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New World Record QR Code

In a well prepared and months in the planning operation Youth Charity Youth Unlimited North York, Toronto has set a new world record for the world’s largest QR Code, raising a substantial sum in the process (video below). 1,369 black and white 4 foot squares, that had been purchased or sponsored, were laid out in [...]

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The World’s Smallest Art Gallery QR Code

Store rents in Hong Kong shopping malls can top $2,000 a square foot which makes it difficult for the next generation of entrepreneurial store owners to fund startup costs. Enter the Cube Store a one foot square retail space which aids budding store owners and also attracts consumers (image below). Ad agency Grey Hong Kong [...]

Asides (Latest News)

• SEB bank of Estonia have set a new record (Guinness World Records certified) for the largest mosaic picture in the world made entirely of coins (images below). The mosaic which depicted a bank card with a QR Code was composed of 53,757 five and ten cent coins, covered 216 sq. ft and weighed 482 lbs. The QR Code originally resolved to a simple quiz but now resolves to details of the construction which can be seen in the video below. More...
• As part of the campaign for Axe Body Spray (strapline - the ultimate weapon to get the girls), the most popular bars and discos in Puerto Rico were given peepholes (QR Codes) which allowed men to peek into the girls bathroom (video below). The QR Codes resolved to steamy videos and if shared on Facebook even steamier videos were unlocked. The results were pretty spectacular; 23% of the target audience peeped daily, there was a 53% increase in social interactions with the brand and a 602% increase in views and feedback on Facebook. More...
• Nerdindustries (great name!), a German innovation lab based in Hamburg have developed a software solution that integrates QR Codes into a moving image (video below). Developed as an Adobe After Effects plugin QRmovies allows single movie sequences or even whole films to be easily transformed into an adaptive QR Code. Only announced two days ago and with a couple of initial clients likely to come on board soon this is definitely one to watch. Try scanning the QR Codes in the video and you may be surprised how easy they scan! More...
• Activists using or simply switching QR Codes is not new (QR Code Activism, QR Code Switch) but I think German animal rights group NOAH have taken it to a new level (video below). They switched QR Codes on cosmetics advertising posters with codes that resolved to videos of animal experiments, much used by the cosmetics industry. The innovation was making the NOAH QR Codes available for download and printing on their website so that as their campaign got more and more publicity people all over Germany were able to join in the activism. More...
• Immowelt, Germany's major real estate portal aimed a great campaign at people looking for larger apartments, a significant cohort in German cities apparently. In busy streets on prominent apartment buildings they attached furniture that looked as if it had burst through the wall, half a chair, half a TV, half a bed etc., (images below). The halved furniture on the building facades gave the impression that the apartment was too small and a large QR Code resolving to the company's mobile site enabled passers by to interact (video below). More...
• The annual Cannes Lions festival opened yesterday with a large QR Code banner displayed on the Palais des Festivals (image below). Delegates and visitors to this premiere event for creative professionals could not fail to notice Cheil Korea's QR Code resolving to an inspirational video (below). The video celebrates the Korean virtue of TuHon or 'Fighting Spirit'. At last years Cannes Lions Cheil Korea won the Media Grand Prix for its virtual QR Coded grocery store in a subway station. More...
• NCR is looking for banks to help pilot their new Mobile Cash Withdrawal software using QR Codes (video below). The software will be available later this year for initial integrations into NCR APTRA ATM software platforms. The bank's customers can utilize a standalone mobile app for cash withdrawals or NCR will integrate the solution into the bank’s mobile banking system so that consumers can use the bank's mobile banking app as an ATM interface. NCR claim that with this system the entire ATM transaction can take less than 10 seconds. More...
• Link.me have provided the first ever longevity statistics on a QR Code that I have seen (image below). I wrote about HarperCollins placing a QR Code on the book jacket for L.A. Candy by Lauren Conrad just over three years ago. Today's results of the longitudinal study shows the campaign is still going strong and currently averaging around 500 unique scans every month. HarperTeen's have published the book in different regions of the world with multiple versions of the QR Code printed on the book jacket but they all drove back to the same mobile site using the link.me platform. Hence the ability to produce this kind of data. More...
• Ponti’s Italian Kitchen restaurant is using QR Coded table talkers in its two central London locations, Duke Street and Oxford Circus (image below). The boxes are a new product called 'SmartBox' from Zappit who were recently involved in the QR Code and NFC tagged posters trial in Reading. With nearly 50% of the UK population owning a smartphone and research last year showing that nearly a quarter (23 per cent) of adults and a third (34 per cent) of teenagers use their smartphone during mealtimes, this could be a good move. More...
• Samsung now has an answer for owners of the new Galaxy SIII when they ask "What can I do with the NFC tag reader". The answer is buy five TecTile™ programmable NFC sticker tags for $14.99, download and launch the TecTile app, choose the action you require and hold the phone over a TecTile™ to program it, and then simply put the programmed TecTile™ in a convenient location for use by yourself or others (video below). In my opinion this initiative by Samsung is the beginning of the mass adoption of NFC as early adopters find ingenious and useful ways to use the tags, more details on Samsung's microsite. More...