There’s been a lot of discussion in the mobile barcode industry over indirect vs. direct codes, including some of our other blog posts on this topic (see Control Your Codes and Response to Direct vs. Indirect Discussion). As a follow up, I wanted to take a moment to offer a more in-depth look and explain how indirect codes work – and how they can increase the functionality of a 2D barcode campaign.
Open protocols and interoperability enable everyone to publish their own indirect codes and have them work with any open barcode scanner. There is a lot here, in terms of improved function and value over direct, if one’s reader can be easily adapted to know what to do with open format indirect codes. And that problem has been solved.
Large brands, corporations, organizations and government agencies will focus on indirect because it can be a richer, more targeted and more secure experience, especially where multiple sessions are triggered by a scan or where transparency matters.
If small companies want to use free, direct codes or larger companies are testing or just bringing people to a simple landing page with direct – no problem. They may not need the flexibility and control of indirect. They may not need third party validation or a more sophisticated policy based rules and reporting for things like cooperative marketing.
But big brands want traceability and control. In some cases, their signage and products can be out there “on the shelf” for quite some time. Being able to change the content associated with an indirect code gives them a great deal of flexibility.
The 2D barcode space is still in its infancy. The players are small and the space is evolving. And whether brands go direct or indirect, they need to control their marketing and ensure they are not captive to any one technology vendor.
Diane Strahan
Matthew Valleskey
Peter Langlois
Lock Dethero
Jeff Neuman
Marc Plante
8 comments
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January 16, 2011 at 1:55 pm
Andrew
we’ve been hearing about this space continously being in it infancy, so when will it start to gain traction, I still don’t see brands pumping out 2d barcodes yet like theres no tomorrow. I see smartphones are increasing expontentially and should reach 50percent penetration in the U.S by end of this year.. but don’t see the same increase in campaigns in 2d barcodes, what am I missing and are big brands really interested in this , if they are why haven’t some launched campaigns on a regular basis?
January 18, 2011 at 12:14 am
Lock Dethero
Thanks for the comment. The 2D barcode industry is in its infancy in the sense that there is so much potential for barcodes that hasn’t even begun to be unleashed. And, with any new technology, it takes time to get brands on board. If you look at common short codes they were introduced into the market in 2003, and still have not reached mass adoption. Also look at how long it took brands to fully embrace the Internet — almost 20 years, and mobile has a much faster adoption curve, so we’ll get there, but it will take some additional time.
We are seeing some big brands use 2D barcodes in their campaigns as evidenced over the holidays with companies like Target, Toys R Us, Sears, etc. (See blog Real World Examples: Holiday Campaigns). You are right that the increase in smart phone adoption is driving the opportunity for 2D barcodes, but we still to do more in terms of consumer education/awareness as well as interoperability and open standards in order for the industry to take off.
February 4, 2011 at 5:14 pm
Andrew
Thanks for your commets, Granted some are starting to use 2Dbarcodes, But now we have NFC coming into the fold and the fragmentation is unreal. where does a company like Neustar also make money if barcodes are free? What upside is there for you or your partners to reap any rewards. Are you suggestion we could be 2-3yrs from mass adaption still. Also you mentions sms took a while to to get going , granted they didn’t have the competing technolgies to deal with and the fragmentation. What will it take to get a
viral campaign going and WHY aren’t brands pooling together to luanch such an intitative.. I’ve also seen some lousy campaigns has well has some barcodes that are not readable because of size and no white space in the background , this will only hurt or delay this space even further. thanks in advance
January 20, 2011 at 4:51 pm
Chuck lenatti
mobile marketing in general and 2d barcodes in particular require a very different approach from traditional or even internet marketing. Mobile consumers do not respond well to advertising being pushed at them. Its annoying and particularly intrusive on a small handheld device. Marketers as well as consumers need to be educated about best and most effective practices. I wrote a feature story for the upcoming issue of the quarterly specialty graphics imaging association (SGIA) magazine introducing 2d barcodes to a printing audience. I’m also the editor of The Bulletin, a bimonthly magazine from IPA and IDEAlliance (ipa.org). I am currently developing a feature section that for this issue will focus entirely on case studies and best practices using 2d barcodes. Educating practitioners is the most important thing right now. Too many companies large and small are making too many silly mistakes.
January 24, 2011 at 2:43 pm
Lock Dethero
Thanks Chuck, I agree with you that consumer education is key and more needs to be done. It is the responsibility of the brands and other organizations using mobile technologies to implement best practices and ensure a good user experience. We encourage brands to be explicit and give consumers directions on how and why to scan the 2D barcodes in their campaigns as well as allow them to opt-in or out of any specific promotional campaigns. See my blog on Best Practices for a Successful Mobile Barcode Campaign.
I look forward to reading your upcoming articles — the publishing industry is ripe for taking advantage of mobile technologies and applications, see our blog: Mobile Barcodes Bring Newspapers and Magazines to Life.
January 22, 2011 at 2:18 pm
Brandon
Just curious, are you guys still in the Pilot phase, or have you moved onto the next phase…if so, what’s the phase now?
I think the clearinghouse has alot of potential for brands if brands will just realize the conusmer wants value when they scan. There’s too much fragmentation now, I need certain scanners to scan certain codes….and once I get linked up all I get is a company’s normal website – most of the time not even a mobile formatted website. Very annoying and it’s turning people away from seeing value. It’s like telling people they can have a free car but the catch is they need to assemble it themselves…no value in that!
January 26, 2011 at 4:18 pm
Lock Dethero
Yes, we are out of the Pilot phase and have begun commercial implementations with a variety of companies and organizations. We’ll be highlighting some of them here in our blog over the next few months. Stay tuned!
January 27, 2011 at 8:24 pm
Brandon
Thanks Lock
Looking forward to the postings!