Mobile tags offer a unique opportunity for brands and their agencies to interact with potential and existing customers. These two dimensional barcodes can be applied to almost any surface and the information contained within them can be leveraged to create incentives and drivers that lead consumers along the purchase path. By bridging the onlineoffline divide with a click of a mobile phone button, mobile tags can drive a brand or product’s awareness. In this report we look at how companies are using competitions and gaming to engage a new audience. When a shopper scans a mobile tag, they can also gather a deeper level of information that will help them decide about the purchase of a product. Marketers are using the technology to provide an insider’s view about a brand—and they are also using the mobile tag to provide immediate status updates sent directly to a customer’s phone. Mobile tags can support the purchase stage. Opportunities being explored by brands and their agencies include the ability to scanto pay and also the offering of loyalty rewards.
iWWW.PSFK.COM i FUTURE OF MOBILE PSFK presents Con su lt in g A REPORT TAGGING iiPSFK.COM PSFK presents FUTURE OF MOBILE TAGGING Con su lt in g AWARENESS FOREWORD Mobile tags offer a unique opportunity for brands and their agencies to interact with potential and existing customers. These two dimensional barcodes can be applied to almost any surface and the information contained within them can be leveraged to create incentives and drivers that lead consumers along the purchase path. By bridging the online-offline divide with a click of a mobile phone button, mobile tags can drive a brand or product’s awareness. In this report we look at how companies are using competitions and gaming to engage a new audience. When a shopper scans a mobile tag, they can also gather a deeper level of information that will help them decide about the purchase of a product. Marketers are using the technology to provide an insider’s view about a brand—and they are also using the mobile tag to provide immediate status updates sent directly to a customer’s phone. Mobile tags can support the purchase stage. Opportunities being explored by brands and their agencies include the ability to scan-to- pay and also the offering of loyalty rewards. Beyond the purchase, marketers can use the technology to enhance customer service. For example, how-to instructions can be made easily accessible with the simple capture of a mobile tag. Mobile tags provide an exciting opportunity to interact with customers in ways not previously available to marketers. This report shines a light on to the work of other marketers to both inspire you and present some mobile tagging options as you consider your next campaign. Piers Fawkes Founder & President PSFK This report is kindly sponsored by PSFK.COMPSFK.COM PSFK presents FUTURE OF MOBILE TAGGING Con su lt in g AWARENESS TABLE OF CONTENTS introduCtion 1 CrEAtiVE usEs 3 AWArEnEss Instant Lottery 5 Mobile Arcade 11 Travel By Tag 17 inForMAtion gAtHEring Product Preview 26 Content Sampling 32 Behind The Scenes 38 Scan-Triggered Updates 44 ACtion/PurCHAsE Scan-To-Pay 53 Unlockable Rewards 59 Post-PurCHAsE Feedback Loop 68 Mobile How-To 74 HoW to MobilE tAg Introduction to Tagging, Benefits and Uses 83 Reporting and Measurement 85 Custom Tag Marketing Execution Showcase 86 1PSFK.COM PSFK presents FUTURE OF MOBILE TAGGING Con su lt in g INTRODUCTION SPONSOR The publication of this report is kindly supported by Microsoft Tag ® Throughout this report you will see tags that take the reader to additional information, including videos. Get your free tag reader in your smartphone’s app store by searching for ‘Microsoft Tag,’ or at the URL: www.gettag.mobi PSFK.COM PSFK PROCESS PSFK conducted a research cycle during which our researchers searched for signs of change and spoke to opinion leaders about shifts in the mobile tagging landscape. Our researchers gathered hundreds of pieces of data that provided signals of change in usage of mobile tags. At the end of the research period, PSFK’s team conducted pattern recognition to identify trends, the strongest of these are featured in this report. ABOUT PSFK is the go-to source for new ideas and inspiration for creative business. The New York City based trends research and innovation company publishes a daily news site, provides research and business consultancy, manages a network of experts and hosts idea generating events. PSFK aims to inspire its readers, clients and guests to make things better—whether that’s better products, better services, better lives or a better world. CONTACT Piers Fawkes - Project Lead piers.fawkes@psfk.com Jeff Weiner - Business Development jeff.weiner@psfk.com For copies of this report, scan the mobile tag on this page or visit: www.psfk.com/future-of-mobile-tagging PSFK’s Future Of Mobile Tagging report presents key trends in the mobile tagging space, so as to inspire marketers and their creative agencies about their future use of the technology in their branding activity and communication campaigns. 