QR Codes: Become the Expert
DWAYNE MAGEE first heard about QR codes at last June's In-Plant Printing and Mailing Association (IPMA) conference, in Albuquerque.
"It was the most exciting thing I'd seen at a conference in a long time," he recalls. Watching a demonstration of how the two-dimensional barcodes could be scanned with a smart phone and instantly open a specific Web site on the phone's browser gave Magee lots of ideas.
When he returned to Grantham, Pa., where he works as director of the Messiah College Press, Magee sat down with the school's admissions, development and athletics departments to show them how QR codes worked and how they could use them. His enthusiasm was contagious.
"Everyone was throwing out ideas," he says. Before long his 15-employee in-plant was printing QR codes on posters for the school's "Welcome Week," which linked students and parents to an online schedule. After that the shop added QR codes to campus maps, to link individuals to the college Web site.
Then came a very prominent job: The college president's Christmas card. A QR code on the back opened a time-lapse video showing the artist creating the painting used on the front of the card.
Since Magee introduced QR codes to the campus, they are cropping up everywhere. The latest issue of the college alumni magazine was loaded with them. Magee says that being the one to introduce QR codes has brought his in-plant more credibility.
"Any time that you can be the one that introduces that new technology, or that new idea, it gives you some ownership of it," he notes. "That in itself is priceless."
QR Code Mania
QR codes are no secret any more. You've no doubt seen them everywhere—on billboards, in store windows, on marketing pieces. QR Codes make it easy for consumers to jump from a printed piece to the Web, adding value to the printed piece by linking it to popular mobile and Web channels.
If your organization has not yet started using QR codes, it will soon. To stay relevant, it's crucial that your in-plant knows all about them and is able to generate and print them. Even better, as in Magee's case, you should be the one who introduces QR codes to your customers and suggests ways they can incorporate them.
"It shows that you are on the leading edge of technology, and you're there to help them come up with solutions for them to be more successful," points out Debbie Pavletich, Graphic Services manager at Milwaukee-based Briggs & Stratton.
"I introduced the QR codes to our distribution sales and service division's marketing manager," she says. Pavletich created a code, then showed him how scanning it would bring him to a specific page on the Briggs & Stratton site.
"I walked in with a solution," she says. "He fell in love with it."
Now QR codes are being printed on the packaging of repair parts for Briggs & Stratton engines, sold in places like Walmart and Home Depot. Scanning them brings shoppers to a site where they learn the advantages of buying genuine parts, and also get information on other parts they may need for their engine.
"What I've gained in credibility just working with that customer has been terrific," Pavletich says.
Plant the Seed
Similarly, down at the University of Mississippi, Tony Seaman, director of Brand Creative Services, was the one who "planted the seed" by having his account managers show customers how QR codes can benefit them. Already, 10 publications are using them, he says. His in-plant has printed some innovative pieces that incorporate QR codes.
"Admissions is really excited about starting to use" QR codes, Seaman says. There are plans to send new students postcards featuring a QR code to bring them information on visitation day events. This would replace the multi-page packets students traditionally receive.
Seaman acknowledges this means less printing for his in-plant, but notes that "the next generation of students is smart phone savvy." Universities must communicate with them using their preferred mode of communication. He hopes to replace lost print revenue with new business designing Web sites and marketing pieces that incorporate QR codes.
In the future, Seaman anticipates getting software to allow the in-plant to create variable QR codes to take students to a personalized URL.
"I would say, within six months we're going to be seriously going in that direction," he says.
Be Ready to Say 'Yes'
Scores of other universities are using QR codes as well. The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University has put them on the backs of business cards and on performing arts posters. Printing Services Director Catherine Chambers says customers approached her with these jobs and asked if the in-plant could handle them, and because she had already researched the technology, she was able to say yes.
"In-plants need to keep up with the changes in the way people communicate, and keeping up with technologies such as QR codes is one way we can show our value to the institution," she says.
Up at Central Michigan University, Rhonda Kohler agrees.
"The College of Education was trying to figure out a way to show off their new building," recalls the director of Printing Services. They had heard about QR codes, and asked Kohler if her shop could work with them. She enthusiastically said "yes." The resulting postcards include a code that brings students to a video showing off the new building.
Kohler then brought this idea to the College of Medicine, suggesting it use the same method to show off its own new building. She convinced the college to print a QR-coded postcard of its own.
Self-promotion with QR Codes
To spread the QR message, some in-plants are using the codes to market themselves.
"We're always looking for ways to market our department," says Lynne Rizzi, assistant director of Purchasing and Howie's Printery, the in-plant serving the University of Hartford. So she had shirts created for her seven student employees with QR codes on the back, linking to the in-plant's Web site.
"They wear them around campus. They're just like walking billboards," she notes. This tactic also shows the campus that the in-plant can handle QR codes.
"We're like the resident experts now," Rizzi laughs.
Similarly, University of Oklahoma Printing Services has used QR codes to market itself. Postcards and banners placed in the student union brought people to a site announcing the in-plant's In-Print 2010 Best of Show award. To promote the shop's new photo kiosk, a QR code was placed on giveaway notepads. Scanning it opened a text box that featured a coupon good for a free print from the photo kiosk.
"My main goal is to educate customers about what QR codes are, get them to download the readers on their phone…and then, in turn, the next step is [to show them] how QR codes can help them," explains Sherri Isbell, assistant administrator of OU Printing Services. "I've got a lot of customers that are excited about it, that want to add those to their Spring campaigns."
Managers who have been working with QR codes say it pays to be proactive and suggest ways that customers can incorporate the codes.
"Any time we get a job request we're all now on the lookout," says Magee, of Messiah College. Like a recent job from a student activities group, which wanted to print posters advertising the movies they planned to show. Magee suggested they add QR codes to take people to the trailer for those movies.
"They loved the idea," he says. And they likewise love the in-plant for suggesting it. IPG
Bob has served as editor of In-plant Impressions since October of 1994. Prior to that he served for three years as managing editor of Printing Impressions, a commercial printing publication. Mr. Neubauer is very active in the U.S. in-plant industry. He attends all the major in-plant conferences and has visited more than 180 in-plant operations around the world. He has given presentations to numerous in-plant groups in the U.S., Canada and Australia, including the Association of College and University Printers and the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association. He also coordinates the annual In-Print contest, co-sponsored by IPMA and In-plant Impressions.
