Marketing – QR Code Campaigns

Jet Blue - QR Code Campaigns

In the summer of 2011, Jet Blue ventured into the world of QR Code marketing. For those of you that don’t know, QR codes are scanable bar codes that a user can scan using their smart phones. The codes then take the user to the advertiser’s website or other URL.

To a tired commuter stuffed in an NYC subway car, nothing sounds more appealing than the idea of a tropical getaway. The ads teased commuters with pictures of beaches and sand, informing them of the amazing vacation they could win when they scanned a QR code featured on the advertisement.

Jet Blue launched this marketing campaign by plastering the QR codes advertisements across every subway train and stop in Manhattan. Unfortunately, these advertisements were displayed just out-of-reach of cell towers; In New York City, the subway trains run below ground and all subway cars and stations are effectively dead zones.
Daydreaming commuters who attempted to scan the code and win their promised getaway were instead faced with “Network Connection Unavailable” messages on their cell phones. Even subway-goers who were able to find the ads in walkways closer to ground level weren’t able to scan the ad due to an error in the code, which led Jet Blue to launch a revamped version of the campaign. This campaign will be launching in Winter 2012.

In addition to not having service and an error in the codes, I personally still had issues with the advertisements because for the most part they appeared encased behind glass or plastic. Due to the glare of the subway lights above, I was unable to scan any of the codes I came across. A much better way utilize QR codes, would be to put them into a display network add in a PPC campaign.