2PSFK.COM PSFK presents FUTURE OF MOBILE TAGGING Con su lt in g AWARENESS INTRODUCTION ABOUT MOBILE TAGS A mobile tag is a two-dimensional image encoded with information. It is decoded using a cameraphone application. These tag reader applications are able to scan tags and react accordingly based on the patterns within the image. Based on the information contained within the tag, the tag reading software can perform a variety of functions including the display of text or images, hyperlinking to specific URLs, linking to video content and providing contact information. VARIATIONS Information can be encoded into two-dimensional images in multiple ways. There have been upwards of 70 different types of tags developed over the past decade, each with associated applications built to identify their specific method of encoding. Many of these application designs are used for logistical purposes in industrial verticals. For the purposes of this report, it is important to consider three key consumer-facing methods for capturing information through a cameraphone. Microsoft Tag ® is a barcode designed to deliver encoded information to a phone from a server. When the Microsoft Tag is scanned by a mobile phone’s reader, it gathers information loaded on a server and sends it back to the phone. This feature allows the tag to be used differently over time as the information can be updated on the backend without changing the design of the encoded image. Microsoft Tag offers an array of tracking metrics including location data. Originally used as a method for tracking vehicle part inventory, the Quick Response code is an open source platform now used as a form of scannable barcode. QR is a not a proprietary medium, so there are a number of disparate formats available for use. The design of this type of mobile tag contains the entirety of the information being transmitted and therefore doesn’t need online access to decode the information held within it. Each code can contain over 4,000 alpha numeric characters. Various mobile phone applications are using the barcodes found on products to serve up information and services. When a user scans the barcode with their phone’s camera, services like Stickybits, RedScan and eMoby will identify the product and provide pricing information, user reviews and other product data. MICROSOFT TAG QR BARCODES Learn more about creating mobile tags for business and marketing in a special How To Tag section beginning on page 81, brought to you with help from our sponsor Microsoft Tag. 3 PSFK presents FUTURE OF MOBILE TAGGING Con su lt in g CREATIVE USES For AWArEnEss 1. INSTANT LOTTERY 2. MOBILE ARCADE 3. TRAVEL BY TAG For inForMAtion gAtHEring 4. PRODUCT PREVIEW 5. CONTENT SAMPLING 6. BEHIND THE SCENES 7. SCAN-TRIGGERED UPDATES For ACtion/PurCHAsE 8. SCAN-TO-PAY 9. UNLOCKABLE REWARDS For Post-PurCHAsE 10. FEEDBACK LOOP 11. MOBILE HOW-TO PSFK.COM 4WWW.PSFK.COM 4 6 AWARENESS CHAPTER 1 Mobile tags can be used to capture people’s attention and draw them into an experience. Marketers can use them to raise awareness, build brand perception and engage an audience that is on the go. 1. Instant Lottery 2. Mobile Arcade 3. Travel By Tag INSTANT LOTTERY AWARENESS Rapid entry into contests and competitions 6PSFK.COM “Brands are doing a number of things to drive people to sweepstakes. From the consumers’ point of view, they just want to scan, sign up and have a chance to win. It is simply a more convenient way for somebody to start interacting with them at the beginning of the experience.” Aaron Getz Product Unit Manager, Microsoft Tag bEAutY ProduCt giVEAWAY sCAn EntErs FAns into tiCKEt giVEAWAY Point oF sAlE ContEst INSTANT LOTTERY The organizers behind promotional competitions are leveraging mobile tags as a platform for instant entry into contests. With the ability to quickly access information through a personal phone, people are able to enter contests with less friction around signup and registration. OPPORTUNITIES • Turns static media into a “live” experience where the shopper may win instant prizes. • Information like location and contact details can be easily captured from the phone, making it a one-click, opt-in process to enter sweepstakes. • Promotions that can be updated through mobile tags give print media a longer shelf life. • Downloadable content including contest details can be shared among friends. PSFK presents FUTURE OF MOBILE TAGGING Con su lt in g INSTANT LOTTERY turning ProduCt bArCodE sCAns into rEWArds 7PSFK.COM PSFK presents FUTURE OF MOBILE TAGGING Con su lt in g INSTANT LOTTERY BEAUTY PRODUCT GIVEAWAY For the August 2010 issue of Allure Magazine, readers were given a to- tal of $725,000 in free beauty products through a series of mini-sweep- stakes. Readers who had signed up for the US fashion publication’s contests were notifi ed by text message 15 minutes before new give- aways were about to take place. At this point, they opened the maga- zine and entered by simply scanning a Microsoft Tag on a specifi ed page. The use of mobile tags reportedly attributed to a 28% increase in entries over the previous year’s issue. [...]