QR Codes. Gimmick or Viable Marketing Strategy?
By Amy Phillips, Creative Director
There’s never a dull moment in ad agency world when it comes to technology and new media applications. So one might ask, “what’s up with all the hubbub about QR codes?”
Short for Quick Response, QR codes were originally created in 1994 by a subsidiary of Toyota for tracking vehicle-manufacturing parts. Today, QR codes are quickly becoming more popular than traditional (vertical line) barcodes. Why? Because QR codes can hold up to 7,089 characters, whereas the traditional codes only hold a maximum of 20 digits. With their horizontal and vertical designs, QR codes not only hold more data than a traditional barcode, they can take up about one-tenth the space. Small QR codes are called Micro QR codes. Another big advantage to QR codes is that they can be scanned from any angle, which makes for much faster reading.
How do they work? Any smartphone equipped with a digital camera, along with decoding software can transform the data into meaningful content. The most common uses are to connect to a web address, dial a phone number, start an email with an address in place, and download an MP3. These actions happen at lightning speed.
Where do they work? Any medium where a QR code can appear or be printed. So, beyond the obvious, like magazines, newspapers and business cards, QR codes may appear on buses, signage, t-shirts, bar coasters, even tattoos.
So how can they work in branding and advertising? “QR Codes can definitely be used to enhance your marketing. These codes are useful for connecting with customers, capturing data, sharing exclusive content and increasing engagement. However, when the thought process of how and why consumers will use or be motivated to use QR Codes is not considered – then we’ve lost our way.” — Nathan Smoyer
An example of poor usage is placing a QR code in a television commercial. The idea that anyone is going to watch TV and wait to capture/scan a QR code is ludicrous. Rather, give the audience a simple URL and direct them to web content. This makes a lot more sense.
The medium is the message, right? So, placing a QR code in an outdoor environment like on a bus, subway, or poster where the target audience has time to see and scan the code could work well. But you have to make sure the audience riding those buses matches the target and has smartphones. More importantly, still, make sure that you are directing the audience to a user-friendly (mobile) site. And make sure it’s worth their while. This audience can tweet a negative remark about a company in a few seconds.
Interestingly, misuse of QR codes in marketing has triggered some negative sentiment toward the technology. Commenting on the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity this year, BBDO top creative and juror Dan Fietsam described work for Samsonite by JWT Shanghai as “beautiful creative” that was “contextually right” and didn’t have a “freaking QR code on it.”
Comment About Cannes Grand Prix Awards
Branding 101: Target Audiences
This post is part of an ongoing series that explores the fundamental principles of branding. Please feel free to join the conversation.
What types of people buy a particular product or service? This is one of the most fundamental questions to ask when it comes to establishing a brand. The more narrowly and accurately a brand’s target market is defined, the more likely its marketing and advertising efforts will be successful.
Target markets can be defined in several different ways. The most common ones are geographic (where they are located), demographic (age, income, etc), psychographic (attitudes, values and lifestyles) and behavioral (occasions, hobbies).
While geographic and demographic categorizations may seem more obvious, psychographic and behavioral considerations are often more relevant. And it’s never a good idea to make assumptions about who a brand’s users are. For example, many people would picture the average Harley-Davidson customer to be a rough, rugged, and wildly adventurous man. Yet in reality many c-suite executives and a rapidly increasing number of women have also bought into the Harley values of freedom, self-reliance, and individualism.
It’s important to put a name and a face to the target audience. Will the brand resonate with Trendsetting Tom or Andrew the Accountant? How about Lazy Lucy? Where do these people work? What do they do for fun? What do they eat? Where do they shop? Do they take risks and experiment or play it safe?
A good target market description might read:
“Lower middle class males between the ages of 20-28 who are socially active but not in a serious relationship. They are working and have an expendable income for the first time. Some of their frequent recreational activities include going clubbing and to the movies. They smoke a pack a day and drink Starbucks quadruple shots. More often than not, their refrigerators are stocked with a six pack of beer and a slice of pizza.”
A specific, clearly defined target market description makes it easy to envision the people within and the brands and values that are important to them.
Branding 101: Category of One
This post is part of an ongoing series that explores the fundamental principles of branding. Please feel free to join the conversation.
A brand category is a group of brands that sit in a similar place within a person’s mind. While each person’s list will be slightly different, the industry leaders are typically at the top. For example, when most people think of the soda category, Coca-Cola and Pepsi will typically come to mind first.
