Opinion

Why QR codes will not sell your herbs

An ad for ‘free streetside herbs’ is a prime example of when using QR codes is useless, argues Alex Hayes.

This morning I stumbled across the most baffling piece of advertising, which used a piece of technology most people don’t use, placed in an spot it is difficult to stop in, without explaining what it was promoting to a group of people who do not have time to stop and find out.

IMG_0193The ad in question seems harmless enough. ‘Keep calm and chamomile’ may be a little twee for some, but it’s at least quirky, and links well to what appears to be the subject of the ad ‘free streetside herbs’.

What got me angry was its placement and overall strategy and execution. The ad was stencilled onto the pavement at Circular Quay in Sydney and relied on a QR code to drive its message home, which struck me as utterly ridiculous for several reasons.

For those not familiar with Circular Quay, it is one of the busier transport hubs in Australia, with dozens of ferries depositing tens of thousands of people every hour, most of whom are busy commuters rushing to get to work, or onto a train to get to their final destination.

Most of these people haven’t built the time into their journey to stop for the bare minimum of 30 seconds it takes to open the phone, access a QR code reader and scan a sign on the floor, whilst probably being jostled by their fellow passengers as they’ve stopped in the middle of a busy walkway. This is assuming that, unlike 62 per cent of people, they are aware of what a QR code is and, even more unlikely, have a QR scanner already downloaded to their mobile device.

The rest are tourists, mostly overseas visitors, taking in the sights, or on their way to get a ferry to Manly or Taronga Zoo. Not generally the kind of people who have spare data on their mobile devices to scan a code in the vague hope of some exciting news about herbs.

The website

The website

To make matters worse, when you do download a QR code reader and follow the link, it takes you to a holding website which tells you the event isn’t on until February 4, with a ridiculous countdown clock telling me its still five days away. I can enter my email address to get on a mailing list to find out where they will be, but that’s a hurdle I’m not willing to jump over, even for free herbs.

So, to summarise, a marketer has agreed to place an ad with a QR code, a technology the majority of people don’t know or have to hand,  in a place it is difficult to stop without explaining what it is they are trying to promote. And when people do make it to the landing page, they are rewarded with no more information, and more barriers to finding out about it.

The whole execution of this feels lazy and cheap, as if promoting the event was a secondary priority to organising it – whatever it is.

It’s not that QR codes are altogether bad, but when you do use them you have to make sure people get what they want at the destination, which is not the case here. Instead of being stupidly easy, it ends up driving me to enter more details I don’t want to give for an event I know nothing about. It’s not making me curious, it’s making me hate the process, and herbs.

Instead, they could have made the investment in something explaining the event and giving its location, or even into SMS marketing offering people more calls to action. Even using this space to promote a fully functional website or app would have been more effective.

In the five minutes I was queuing to buy a train ticket, I watched dozens of people stroll past the ad without giving it a second glance. And even for those that do take the time to stop and scan it, its unlikely they will notice the ad in five days’ time, or remember there is an event where they can get ‘free streetside herbs’.

Alex Hayes

 

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