Mobile bar codes (also referred to as QR codes or 2D codes) are becoming more and more prevalent in mass media. Widely common in Japan, these curious little mosaic patterns have seen slower adoption here in the United States where some facets of technology have a steeper curve of acceptance. However, consumers in the US might be seeing more and more of them in the near future. In a recent press release media giant AT&T formally unveiled two publicly available apps that allow mobile users to not only utilize but also create their own 2D bar codes.
The new services are:
Code Scanner- allows users to scan both 1D (UPC) and 2D (QR and DataMatrix) bar codes on their mobile device. (Consumer app)
Create-A-Code- a free tool that allows users to create their own mobile bar codes. (Consumer app)
Code Management Platform – an extension of the existing Mobile Bar Code Charter Program (business app).
It would seem that consumers have crossed the digital threshold, at least in terms of their reading preferences. On Monday July 19, internet super-store Amazon.com announced that sales of books for its proprietary Kindle e-reader exceeded those of hardcover edition for the past three months. For every 100 hard cover editions sold, the retailer reported sales of 143 e-books for the Kindle. More surprising is the fact that this gap seems to be widening— in the past four weeks, sales increased to 180 digital editions for every 100 hardcover copies!
This does not mean that “print is dead”, however. According to the American Publishers Association, sales of hard cover books are up 22% from the same period last year. It does indicate that the changing nature of media consumption has reached the shelves of America’s book stores. Digital editions are no longer solely the choice of “techies”; the US Kindle store at Amazon.com lists 630,000 e-books available for sale with another 1.8 million free “out of copyright” titles available.
Twitter has taken the world by storm 140 characters at a time. July 31, 2010 marked a monumental milestone for the microblogging site when the 20 billionth tweet was sent by a Japanese graphic designer. This came only two months after reaching the 15 billion message mark and five months after the 10 billionth. This dramatic pace is a testament to the service’s ever-growing popularity.
Publicly launched July 13, 2006, Twitter now boasts over 105 million registered users with 300,000 new accounts created every day. Although about 41% of users haven’t tweeted since opening their account, those that do use it are quite vocal, accounting for 55 million tweets per day. That’s 640 tweets per second! Amazing as that is, it was obliterated by an astonishing 3,283 tweets per second pinnacle reached at the conclusion of the World Cup game between Japan and Denmark.
Have you ever been stalked by your computer? You know, you’re innocently surfing the Net and the next thing you know every ad you see is related to what you were just searching for. This is not a coincidence and in fact is coming under more intense scrutiny lately as lawmakers focus on comprehensive privacy legislation. In a July 27 hearing on Consumer Online Privacy, FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz discussed the creation of an online do not track list.
Founded on the same privacy protection notion as the do not call list (which has 200 million subscribers), the online do not track list would allow consumers to opt-out of online tracking mechanisms. This is not a new concept. Many sites already provide users the ability to thwart tracking via cookie settings in Internet browsers. Opponents note that a do not track list would differ significantly from the do not call list in that it would not block all advertising, only customized advertising based on browsing history. While marketers fear the creation of a stiff federally mandated program, current discussions seem to be centered on the creation of a “single entity” to opt-out for multiple sites in an attempt to make the process easier for consumers. No decisions are expected to be made until after the completion of an extensive online privacy report due later this year. However, it is currently unclear if the FTC even has the regulatory muscle to institute such a sweeping regulation.
You’d have to be living under a rock not to know about search engine behemoths Google and Yahoo, and by now you’ve likely even heard of Bing, the “decision engine”. But one name you probably haven’t heard before is Blekko. Blekko is the newest contender in the search engine market and was recently launched in private beta.
