Health & Fitness
QR Codes in Ads Aimed at Moms; What’s a QR code?
Fun, informative ads targeted at moms use QR codes to allow you to link to more info with your smart phone. See these cutting edge ads and find out where to get a scan application, if you need one.
Moms are a highly connected group of consumers. The popularity of Mommy blogs, forums and hours spent on Facebook and Twitter show have Moms have embraced technology as a way to connect and talk online about their experiences.
American advertisers are well aware that American women like their mobile devices, as seen in the use of QR codes in ads that target Moms. QR codes are those boxes that look a lot like bar codes that are showing up in magazines, TV ads and even in stores. Really they are specialized bar codes called “quick response codes” that can take you to a website, a video, coupons, store locators, etc. I think advertisers have it right as Moms love to save time and use technology.
I wonder however if Moms are aware of the “how” of using a QR code? My techie know-how -- like my pop music awareness -- pretty much froze at the time my first child was born and thawed out about the time my youngest turned 5.
Find out what's happening in Albanywith free, real-time updates from Patch.
If you are wondering how to use the QR Code, you just download a free scan application. There are a bunch of scan apps. I’m using Scan Life on my iPhone and I know of QR Droid for the Android.
The week before Halloween, Unicef ran a full page ad in Newsweek targeted at Moms that contained a QR Code. The ad showed (superstar model and Mom of 4) surrounded by kids dressed in Halloween costumes and directed readers to a website or a QR code for info on Trick or Treat for Unicef. Excellent use of a QR code.
Find out what's happening in Albanywith free, real-time updates from Patch.
But the icing on the cake is a recent Duncan Hines Triple Chocolate Decadent Cake Mix Ad. If you’ve seen it, I’m sure you’ll know what I mean. The most lush-ilicious ad I’ve ever seen starts with a cake mix box that opens and a multi-layer chocolate cake rises into a golden atmosphere and then turns into a chocolate cupcake. Oh, wait and there were slices of pink frosted cake slices in between. At the end, the cupcakes form a QR Code like cheerleaders on a football field. Most memorable use of a QR code and who was it for? MOMS.
This fall, Hill Physicians has been running a TV commercial for Open Enrollment with a QR Code prominently placed at the end. The adorable ad features kids in front of a chalkboard explaining why Hills Physicians gives you more for your healthcare dollars and it directs you to a mobile site where moms-on-the-go can look up doctors while they're out and about.