It’s long been recognized that the best way to thrive in a category is to create a new one and own it from the beginning. Joe Calloway refers to this creation of a new, niche category a “category of one.” He coined the term in his well-received book, Becoming a Category of One: How Extraordinary Companies Transcend Commodity and Defy Comparison
The benefit of being an establishing brand in a category of one is that instead of fighting for the consumer’s attention with the myriad of other brands in a category, the category of one brand is the only option. By the time competitors reach the market, the category of one brand has successfully staked its claim in the consumers mind. Brands such as Coca-Cola and McDonald’s were first in their respective categories and they remain far ahead of their competition in terms profit and brand awareness.
Brands that find themselves in crowded categories will benefit the most from reframing themselves in such a way that creates a new category. One of the best examples of this is Red Bull. Rather than facing Coca-Cola head on in the highly competitive soda category, they invented a new one: the energy drink category.
A solid understanding of the category in which a brand falls is essential to any good marketing plan. Who are the competitors? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the brand, as well the opportunities and threats to it? Does the brand offer a distinct benefit around which a new category could be formed?
Branding 101: What is a brand?
This is the first in an ongoing series that explores the fundamental principles of branding. Please feel free to join the conversation.
The idea of “branding” in the marketing sense likely stemmed from the agricultural practice of branding. Farmers have branded their livestock to indicate ownership since the times of ancient Egypt. Today, the meaning of the word “brand” has evolved to encompass much more, especially with regard to marketing.
In its most basic sense, a brand begins with a trademark: a name and a logo used to identify a company and its products and services. But fully developed brands are more than just a set of words, colors, fonts and designs. Brands carry various qualities that appeal to specific types of people. Through the relationship between company and consumer, brands can transcend their physical limitations and develop unique personalities of their own.
But how does a brand get to this point? There are three basic premises upon which a brand can be based: attributes, benefits and values. The difference between them is a fundamentally important.
Attributes are the physical properties that a product has, the stuff that it does. Specifications and features. The most important attributes are those that can translate into actual benefits, which can actually make a person’s life better. Values, on the other hand, are the ideas that a brand stands for.
So between attributes, benefits and values, which of the three is best suited as a basis of a brand? While attributes are important to a product’s overall success and identity, by themselves they often lack relevance to the target audience. Benefits make for stronger brands since they are based on what the audience will gain from using the product or service.
Values, however, are the most powerful pillars of branding. Sure, values will polarize your audience but they will also resonate vigorously with the right types of people. When a brand is able to encompass the thoughts and mindsets of a group, its users will quickly turn into ambassadors who embrace the brand as part of who they are and what they stand for.
Regardless of the brand premise, its essence should be summed up in what we like to refer to as a brand promise. This is what the brand will do for you; this is what the brand will always believe in. In order to establish credibility, it’s important that every part of the audience’s experience—from the employees to the advertising to the actual product or service—consistently communicates this message.
The Joshua Bell/Metro Station Experiment and the Power of Perception
Edited from The Washington Post article by Gene Weingarten
He emerged from the metro station at the L’Enfant Plaza Station and positioned himself against a wall beside a trash basket. By most measures, he was nondescript: a youngish white man in jeans, a long-sleeved T-shirt and a Washington Nationals baseball cap. From a small case, he removed a violin. Placing the open case at his feet, he shrewdly threw in a few dollars and pocket change as seed money, swiveled it to face pedestrian traffic, and began to play.
It was 7:51 a.m. on a Friday in the middle of rush hour. In the next 43 minutes, as the violinist performed six classical pieces, 1,097 people passed by. Each passerby had a quick choice to make, one familiar to commuters in any urban area where the occasional street performer is part of the cityscape.
Three minutes went by before something happened. A middle-aged man altered his gait for a split second, turning his head to notice that there seemed to be some guy playing music. Yes, the man kept walking, but it was something. A half-minute later, Bell got his first donation. A woman threw in a buck and scooted off. It was not until six minutes into the performance that someone actually stood against a wall, and listened.
After 10 minutes, a 3-year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forced their children to move on quickly.
No one knew it, but the fiddler standing against a bare wall outside the Metro in an indoor arcade at the top of the escalators was one of the finest classical musicians in the world, playing some of the most elegant music ever written on one of the most valuable violins ever made. His name was Joshua Bell and his performance was arranged by The Washington Post as an experiment in context, perception and priorities.
Just days before he appeared at the Metro station, Bell had filled the house at Boston’s stately Symphony Hall, where merely pretty good seats went for $100. The Stradivari violin he played at the metro station has been estimated to be worth $3.5 million.
