harder. Regulation is getting stricter; clients are getting savvier and the sheer volume of products needing familiarisation means your time is precious.”
“Because of this pressure, the relationship between brands and time-starved IFAs has to be more IFA-centric. And this means using new technology to connect IFAs to the information they want, when and where they want it.”
Adam Fairbrother expands: “Against this backdrop of IFA information overload, there’s a growing trend amongst product providers to put QR codes at the foot of their adverts in the financial trade press. More often than not, scanning the code will take you to the home or product pages of the provider’s main website.”
“This successfully takes IFAs from the offline world to the mobile internet world. And it’s clear that these codes are aimed squarely at IFAs, but the important question affecting widespread QR adoption is: Do QR codes actually help IFAs do business?”
Are IFAs really ready for QR codes?
MasiusQR have conducted the first piece of research into QR codes in the IFA market. The purpose of this survey was to see what scale of smartphone adoption exists amongst UK investment IFAs, what their level of knowledge is regarding QR codes and what their preferences are for receiving provider information. Ultimately, we wanted to know if QR codes have a future role in marketing to IFAs, or if the technology is merely a passing trend being used as a gimmick by product providers.
The surprising news is that the image of the IFA as a technophobe is well and truly out of date. The survey found some interesting insights:
They love the iPhone!
- Over 60% of IFAs have a smartphone, and out of that number, around half have an iPhone and around a third have a Blackberry.
They’re not savvy with QR apps
- 83% of IFAs don’t know how to add a QR reader to their smartphones.
They’re not particularly au fait with QR codes
- Nearly half the respondents had never seen a QR code before.
- Out of the half that have seen QR codes, only around 10% have actually scanned them.
But they think QR codes are potentially useful
- Over 60% of IFAs thought investment industry research, news and opinion were potentially the most useful provider information to receive via QR codes.
- Only 40% of IFAs considered fund manager videos as potentially useful.
- Around half of IFAs thought that promotions/incentives, sales aids and application forms/KFDs were potentially useful.
The research also found that IFAs currently think getting email on their PC is the preferable channel for receiving product provider information. With email being virtually identical on desktop computers and mobile devices, this preference may move to mobile email very quickly.
So what are the challenges and opportunities for brands marketing to IFAs?
Chris Dell: “We believe the challenge for IFA-facing brands lies in educating IFAs, helping them get to grips with the QR code software whilst clearly communicating the role QR codes can play in helping IFAs develop their businesses.”
“And there’s a clear opportunity too. Those brands taking ‘first-mover advantage’ in integrating QR code best practice in their IFA marketing and taking ownership of QR technology within their own businesses will have the upper hand.”
Adam Fairbrother: “We recommend an initial test and learn approach, leading to a more integrated QR code strategy once benchmarks have been established”.
“There’s a wide range of possible uses for QR codes in the IFA sector, from campaign extensions and unique branded content through to event booking and reducing the steps in the adviser journey. But what’s most important is delivering the content that IFA’s find most useful.”
“Brands who get the education and content right for IFAs will differentiate themselves as being truly IFA-centric – and as a knock-on effect, IFAs are more likely to share this content through social media networks.”
A new lease of life for print advertising
Are QR codes here to stay or are they just another fad in the capricious world of advertising? Chris Dell: “Advertising techniques are changing. If print is to keep itself relevant then it needs to connect to the mobile world. Thankfully, QR codes can link press and mobile in an instant and this surely gives us an opportunity to re-invent the role of the ad – so I wouldn’t write it off just yet. And of course what goes for press advertising also goes for outdoor, direct mail, brochures, point of sale…