QR Codes And Magazines

Good new report from Nellymoser on the growing use of QR codes/action tags in the magazine industry world. Nice to see codes being used more thoughtfully, like this one.

For those looking to skip to the conclusions…

1. Mobile action codes, including QR codes and Microsoft Tags, continue to grow. From January to December 2011, the number of codes grew 617%.

2. QR codes are becoming much more common in magazine advertising. In December, more than 8% of magazine ad pages contained any type of code. This is up significantly from 3.6% in January.

3. Almost all action code experiences have been mobile-optimized.

4. Four types of campaigns dominate the use of action codes:
• Video demonstrations and branding (e.g., a look behind the scenes)
• Data capture and list building, with sweepstakes being an important use.
• Links to e-commerce sites and store locators for brick-and-mortar locations.
• Social media sharing with links to Facebook and Twitter.

5. The brands that most commonly use codes are in the fashion, beauty and home industries. In Q4, electronics vendors are retailers entered the Top 10 list for the first time.

6. Two-thirds of action codes follow the best practice of describing what happens after the code is scanned. Other embellishments, such as the use of icons, are less common.