Eye on China: the QR bonanza

Chinese smartphone owners are becoming increasingly involved with their devices, to the point where checking their smartphone becomes their first and last activity of the day. A recent study by GroupM Interaction found that Chinese people enjoyed using the devices as bridges linking their offline and online worlds. For example, the study showed that 73% of respondents had already scanned a QR code. In fact, QR codes in China have become so popular, that the scanning rate has grown by more than four times between March 2012 and March 2013. As a result, organisations have started implementing QR codes all over the country. The British Embassy for example now displays QR codes outside its building for passers-by who want to follow the UK government’s account on Sina Weibo, the microblogging platform that has 46 million daily active users in China. JCDecaux, no stranger to the trend, is offering its clients the option to implement QR codes as part of their campaigns across all activities in China.  Here are a few examples of these campaigns.   Pricerite Express, Hong Kong Metro: The brand offered Hong Kong Metro commuters the opportunity to purchase grocery items through the use of QR codes while waiting for their train. Each purchased item would then be delivered directly to people’s homes   Unilever Lipton, Beijing and Shanghai Metro: To introduce the new triangle tea bag, Lipton launched innovative campaigns in both Beijing and Shanghai Metros. Huge 3 dimensional tea bags were displayed on wall stickers and the scent of the tea was diffused around the station to attract the attention of the commuters. QR codes were displayed on the stickers, enabling people to scan to purchase the product from an online supermarket.   Coca-Cola, Ningbo Bus Shelters and Metro: In January 2013, Coca-Cola launched a New Year campaign on Bus Shelters in Ningbo and in Nanjing Metro, inviting passers-by to press a button on the bus shelter panel to see lights and fireworks flashing from the bottom of a Coca-Cola bottle. People were also invited to scan the QR code to watch the video of Coke’s latest campaign.   Mix campaigns on Bus Bodies across China: Nowadays more and more clients are using QR codes on bus advertising, for enhanced visibility and ease of scanning, as bigger QR codes can be displayed thanks to the wider space available on the sides of the vehicles. Data sourced from Warc.com, 12 July 2013