Hobo signs for techno tribes?

So there I am, thinking about the possibilities of QR codes for a guerrilla sticker campaign round London when I actually see one in the wild… 

There, on a phone box near Russell Square, just round the corner from the Perseverance, is a code accompanied by the number 0107 010 6443 01 (arranged vertically in those blocks).   

The code itself, when decoded, is the same number represented as 0107010644301.  

I have no idea what this refers to. I’ve been unable to turn up anything on Google or anything related to phone numbers. Possibly you’re now reading this page because you’re similarly looking, or perhaps you’re Googling your own work to see if it’s been picked up on. Let me know.  

Anyway, so why am I thinking about QR codes? Well, at the end of August a billboard advertising the DVD release of zombie movie “28 Weeks Later” appeared in London’s Shoreditch.  

Unusually for the genre, there was no strap-line, no star-billing and no blown-up stills or digitally enhanced cleavage. There was simply a large and striking pattern of black and white dots with a “28 Weeks Later” URL beneath it.  

For those in the know, of whom many of us will have been eagerly awaiting such a poster, it was clearly a QR code.  

Standing for “Quick Response,” QR codes originated in Japan and have gained some traction in the US and Switzerland. Point a camera phone at the code and – with the correct software installed (just go to kaywa.com) – you’re taken to anything from text you can save instantly to your phone to a link to a mobile site. They’re “real world hyperlinks.” 

The billboard, which thanks to Crackunit I now know was designed by the admirably geeky Gia Milinovich (“I’ve been dorking out about QR codes for a little while now”), is one of a handful of UK sightings to date.  

This, though, was the first example of their use in the UK for marketing. Non-marketing examples in Japan and elsewhere include usage on food packaging and on business cards, and these will inevitably arrive here soon (though of course, not till the software comes as standard on phones other than the N95).  

Elsewhere in the UK, EMAP placed QR codes in metal magazine Kerrang last year and a recent remix of the Pet Shop Boys’ anti-ID card anthem “Integral” presents a video laced with codes, all linking to articles providing context on the ID card debate.  

What all these executions have in common is exclusivity. Shoreditch is still an enclave of perceived post-Nathan Barley techno-cool, metal fans will always embrace an outsider status and concealing a layer of hidden information in a video makes an instant club out of those who get it as well as ramming home the privacy point.

It’s to gain this niche exclusive appeal that QR codes have a limited marketing life. Exclusivity breeds buzz. “Want to spread the virus and be part of the latest craze?” asks the “28 Weeks Later” site, relating the viral theme of the movie to the marketing device.  

So, back to where I came in, leaving the pub after lunch…   

I was thinking there may be a good little window for some guerrilla marketing here – particularly for music marketing and particularly in urban centres – before QR codes become as common place as barcodes or the idea is worn out.  

Now, I haven’t thought about the concept of hobo signs/hobo symbols since an afternoon with Matt Jones years ago, but then they cropped up in an episode of the truly excellent Mad Men. And it occurs to me that this is what QR codes could briefly be – hobo signs for techno tribes, your young urban hipper-than-thou audience. You can hide any message you like in QR, and hide it in plain sight.

So, if you’re trying to reach a young techno-literate audience in this initial under-the-radar period, work fast. Get a sheaf of blank stickers, generate some codes, and get them to your street teams now.

On Blyk and ad-supported MVNO models

Lots of talk lately about new ad-supported MVNO Blyk.  

In a nutshell, 16-24 year old phone owners will be able to get 217 free texts and 43 minutes of talk if they insert a Blyk SIM and agree to receive 6 SMS/MMS ads a day from brands that they’ve selected themselves.  

The list of brands already includes major players such as L’Oreal and Coca Cola.  

There’s a lot I like about Blyk.  I like the ex-Nokia team they’ve got on board, and I love the permission plus preference (“open marketing”) model that they’re rocking.  I love the warm, fuzzy and consciously amateur way they’re going about a YouTube strategy and I love the Gmail style “invitation” access to the service once it’s been initially seeded.  

But I’m still currently trying to coerce friends and friends of friends, (Facebook finally finds real utility for me…), who work in universities to see if they can’t reach out to their students on my behalf.  

Why? Because it’s easy to talk about how innovative, disruptive, revolutionary etc. this service is, and to respect the thinking that’s gone into ensuring that the executions received are designed for interaction etc. etc., but I’ve been burnt in the past when it comes to second guessing a younger audience. (Sometimes I feel more digital dinosaur than immigrant).   

Questions on my mind:

According to Blyk’s Marko in a session I was in the other week, the messages will come at the same time every day. Score one for ensuring familiarity, but doesn’t this make it even easier to ignore them on a regular basis? I’m unaware of any mechanic that insists on anything beyond receipt to maintain your free calls.  

Then there’s the whole issue of what is – let’s face it – a student audience and their attitude to being bought off by brands. Or does no one read “No Logo” or listen to Bill Hicks anymore? (Quoth the dinosaur). 

And it’s not as if the model’s as new or revolutionary as a lot of media coverage would have you believe.  Virgin Mobile USA’s dubiously named service “Sugar Mama” (why not just go the whole hog and call it ”Cougar,” guys?) has been working a similar mechanic in the states since last year. Anyone hear about that revolutionising the dynamics of either the advertising or mobile industries? Didn’t think so.  

Then there’s Xero (“son of Gizmondo”) who at least seem to have plans in place to ensure that users actually watch the 4 video commercials sent to their phones on a daily basis.  Add to that the talk of MySpace getting into the MVNO market with an ad-subsidised model and the constant mobile mutterings of Google’s Eric Schmidt and there’s a lot more than Blyk going on in the space.   

But still, I’ll hold back on any judgement until (hopefully) those students I’m trying to get hold of can give me a real world picture. I’ll also continue – whenever Blyk comes up in conversation – to make facetious comments about the suitability (or not) of the brand name for a South African roll out.