— May 30, 2011 —
By Tobin Harris
We’re playing about with QR codes at the moment, thinking we’d like to put some on both our business cards and on our office windows.
A QR code is like a barcode that you can scan with your phone. When scanned, interesting things can happen. If the QR code contains a URL, your phone can open that in a web browser.
Or, if the QR code contains a vCard, your phone can grab the name and address and add them to your address book.
Thomas Hansen, a good friend of mine, seems to be a bit of a guru in the field of QR codes. I found this very cool QR code generator on his web site.
Here’s an example:
The QR code scanner was created by Thomas’s company - Winergy, Inc. It also lets you create QR codes containing URL’s and SMS messages.
Thomas and I worked at Gaia Ajax Widgets in Norway, he was the founder, and the genius behind the ideas! We had some great times in Barcelona (exhibiting at TechEd), and also in Norway. Most involved beer and guitars :)
Thomas is also doing some really interesting stuff in the wine/QR code space. He’s in the heart of California, so a handy place for creating benefits for wine merchants :)
Winergy focus on creating Loyalty Programs for Merchants, Producers and Service Providers. Their primary products for achieving this is WinePad [http://www.winergyinc.com/buzz] - which only really works for Wineries with Wine Tasting Rooms, which was launched about 7 months ago.
And they also have a QR Code Program, which works for basically everyone.
The QR Code program works such that anyone can put a QR Code anywhere they wish, and have consumers and customers rate their location, object, product or service. And then the Raters are encouraged to share their rating with their friends on Facebook and similar Social Media sites. In addition, every time somebody rates your QR Code, the owner of that QR Code gets that person email address, exact location, and their consent to initiate Direct Marketing to that person.
So basically they help customers with two things;
- Initiate social buzz in the social media, such as Facebook
- Initiate Direct Marketing through harvesting customer’s email addresses, and their consent to do Direct Marketing towards them
Like everything Thomas get’s his head into, it’s really interesting stuff, suggest you check it out!
