Canadian war graves in a Welsh Cemetery are being given QR codes to explain their presence. The HistoryPoints project decided to add the QR codes instead of traditional information stands as a way of providing the information unobtrusively.

The majority of the graves at St Margaret’s Church in Bodelwyddan mark the final resting place of Canadian soldiers who died during the flu pandemic towards the end of World War I, although a handful are for soldiers who died during riots over transport back to Canada being reallocated to US soldiers.

Scanning the QR code will allow visitors to download an account which provides information about the 17,000 Canadian servicemen and women who were stationed at Kinmel Park after the First World War ended. The information is available in French and English. More information will be gradually added, including biographical details and pictures of the deceased.

The founder of HistoryPoints, Rhodri Clark, said that he hopes that the QR codes will inform many people about what happened during the winter of 1918 – 1919.

Cyber criminals are putting up stickers featuring URLs embedded in Quick Response codes (QR codes) as a trick designed to drive traffic to dodgy sites. By using QR codes (rather than links) as a jump-off point to illegal sites, criminals can disguise the ultimate destination of links.

Security watchers have already seen spam messages pointing to URLs that use embedded QR codes. Now some crooks have gone one step further by printing out labels and leaving them in well trafficked locations.

Symantec Hosted Services Director, Warren Sealey said that they’ve seen criminals replacing genuine QR codes in busy places, such as an airport, with their own stickers. Members of the public are scanning the QR code in good faith, and being directed to the wrong website.

Sian John, who is a security strategist at Symantec, said that there has been an explosion in the number of people and businesses that are using QR codes over the last couple of years, which cybercriminals are taking full advantage of.

Because QR codes are just images, it’s extremely difficult to tell at a glance if they’re genuine or malicious, this makes easy to dupe people into scanning codes that may lead to an infected site, or perhaps a phishing site.

If people want to make sure that their mobile is protected, we recommend a QR code reader that can check the website’s reputation before visiting it, such as Norton Snap QR Code Reader.

Yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the text message. On December 3rd 1992, Vodafone engineer Neil Papworth sent a message simply reading “Merry Christmas” to a fellow employee. Thus a global phenomenon was born.

Text Messages were launched in the UK in 1994. At that point in time, text messages were completely free, but they could only be sent to people on the same network. It took until 1999 for full cross-network compatibility to be finalised.

Text messages were originally limited to 160 characters (only 20 more than Twitter!) and predictive text systems did not exist before 1995. A world of difference to what text messages are now.
Now SMS Text Messaging is the most widely used data application in the world, with almost 80% of phone users using SMS Messages. In fact 8 Trillion text messages were sent in 2011.

With such a huge potential market, using text messages as a method of contacting clients or potential customers is a great idea. Unlike some marketing services, we can guarantee that your message is received by your target market.

Mobile SMS Marketing is becoming increasingly popular in Europe with several 100 million SMS adverts sent out every month.

1.Two-Thirds of Australians do not know what a QR-Code is.

A survey undertaken by Toluna and Econsultancy has shown that 62% of Australians do not know what a QR-Code is nor how to use them. The data also shown that 51% of the 18-34 age demographic can recognise QR-Codes.

44% of males knew what a QR-Code is and how you could use them, while only 35% of females knew the same information.
Out of all of the consumers that knew what a QR Code was, over half of them has used a QR-Code within the last three months.

2. Red Bull is top for social video.
No doubt boosted by Felix Baumgartner’s Space Jump, Red Bull has topped the first Goviral Social Video Equity Report. The report was to determine the 100 most powerful brands in branded content for 2012.

The top 10 list is below: Apple and Microsoft both failed to reach the top 10, coming at 11 and 37 respectively
1. Red Bull
2. Google
3. Disney
4. Nike
5. Samsung
6. Old Spice
7. Prada
8. Coca-Cola
9. Nintendo
10. Addidas

3.IBM and Coca-Cola are the top brands on Linkedin

In terms of driving engagement on LinkedIn, IBM Coca-Cola and Hewlett-Packard are the top brands according to a study by DigiDay. IBM generated 1.8m interactions on the social network last year and has accrued 779,000 fans. Coca-Cola claimed second place in the rankings, again securing 1.8m comments, likes and shares from its 129,000 followers.

