— Love is in the Air: 5 Daring QR Codes Campaigns!

Love is in the Air: 5 Daring QR Codes Campaigns!

Pepsi’s QR Code Campaign

You probably already have an opinion on Quick Response (QR) codes. They do not really have good press, but to be fair, there are many examples of very successful QR code campaigns.

It’s summertime. It’s hot. Very inspired, we have looked for five campaigns that had a sound impact, based on one universal theme: love. With a capital L. And for some with a capital V too, as in Very daring!

1. The Sex Profile QR Code Campaign

Young people in Sweden are amongst the worst in Europe at practicing safe sex, especially during the summer. When Swedish agency Ester was missioned by the Stockholm County Aids Prevention Programme to encourage safe sex, they came up with a very… hum… original idea: the promotion of your sex profile! After being handed out a condom, the “Condomo8” with a QR code on it, young Swedish folks could access the “love app” that would let them monitor live their summer passions. The “How is Stockholm « Doing It » this summer?” campaign pushed the boundaries even further by creating a sex profile mini-site that aggregated statistics harvested through the apps, and published them for the world to see.

2. Axe Peephole Experiment

“What would the average guy do if offered the opportunity to take a peek inside the girl’s restroom?” Axe decided to find out, installing virtual peepholes on QR codes in the most popular bars and clubs on the island that would let men access the peepholes’ videos. To see more and steamier videos, they had to join AxePR’s (Puerto Rico) Facebook fan page and invite five of their close friends to the page. This inventive campaign achieved great results: 23% of their target was reached and social interactions with the brand increased by 53%. Stop watching, start mating for real with Axe.

3. “Couple Up to Buckle Up”

« It takes 2 to tango ». Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) certainly took this saying literally, when they launched a very clever promotion to motivate their customers to use their frequent flyer miles. The “2 for 1 offer that takes 2 to see” QR code campaign was a bold move but a clever one. Some research done by their agency CP+B suggested that a large base of their customers booked flights when there were two people sitting together to decide on a trip. From a variety of touch points (emails, Facebook app, banners, print ads, etc.) two unique QR codes that worked in pair required two persons to scan the codes simultaneously on both their mobile devices, in order to obtain a deal, split across both screens.

4. Heineken U-Code

Music festivals are obviously the perfect destination for music lovers. And for all types of lovers as a matter of fact. Heineken had a brilliant marketing idea to promote their new brand message « Open Your World. » During a music festival taking place in Poland, every festivalgoer was given the possibility to feed a QR code generator with discretionary personal information, print it and stick it directly on them, the U-code. Talk about an icebreaker to get people together while turning every participant into your brand ambassador!

5. Victoria’s Secret “Sexier than Skin”

We like to keep the best for the last. Victoria’s Secret is no stranger to steamy campaigns, either online or offline. On huge billboards, nearly nude models had QR codes placed over the most “desirable” areas, inspiring users to scan the code to know what was the famed secret – Victoria’s Secret new and saucy underwear line “Sexier than Skin”