Up to (QR) Code

Alan Haberman, who passed away on June 12 at age 81, was credited in a New York Times obituary as the “father” of the universal produce code (UPC) symbol, which became the standard for scanning items at the point of sale. Although he didn’t invent the technology, the former supermarket-chain executive chaired the grocery-industry committee that selected UPC over other alternatives as the code standard.

Had Haberman held his position as quick-response (QR) codes gained popularity, he probably would’ve enthusiastically embraced them as well. UPC codes only contain numeric codes that provide product data and pricing for cash registers, but QR codes represent a quantum leap forward because they allow more complex code characters that may link to websites, videos or textual information that may be uploaded to an equipped “smartphone.” A grocer would’ve certainly seen the value in providing product information, coupons and engaging content with a simple scan.

However, potential QR-code signage and graphics applications far exceed your local supermarket. Now commonplace on real-estate and political signs, they’re gaining traction with banners and building signage. One adventurous shop fabricated a vehicle wrap comprised entirely of QR codes.

They’ve become an industry buzzword faster than one can say “viral,” and they provide a key opportunity for signshops and service providers to offer value-added services that help identify a business as a provider of complete marketing solutions, instead of a mere print designer or producer.

Several signshops provide examples of how they’ve incorporated QR codes into signage. Often, they’re not merely portals to uploadable data, but they function as creative campaign assets.

Pure solutions
Pure Media Sign Studio, an Arlington, VA-based, large-format, inkjet-print provider that’s part of Sign Biz Networks’ (Dana Point, CA) affiliation of independently owned businesses, has incorporated QR codes since its August 2009 inception.
“In the beginning, most consumers and clients had no idea what [QR codes] were,” Linh Ong, Pure Media’s owner, said. “However, in the past year, as smartphones have become more sophisticated, and the codes have become commonplace on ads, there’s been significantly more demand to add them. However, there’s still plenty of growth potential in this market.”
She said most of her customers who require QR-code campaigns – Ong estimates Pure Media has developed 20 to 40 such projects – simply refer them to their web homepages. She uses www.kaywa.com, one of a handful of sites that automatically generates QR codes. However, she states that QR-code technology has advanced such that codes can now direct users to mobile-only content.
“Offering full-service QR codes to customers is about to become quite a bit more complicated,” she said. “You can offer code that lands online or offline, or a long or short code. A short code uploads a bit more quickly for simple content, but a long code enables the use of more complex content.”
Ong also cited the choice between static code, which sends all users to the same site; trackable code, which reads a smartphone for web-visiting patterns; and redirectable code, which allows the customer to update the code to land on different sites. Predictably, the more complex the code provided, the higher the cost.
“Interestingly, QR codes aren’t only functional, but they’re graphic designs by themselves. The codes’ physical size and placement on a sign depend on the application. If you’re landing the code on your website, you might put it near the web address. If it leads to a video or some other custom content, you may want to want to give it some space and design a teaser.”
Rental-property managers, who order banners with QR codes that send visitors to a homepage with information about a specific apartment or townhome complex, have been common Pure Media QR-code customers. Its most unusual QR-code project was completed for Axis Salon, an upscale, Washington D.C. hair salon. The salon was known for unique retail displays, and Pure Media developed a unique code campaign.
“They had used a few QR codes for the door and windows, which landed on their homepage, but the owner, Sue Landini, wanted to do more,” she said. “Luckily, Patrick Donnelley, a QR-code artist, walked in to ask about a creative code application. Sue expressed interest, and the artist referred her to me.”
QR codes were whimsically incorporated into soap bubbles “blown” across the windows by a female silhouette. The codes can generate lively content, such as YouTube videos or various promotions.
Pure Media printed the graphics using Oracal 3621 glossy window film that’s printed on a Roland VersaCamm VP-540i printer with eco-solvent inks.
“For our own shop windows, we use one that lands on our website, and another green, printed code that lands on our page devoted to eco-friendly graphic products,” Ong said.

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Take me for a spin
Founded in 1983 as Index Printing Co., AmeriSign & Graphics, which maintains two Wisconsin shops in Glendale and Pewaukee, has also offered such sign-fabrication services as vehicle wraps, banners, channel letters and custom metalworking since 2002. Chris Sherman, the shop’s president, said it began offering QR codes on its printed materials approximately a year ago.

Thus far, code-equipped business cards have comprised the bulk of its offerings. The company generates its own QR codes through www.kermerkan.net, which he prefers because it uses multiple file formats. Sherman said he likes to produce codes as EPS files because they can be enlarged for use on vehicle graphics or billboards.

To tout its large-format, QR-code capabilities, AmeriSign & Graphics produced a vehicle wrap for its Scion equipped with four QR codes that allow users to upload periodically updated promotional information. To track lead generations from its links, the shop uses Bitly. It plans to update the codes monthly with links to AmeriSign’s e-newsletter and other special events. The shop printed the graphics using 3M’s Controltac with Comply air-release technology on an Epson GS 6000 eco-solvent ink printer with Onyx’s Production-House™ RIP.

