Japan – Bar Code Technology
When I first visited Japan in 2006, the entry stamp I received at immigration was actually a sticker with a 2d barcode. This time around, I got the same entry stamp when I entered the country, and I’m seeing it other places.
This is old news in Japan, and 2d barcodes have been introduced in the USA too. Remember those stamps you could print out from home? Probably not, but they are still trying to sell those online. What I found exemplary was how these barcodes are being used in Japan now. I picked up a newspaper the other morning, and found this on the upper left corner: a 2d barcode taking you to another news site.
The barcode in the lower right corner of the BBC World News Ad can be used by your cell phone. So, you just put your cell phone in camera mode, take a picture and your camera browser will automatically take you to the special webpage.
Cell phones in japan have the ability to take a picture of this barcode and take you to a unique URL. It’s great because it’s like a landing page, but you don’t have to create a special URL for someone to remember. Using Landing Pages with a unique URL (Ie. www.moretosee.com for the Sharp Aquos television) is hard to measure, usually expensive to create, can complicate brand messaging, and is generally problematic. The 2d barcode is nice because it allows you to shortcut the naming (and then memorization) and focus on brand and content more.
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