QR code-driven branding has reached a new level of complexity with the introduction of Phillips & Co.'s new branding and advertising platform that turns rooftops into billboards via a QR code. As described in Mediapost, the app, Blue Marble, allows brands to place a QR code on the building and then shoot an aerial or satellite image from space. It then becomes accessible in navigation apps such as Google Earth and Google Maps. "We're trying to tie the emerging space of satellite images to mobile," CEO Rich Phillips said.

Poorly-understood

Even As They Proliferate While the ad industry's interest in QR codes is intense, it is debatable how well they are understood by the general public. A high number of US consumers demonstrate a significant lack of understanding as to what QR codes are or how they work, according to a Russell Herder study that found 72% of consumers say they have seen a QR code, but nearly 30% do not know what it is.

This has not stopped brands from using the technology. Examples include Hallmark's use of QR code technology on a line of children's greeting cards, despite studies that fewer than one in five students have ever used QR code technology and nearly two thirds of students have no idea what they are.