The questions raised: in an ordinary place at an unbefitting hour, do we recognize beauty? Do we pause to appreciate it? Do we appreciate talent in an unexpected context?
In the fields of marketing and advertising, many studies have been conducted to analyze how context affects overall perception of quality. Weingarten’s findings are a great example of what PeakBiety is all about: the power of perception®.
The results of the Joshua Bell experiment aren’t too surprising to us. The nature of a presentation is closely linked with how it will be perceived. A client’s product or service could be the best available, but without relevant strategy, a strong branding platform and appropriate marketing—the product or service could be easily overlooked.
Healthcare Branding Week: Why a “Traditional” Agency Makes Sense For Healthcare Marketing
Part 5 of 5
Too often today, corporate marketing will look to “specialists” to solve problems. A design firm may be hired for logo development, a website company will be hired for an online presence, television may end up getting station-produced, and the list goes on. The risk with this approach is mainly waste and inconsistency. And too often, messages lack both strategy and integration. As a result, the organization finds itself having spent a lot of money only to end up with misdirected and mediocre communications.
How does this happen? Sometimes the problem is lack of or conflicting strategies. Without a clear, concise and written strategy that applies to all communications, efforts will flounder, be ineffective and could even send conflicting messages. Strategy is essential in developing a competitive position. It will provide a summation of the impression that you’re trying to leave your audience. It also provides good direction but doesn’t demand that you go only one specific executional route.
Working with a written strategy is also an important discipline because it requires the intense study of: product/service benefits, target market needs/wants and competitive positions in order to seek a solid foundation for creating difference. And importantly, it should be looked upon as a long-term document. What do you want your target audience to believe about your product/service after years of advertising?
Integration is important because a planned process will ensure that all brand contacts received by your customers or prospects are relevant and consistent over time. An integrated approach will consider every imaginable way your organization will interact with the audience. It may be traditional or non-traditional media, and it may be online or offline.
Not only is integration important to advertising messages, it extends to sales, customer service, direct marketing, social media and public relations. Integration becomes a unified force. If different companies and departments are working separately—independent of one another—the potential for brand alignment greatly decreases.
Traditional advertising agencies were once considered to be true marketing partners (a term that has since been beat to death and misused). Better agencies were involved in high level marketing strategy, new product development, market research, package design, media planning and buying, collateral material (yes… even that stuff), promotional programs and, oh yes, advertising that worked. In short, the agency was viewed as a business-building partner and expected to bring ideas to the table that could make a difference regardless of the medium. To achieve that, agencies had to have the marketing capability and passion to understand the client’s business as well as examine trends.
So, how does all this apply to marketing for the healthcare industry? Healthcare needs to be viewed as a unique business model. Not only is it complex, highly competitive and constantly changing, the virtues of a healthcare organization must be completely understood to be accurately reflected. And healthcare decisions for the consumer involve so many propositions on so many different levels—from the quality, to the value, to the emotional connection.
When searching for an agency, rather than seek out “specialists” in services, find an agency that has a proven track record in healthcare marketing communications. You may just find that broad range of services you need under one roof. And finding an agency that has a broad base of clients, not only in the healthcare industry, will help avoid a myopic view on communication solutions.
Healthcare Branding Week: Complexities of Healthcare Advertising Online
Part 4 of 5
Despite a down economy, online advertising in 2009 saw steady growth according to a survey conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers published in April 2010. “Search revenue accounted for 47 percent of 2009 revenues, up from the 45 percent reported in 2008. Display advertising also showed solid growth, accounting for 35 percent of 2009 revenue up from 33 percent in 2008. Digital video, which is a component of display advertising, increased 38 percent from 2008 to 2009.” (PWC 2010) But along with this phenomenal growth come phenomenal complexities.
Following and targeting consumers online is challenging in the healthcare industry. Consumers commonly search for information on heathcare sites such as WebMD. However, they are also increasingly turning to user-generated health content such as blogs, chat groups and physician and hospital rankings. Many user-generated sites contain health information that is incorrect or misleading.
Behavioral targeting becomes useful to track information about an individual’s web-browsing behavior by identifying pages visited and searches made. Select ads can then be specifically targeted to the individual and placed on reputable sites.