“We’ve had amazing response, and the wrap has generated numerous vehicle-wrap jobs,” Sherman said. “We’ve even given the Scion its own Twitter account, which we pair with the QR code to generate give-a-ways. It’s even boosted business with our offset-printing division because we’re getting more orders for QR-code-enabled marketing materials.”

AmeriSign & Graphics develops its own landing pages using Dreamweaver design software. Sherman said, “It’s much more effective to create a landing page that’s formatted to fit a smartphone screen. Most websites, unless equipped with a mobile version, don’t format properly. Descriptive content with a custom graphic, clickable links and accessibility to Twitter and Facebook, among other sites, generate the most response.”

Sherman estimates 15% of AmeriSign & Graphics’ printed materials incorporate QR codes. He notes, “For vehicle wraps, we include them on the doors and the vehicle rear. For event signage, customers usually ask us to make the codes smaller and in the corners. I think they’re more effective when incorporated into primary design elements, and, as QR codes become more commonly used, I think they will be used that way more often.”

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Rollin’ marketing
Signs by Tomorrow’s Vero Beach (FL) franchise, whose business primarily entrails digitally printed banners, wraps and related graphics, began offering QR-code-equipped signage early this year. After creating them through various free, code-generation websites, the designer saves them as high-resolution JPEG files and outputs them on a Gerber EDGE® thermal-transfer printer for vehicle, window-lettering and real-estate sign applications.

Brian Holmes, the shop’s owner said, “Creating QR codes in proper proportion can be tricky. You need your code to be large enough to be visible and effective – we’ve had some tests fail because the code was too small and the reader couldn’t find it — but it shouldn’t crowd out other design elements. Our code usually drives traffic to the customer’s website, so we place the code near the web address.”

The company used its shop van as a prime example. Rather than inundating its wrap with a heavy array of graphics or its phone number in supersized type, it simply listed its logo and website – with a QR code that links to the shop’s homepage. Installers applied the cut-vinyl graphics using 3M’s Controltac media.

“In today’s marketplace, we’ve learned that customers tend to do their own online research before they call,” he said. “So, our goal was to immediately drive them to the website, where they can find our phone number or e-mail address. We later did a rebranding for a customer that incorporates the same graphic format. It keeps things clean, simple and legible. To my knowledge, no one else in our area is incorporating QR codes, and I think that stamps our business as being a marketing provider and not just a signshop.”

Code of the Rockies
Laurie Sigillito opened a Fastsigns franchise in Durango, CO in April 2009. In addition to the customary repertoire of banners, building-mounted signs and vehicle wraps, the shop also produces electronic-messageboard content, mobile websites and other advertising for its regional airport.

“This past March, when we developed the ability to create mobile sites that would serve as landing points for QR-code uploads, we began offering them,” she said. “We’ve produced static-cling-vinyl prints that customers can stick in their windows, as well as vehicle graphics, real-estate signs and collateral, printed materials.”

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To promote its QR-code capabilities, Sigillito’s shop has printed coded business cards and banners, and she’s planning to create a video for the shop’s salespeople that will explain QR codes to prospective customers and provide content that will be linked to the shop’s codes. Fastsigns prints the projects on a Mimaki JV5-130 solvent-ink printer with 3M Controltac with Comply v3 media that’s laminated with 3M media.

“Mostly, our customers have been owners of tourist-oriented businesses, but that’s not surprising for us because tourism is a big part of our local economy,” she said. “We have had a doctor use it to promote his medical-education programs, and a real-estate agent who provides specific listing information with them.”

Sigillito and her team created QR-code signage for Durango Party Rental. The code is integrated into the truck’s graphics, as well as on the company’s event signage, such as ID markers and no-smoking signs. The shop also created the mobile-device-ready site where the QR code lands when the user uploads the code.

Thus far, she estimates the shop has produced 15 projects with a QR-code graphic and companion, mobile site. Sigillito hopes to boost this tally through a partnership her franchise has created with a local web/social-media service provider. Her shop will print QR-code static clings at a discount for the social-media firm’s customers to place on their buildings. In return, Sigillito has an introduction to the customer and an opportunity to generate additional sign work.

Viva Los QRs!
QR codes were first invented by Denso-Wave, a Toyota subsidiary, in 1994. The technology became commonplace in Japan, South Korea and (incongruously) the Netherlands, according to a Wikipedia post, but adoption has been slow in other parts of the world. The Distec Group, a Guatemala City-based, full-service signshop founded last year, made its initial foray into QR-code graphics by incorporating them into the menuboard graphics for the 11 locations of CafeBarista, a Guatemalan coffee-shop chain.

The client generated the code and gave the artwork to Distec to produce; the graphics lead to CafeBarista’s homepage. Alfredo Angel, Distec Group’s marketing manager, said the group would begin generating its own QR codes as demand grows, and that it will work towards developing its own landing-page content in the future.

Distec printed the graphics on magnetic media, which is affixed to steel backing, with an SID XES six-color, solvent-ink printer.