... PSFK.COM 10 MOBILE ARCADE Playful experiences fuse physical with digital AWARENESS 11 PSFK presents MOBILE ARCADE FUTURE OF MOBILE TAGGING Co n s u lti n g MOBilE ARCAdE Mobile tags are being used as a platform to initiate social games and group-based challenges Tags that are tied to one another can be spread across physical and digital spaces to encourage discovery and playful experiences tEAM-bAsEd MobilE. .. President & Chief Brand Officer, Woman’s Day Brand Group PSFK.COM 12 PSFK presents FUTURE OF MOBILE TAGGING MOBILE ARCADE Co n s u lti n g TEAM-BASEd MOBilE gAME ENCOURAgES CAMPUS iNTERACTiONS A student team at Boulder Digital Works, the creative technology program at Colorado University, developed the on-campus game Zombies vs Hippies through the use of posters embedded with a Microsoft Tag By scanning... new level Since May 2010 Woman’s Day has been using Microsoft Tag in both their advertising and their editorial content to bring richer experiences to readers PSFK.COM 23 PSFK presents FUTURE OF MOBILE TAGGING expert advice Co n s u lti n g Agency Founder Michael Ferrare shares his thoughts on the uses of mobile tags in advertising campaigns • Mobile tags like QR codes are an emerging technology that... group, Sevencamp, is aiming to standardize the use of mobile tags on wine bottles through their offshoot QR4Wine When the bottles’ labels are scanned, wine tasting notes and extensive information about the vineyard are provided PSFK.COM 30 PSFK presents FUTURE OF MOBILE TAGGING PRODUCT PREVIEW Co n s u lti n g Giving Real-life Objects A Digital Memory Tales of Things is a collaborative project that makes... the ‘tale’ of that object The idea behind the project is that the addition of narrative creates a deeper connection between people and their physical objects PSFK.COM 31 CONTENT SAMPLING delivering experiential media www.PSFK.COM INFORMATION GATHERING 32 32 PSFK presents FUTURE OF MOBILE TAGGING CONTENT SAMPLING Co n s u lti n g CONTENT SAMPliNg Mobile tags placed in relevant locations offer people... descriptive videos of Fort Lauderdale resorts PSFK.COM 19 PSFK presents FUTURE OF MOBILE TAGGING TRAVEL BY TAG Co n s u lti n g REgiONAl iNFORMATiON ENCOdEd iN POSTAgE STAMPS Correos, Spain’s postal authority, in conjunction with the mobile marketing company Macanudos, has released a QR-coded stamp that when scanned will pull up additional information about a particular product or place The mobile tag on... about a particular product or place The mobile tag on the first release of stamps directed a phone’s browser to information and videos about the Alhambra of Granada region PSFK.COM 20 PSFK presents FUTURE OF MOBILE TAGGING TRAVEL BY TAG Co n s u lti n g BRiNgiNg TOURiST dESTiNATiONS TO liFE wiTh vidEO The Canadian Tourism Board has used mobile tags in a print campaign aimed at attracting travelers from... City PSFK.COM 21 PSFK presents FUTURE OF MOBILE TAGGING TRAVEL BY Tag Co n s u lti n g Tagged City Gives Tourists Historical Context In the Italian city of Turin, web agency mediaKi.it placed Microsoft Tags in parks, museums, and monuments, so that visitors could scan them as they walked past important landmarks When scanned, the tags provide information about the history of the location as well as maps... benefits and Microsoft Tag to deliver incentives, rather than the other way around Carlos Lamadrid SVP & Chief Brand Officer, Woman’s Day Brand Group Carlos Lamadrid is the Senior Vice President and Chief Brand Officer of the Woman’s Day Brand Group Carlos brings years of leadership experience in publishing and a passion for great brands to help to steward the Woman’s Day suite of platforms to a new... between groups of students, guided by instructions delivered through each tag By completing missions for their team, participants added to their team’s overall score PSFK.COM 13 PSFK presents FUTURE OF MOBILE TAGGING MOBILE ARCADE Co n s u lti n g Phone as game controller Pirata is a multi-player, augmented reality boat racing game that uses iPhones as controllers When standing in front of a computer