Further, retargeting offers a powerful tool to reach a consumer by displaying multiple impressions of the same ad to the same user, based on behavior. For example: a newly diagnosed patient comes home from the doctor and searches for “diabetes treatments.” After browsing through a few sites, the patient moves on to another site such as the New York Times to read the news. At this point, an ad for the diabetes treatment product (from the previous site visited) will appear.
According to a recent study by the Network Advertising Initiative, conversion rates for retargeted ads are 6.8% compared to 2.8% for non-targeted ads (NAI 2010). However, privacy is an issue.
In a post earlier this week, “Consumers Go Online For Healthcare Answers,” we discussed the growing trend of consumers becoming increasingly proactive online, with some not wishing to publicly identify with certain healthcare brands or social networks. Other consumers may be concerned about privacy online, and choose not to participate in the various health communities available.
While some consumer advocacy groups have expressed concern over behaviorally targeted ads, others point out that it is simply a means of displaying relevant content to users. Users are tracked via cookies on their computers, and no names or other personal information is collected. Additionally, most ad platforms don’t allow users to be targeted based on anything they have read relating to mental or sexual health.
So far, the FDA has been silent on the issue of guidelines for online advertising, referring questions to longstanding policies governing traditional forms of advertising and promotion. Pharmaceutical companies, in particular, are struggling with how to incorporate fair balance information into their online endeavors.
“Consumers’ demand is clear. We want the best health information possible to live healthier lives,” said John Bell, a Word of Mouth Marketing Association board member. “Thirty-six percent of people who gathered information about a health condition online subsequently spoke to their doctors as a result, and 21% made a change to their lifestyle because of the information they found. That information comes from professional health sources, healthcare companies and our peers. We need to protect consumers while making it easier for health care companies to use digital and social media to serve their patients and customers better.”
Sources:
PricewaterhouseCoopers. “IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report.” Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) April 2010
NAI (Network Advertising Initiative) “Study Finds Behaviorally-Targeted Ads More Than Twice As Valuable, Twice As Effective As Non-Targeted Online Ads.“ 24 March 2010.
Smith, Kristen. “Word of Mouth Marketing Association Urges FDA to Provide Social Media Guidelines for Health Care and Pharma Companies.” Word of Mouth Marketing Association 9 March 2010.
Healthcare Branding Week: Where does Social Media fit in?
Part 3 of 5
Security risks, privacy concerns, possible HIPAA violations… its easy to see why health care organizations might be frightened by social media. Then, there are those who just wonder if it is all a waste of time and resources.
In spite of these concerns, the number of hospitals and healthcare entities with an online social media presence is growing by leaps and bounds. In May 2010, an estimated 730 hospitals had social media accounts—compared to 370 eight months ago. Chris Boyer, Senior Manager of Digital Communications at Inova Health Systems says, “Social media is a way to develop mindshare. People don’t think about hospitals until they need one. Social media efforts get them to start caring and helps to build trust and to develop a personal relationship.” (Seegert 2010)
The rise of so-called “e-Patients” creates many opportunities for engagement. e-Patients are defined as those “who are equipped, enabled, empowered and engaged in their health and health care decisions” (Sharp 2010). E-Patients believe informed self-care is the starting point for good health, and want to be actively involved with doctors and medical centers in shaping health information and services. Many e-Patients are recording their medical conditions online in an effort to track and self-diagnose themselves, within online medical communities such as patientslikeme.com or curetogether.com.
“Social media is here to stay in health care, but it will evolve quickly.” says John Sharp, manager of Research Informatics in the Department of Quantitative Health Sciences at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. He believes that patient engagement will continue to characterize this change. Customer service, community outreach, education, public relations, crisis communications, recruitment, brand monitoring and service recovery are just a few of the areas that can be addressed by a social media campaign.
The North Shore LIJ Health System (NSLIJ), one of the country’s largest healthcare providers, has had great success using social media to drive fundraising. Donors can text pledges to the foundation via cell phone, or click through from inspirational YouTube videos. Marisa Fedele, associate director of communications for NSLIJ, says her only regret is not integrating social media into the mix sooner.
The bottom line? There are a lot of patients out there looking for information and an opportunity to connect with their health care organizations. Reaching out to them will not only improve communication, it will help build trust and brand recognition. Just make sure you have a social media plan in place to guide the content and quality of information published under your brand’s name, and integrate the effort with other more traditional media for consistent communication.
Sources:
Sharp, John. “Social Media in Health Care: Barriers and Future Trends.” iHealthBeat. 6 May 2010.
Seegert, Liz. “Hospitals gain community mindshare through social media.” ThinkSocial 11 May 2010.
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