Digital inspiration and advertising blog

QR codes

...QR what? Since I first heard of QR codes I see them everywhere. On business cards, art and tattoos, posters, food products, geek fashion and even on buildings (see video below). I still couldn't figure out what they do, my phone doesn't seem to be 'smart' enough.

In theory QR codes encode up to 7,000 alphanumeric characters, transferring a lot of information on very little space. You simply point your camera phone at a barcode, and the phone links directly to a web page in seconds. It all started - like so many technological innovations - in Japan.

qrcode Lendorff Kaywa generates these codes on their web site, where you can also download the reader. On the right is the code for my web site (which is completely pointless here as it directs your phone to the web site you're looking at).

For marketing purposes QR codes offer huge advantages. They are used at McDonald's in Japan on the packaging of burgers which links to a web site with nutritional information.

In the US and UK Google will be providing restaurants and retailers with stickers of the code for their shop-windows.

QR codes are increasing the web's mobility driving traffic to mobile sites on the go. The technology also links various media channels from print to web creatively. However in my opinion it will still take some time for anyone who's not as technophile as the
Japanese or the dear reader to pick up on it.

Posted on 8.2.2010 by Flow

follow me

Comments ()

Is advertising ethical?

Nobody likes adverts. That's at least what the founders of 'Adbusters' believe. Their ideology might have provided reasons for what happened in 2007 in Sao Paulo. The city famously introduced the first ban for display advertising in a capitalist country. Now advertisers join in this conversation that seemingly defeats visual pollution.

With 'stop the adness' yet another agency claims to have found the answer. Ogilvy's 'Campaign for Real Beauty' appeals because it DOESN'T look like a traditional advertisement using average-looking people instead of super-slim models. . But will less advertising really help attracting attention to the remaining spaces or will the call for self-regulation increase the anti-marketing resentments?

The most popular voice in this conversation is surely Naomi Klein with her book 'No Logo' attacking globalization and predominantly marketing for its fallout. The sole focus on profit-maximization is to be blamed for exploitation and environmental destruction in third world countries. Her arguments from 2000 sound fairly similar to what we could read since 2008 about the causes of the economic downturn. Amongst others it's mainly bankers' relentless attitude towards risk-taking for profit maximization.

If this is perceived as unethical, hypocritical and self-indulging then I am confused about how some marketers happily proclaim marketing as the new finance. 'They' refer to marketing's relevance to the economy compared to finance but seem to forget that this responsibility is two-sided. With the finance industry's image shattered, marketers often feel like it is in their hands to re-build trust in the financial institutions, making themselves look like saviors of the economy. But wouldn't that trust then be built on a false image rather than on trustworthy and ethical behavior from bankers?

I don't have an answer to how marketers and advertisers should be perceived like and hope for some comments below to join the conversation.

Does Bill Hicks say what the majority is thinking about marketing? I do hope not.

Posted on 7.2.2010 by Flow

follow me

Comments ()

Augmented Reality evolves

As AR increases in popularity there are more and more games and interactive product displays coming out. Here are some great examples I stumbled upon recently:

...last but not least a very funny user video sneak peeking into how our advertising future might look like:

Posted on 5.2.2010 by Flow

follow me

Comments ()

Does design matter?

Last week I wrote about the relevance of simplicity in design in order to break through the information clutter. It relates to all fields from product design, graphic design and interior design for retial. It's obvious that visual stimulation influences decision-making, helping to remind, convince or inform.

Then a week later an interesting article caught my attention. It expressed very vividly what I was confronted with in my every day life as a designer time and time again.

A good idea depends on a good execution, in advertising as well as any other business. Obviously an idea can come from anywhere and anyone, 'crowdsourcing' being the perfect example. The only problem is that the people with ideas depend heavily on the ones having to execute them and that's where problems and misunderstandings in many design processes stem from.

On the one hand are the ones generating ideas who often feel superior because they are the first in the development-chain. This often results in a top-down communication which may darken a relationship between a marketing department and an agency, between an architect and a carpenter or between a member of the public and a graphic designer.

On the other hand do designers with great imagination often see their field as a place where they can earn a living while pursuing their artistic passions. Marketing objectives are then perceived as hindrance.

To overcome this gap in understanding an architect may do well having done the job of a carpenter for a few weeks and vice versa. Mutual understanding will increase the possibilities for design. Ideas and their execution correlate. A designer's task shouldn't be purely functional and aesthetic but most importantly it should be about understanding consumers' thoughts and emotions in order to motivate behavior change.

Does design matter? It matters as much as having a good idea.

Posted on 4.2.2010 by Flow

follow me

Comments ()

Breaking through the clutter

I can't remember any ad I was exposed to since I went to work this morning. Surely there are too many of them cluttering the tube-entrance I walked through, the newspaper I picked up from a bench and on the web-site I watched a video. The only brand I have in mind in this very moment of writing is Campaign Magazine. I constantly see their logo on Twitter feeding snippets of news. It's possibly the recurring exposure and the simplicity of their restricted messages that works so well.

Why can't more ads be written and designed more simple? Wouldn't it increase a brands communication rather than reducing it through sticking a month's marketing objectives into an MPU banner, rotating with texts videos and images all at once?

The German painter Hans Hofmann once famously said that 'the ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.'

Simplicity requires bravery. But it will eventually enable your message to break through the information clutter. Just like the website of 'the New Rose' pub does. Simple.

Posted on 2.2.2010 by Flow

follow me

Comments ()

Digital inspiration and advertising blog

QR codes

Is advertising ethical?

Augmented Reality evolves

Does design matter?

Breaking through the clutter

Older articles

Blog Articles

Portfolio