Repo Men, which opens March 19, is using barcode technology in its promotion - the latest example of a growing number of ad creatives and technology to do so.
Plot and Promotion Meet
The movie is set in a future where people can buy artificial organs called "Artiforgs" from a company named The Union, explains Mobile Marketer. They are very expensive and can be bought on credit, but if a recipient misses a payment a Repo Man, who keeps track of payments by bar code scanners, removes the organ.
The promotion for the film includes a movie poster with a traditional barcode that users scan for additional content and promotion information, according to Internet2Go.
"The barcode campaign, now taking place in 15 U.S. cities, involves outdoor creative for the movie that includes a small barcode in the corner of the posters." Users scan these codes with an iPhone equipped with reader software from Red Laser, a mobile scanning application, decode them and link to pages of sales brochures for the organs.
Other codes link to video clips showing a cable shopping network show touting the latest and most expensive artificial organs or to a guerilla web site supposedly representing a movement to resist The Union, according to Internet2Go.
The promotion also includes a contest in which participants find four "Runners" - mysterious figures trying to evade capture, according to MediaPost. Players follow clues online and on barcodes.
Contestants who can catch one will win $7,500.
Digital marketing agency 360i coordinated with Red Laser to put together this campaign, says Mobile Marketer. "The strategy was to give consumers a reward for their interest in the property," said Ben Blatt, manager of digital marketing at Universal, Universal City, CA. "Movie marketing is typically very overt and doesn't try to hide anything. (via Mobile Marketer)
Barcode Scanning v SMS?
It’s a good campaign, Internet2Go concluded, with the only caveat being the question whether the specific mobile approach (smartphone barcode scanning) is aligned with the target audience, which might be younger and more inclined toward SMS. Blatt addressed that issue in part with MediaPost, noting that the campaign is not a "mass market reach" but "a complementary mobile extension."
Keep Going
Marketers would be smart to continue to incorporate SMS and barcodes into all relevant campaigns, Internet2Go adds. "Not only does it make these ads dynamic and interactive, but it offers metrics on response rates as well."
The Repo Men campaign joins a growing number of examples in which barcode technology has been used in an ad initiative. Mobile Apps that use barcodes to find the best and more recent pricing have become very popular.
Magazines such as Esquire and InStyle are adding interactive graphics that require barcode readers to see complementary content - and possibly ads in the future. As more consumers install barcode reading apps to their smartphones, this has become a viable strategy that more publishers are using, according to the New York Times.
In its March issue, Esquire will print Scanbuy codes in a spread on "The Esquire Collection" - "the 30 items a man would need to get through life," said David Granger, editor in chief. Readers scan the code into an internet-enabled phone with the ScanLife app downloaded on it. That will take them to a mobile menu that has styling advice for the item and information on where to buy it. Barcodes have also become part of many augmented realty campaigns.
