Analyzing McDonald's QR Code Campaign
Posted on by Timothy Boyle
Most large companies these days have jumped on the QR code bandwagon, and in general this is a good thing. The QR code is a great addition to most advertising campaigns, marketing material, or product packaging, but often times even these large companies with all their massive budgets and intelligent human capital fail in their QR code usage—or at least discourage the potential of such a campaign. McDonalds is no different.
Here is what McDonalds has done right with their QR codes:
– Making the decision to put it on all of their product packaging.
– Codes are bright and generally stand out.
– They include a call to action.
– They are clear, have a low density, and are thus easy to scan.
– A very well made, easy to use, good looking and information packed mobile optimized website.
Here is what we don’t know if McDonalds has done right:
– Whether or not they are using analytics to track their codes; who is scanning them; when; why are they scanning etc.
– Whether their codes are dynamic codes or not (can be changed after publication).
Here is what McDonalds has done poorly:
– Their call to action is incredibly lame and unlikely to convince people to scan the code.
– Their mobile optimized site is all of the good things I mentioned above, but it is also lacks excitement and engagement.
As you can see McDonalds has done most of the technical QR code best practices very well, but where they lack, and where their biggest issue exists, is in their engagement and more creative side of the QR code best practices. It is one thing to have these technical side mastered, but if you want people to scan your code, and interact with your brand you need to master the creative side as well.
What McDonalds should do here instead is come up with a more interesting reason for people to scan their code. Perhaps by offering deals, or creating some sort of game or app for free, a contest of some sort, or anything else that their marketing department can come up with to help drive brand loyalty or increase sales.
The technical side of this is easy to accomplish, but the creative part takes some thought. Don’t waste your resources or time implementing a QR code campaign if you aren’t going to do both parts well, otherwise there is little point. For help in mastering all the technical issues and management of your QR campaigns though, the Qfuse platform is sure to help.