Perhaps the biggest differentiating factor between Blekko and the recent barrage of would-be competitors is that Blekko has not set its sights on overthrowing Google to capture search engine market share majority. Rather, they are content to be number three…someday. According to founder Rich Skrenta, formerly of news community site Topix, his goal was to create a search engine that allows users to perform regular searches just like on any other engine, but also to take it up a notch and allow users to do types of searches not available anywhere else. This is achieved with a feature called “slashtags” which allow users to refine results by viewpoints or verticals. There are currently over 250 slashtags including “/green”, “/humor”, “/health”, “/maps”, “/blogs” and “/news”. But the slashing doesn’t stop there, users can also create custom slashtags and even note sites to exclude from the results they are provided.
QR Code for the URL of the English Wikipedia Mobile main page. Note that the white border is part of the encoding.
You’ve probably seen them and never noticed them. They’re everywhere—in the corner of a magazine ad, on the side of a bus, on the business card you were just handed at a trade expo by a particularly amusing vendor. They have the power to direct consumers to everything from coupons to websites to special promotions, all with the click of a button. Yet, for most consumers, they appear to be little more than a printing error or some sort of artsy design. They’re QR codes and, if used properly, they can prove to be a tremendously powerful marketing tool.
Located with increasing frequency, advertisers are beginning to include QR or “quick response” codes in advertising, especially print and direct mail. These advanced bar codes appear to be a jumble of black and white blocks that form an almost artistic square mosaic tile pattern. Common in Japan where they were invented by the Denso-Wave Corporation back in 1994[1], the odd square blocks appear on everything from business cards, billboards, printed mail, magazine inserts, to the placards found on the sides of city buses. To use one of these, a consumer must have two things: a smart phone and a bar code reading application downloaded to their mobile device. Simply fire up the app, use the phone’s camera to scan the bar QR code, and the phone does the rest. In many cases, the phone’s browser launches and is immediately redirected to everything from a mobile coupon to a unique website.
Delivery: it’s the core of our business. Marquette Group stands by our suite of services and our ability to deliver calls, leads, and sales to our clients. Whether in the realm of print Yellow Pages, internet Yellow Pages, direct marketing, or even mobile advertising, our innovative solutions deliver measurable results—qualified local leads that are seeking your business.
Our world is changing—and the media landscape is changing with it. Let Marquette Group be your guide in the new digital age.
Martin Cooper talks on the "DynaTAC," the first commercial cell phone, which hit the market in 1983.
When Motorola developed the first truly portable mobile phone in 1973, no one anticipated how radically mobile phones would change the way people stay connected with their friends, family and the world in general.
According to Martin Cooper, who with his team created the first cell phone, “It was beyond imagination that more than half the people in the world would have these phones.”1 How times have changed. Now, according to a Pew Internet survey, 83% of adults have cell phones or smartphones and, among them, 35% have accessed the Internet via their phone.2
With the increase in cell phone usage, perhaps it’s no surprise mobile phone applications are multiplying like rabbits. People download music, read emails – even get driving directions on their cell phones.
Finding what you want shouldn’t be hard. In the “information age” consumers have access to more sources of information than ever before. If you want a pizza, you shouldn’t have to ski downhill at a break-neck pace—you should be able to pick up a copy of your local Yellow Pages and look up the number of your favorite pizza place. 30 minutes later you can be enjoying a hot slice of “deluxe with extra garlic”—what could be better.
ATLANTA, GA — Chris Cummings and Eric Webb, with General Yellow Pages Consultants (GYPC), owners of Marquette Group and USMotivation (USM), announced Tuesday that Tina Weede will be President of USMotivation.
USMotivation is a full-service incentive marketing company in the business of motivating and inspiring people to do their best. With the renewed leadership structure and strengthened strategic partnership with Marquette Group, they have formed a synchronized vision with a customer-centric and cross-functional organization renewing the focus on service excellence.
“Every organization needs a strong leader,” said Eric Webb, President of GYPC. “USM certainly has that in Tina, who brings passion, industry knowledge and dedication to the company. Since joining USMotivation more than 20 years ago, Tina has been instrumental in our growth by helping clients align incentives with their business objectives. She has made many significant contributions to our clients’ businesses and to the company.”