4.Wi-Fi delivers over three-quarters of all UK smartphone data

Android owners in the UK transfer more than three-quarters (78%) of their content using Wi-Fi rather than 3G. Wi-Fi usage increases each hour after 5pm, reaching a peak between 11pm and midnight.

According to the Pew Research Centre, just one percent of Americans used Short codes to make a donation to the presidential candidate of their choice, during the 2012 presidential election.

In August 2012 the Federal Election Commission removed any obstacles that prevented presidential candidates from using short code donations.

Both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney had accounts. Obama’s supporters would have texted 62262 (it spells OBAMA on telephone pads) and would have donated up to $50 per month, while Romney’s supporter could text GIVE to 37377.

One in Ten American Adults have used short codes and text messages to make a charitable donation of some kind. However, only One in a Hundred used the system to support their presidential candidate.

Democrats used the campaign the most. About 57% of Democratic voters contributed to Barack Obama’s successful re-election bid online, with 15% of these using a short code or mobile app. While on the Republican side, only 34% of donors used an online method to donate, with 6% of these using the short code or Mobile app.

Recently Walmart Canada launched QR Codes as an alternative payment method for their toy store Walmart placed 3D images in Toronto’s downtown walkway. Shoppers would simple need to scan a QR Code with their smartphones to purchase the product that they would want from Walmart and they receive free shipping.

The first virtual QR Code store they had was in the same place in 2011 and the campaign won the 2012 Outside the Box Achievement Award from Canada Post.

To get involved with this unique method of using QR Codes for your business, call our friendly team on 03333 444 644 or e-mail enquiries@textblue.co.uk

To see how Walmart and others have used QR Codes as an alternative payment method click here

According to the Executive Director of Mobility Solutions Marketing, Mobeen Khan, mobile marketing campaigns are usually considered an afterthought of Company’s Marketing Campaigns instead of making it an integral part of the overall marketing strategy.

Mr Khan believes that Marketing firms need to consider SMS Mobile marketing and it’s compatibility with the rest of the campaign and its goals. He believes that marketing executives should consider the following 4 tips to get the most out of their marketing campaigns

Marketers must understand how the target audience will receive the message.

The amount of time and attention the consumer will give to your advert will differ based on their location.
Marketing should be made sensitive to how the message will be consumed. For example, will the QR-Code be placed in a magazine or on a placard in a store? Mr Khan believes that many companies don’t factor in the mobile user’s experience. What works on a browser may not translate well to mobile devices. He thinks that this can be exploited, and people can harness the real power of mobile.”

Companies should build defined analytics into mobile marketing efforts.

When they are planning a campaign, the company should define what types of data it is able to collect and what type of insights that they can learn from this data.
Learning the number of impressions, or views of a particular advertisement, isn’t a useful metric, if they are taken in isolation. The results do not show the demographics of those engaging with the ads or the content Are they male or female? Are they regular readers or do they have a loyalty card?
There is a wide array of information for businesses to consider when creating marketing strategies to reach out to potential consumers.

Retailers should build in-store opportunities for mobile marketing.

For bricks-and-mortar retailers, it is very important to communicating with customers while they are in the store. Check-ins, coupons via applications or SMS, additional information about products or services using QR codes can be a great way to interact with customers and build up a brand loyalty. For example, if someone scans the bar code on an item of clothing, the mobile app could suggest shoes to compliment the outfit.

Don’t think of mobile marketing as mobile advertising.

Mobile advertising and mobile marketing isn’t the same thing. Mobile marketing is an imersive experience. Mobile marketing is about the overall engagement with the customer.

QR Codes are getting more and more popular these days. They are that popular that they are appearing in games now. One example is Borderlands 2 which was released earlier this year and has sold three to four-and-a-half million copies up to now. There are three different QR codes that you can find throughout the game.

The first QR Code that you could find is on a pizza box:

When scanned with a QR Code scanner on a smartphone or tablet the message below would pop up.

“Wiseman say, forgiveness is divine but never pay full price for late pizza. –Captain Picard”

The second is found on a postcode:

When scanned with a QR Code scanner on a smartphone or tablet the message below would pop up

“Nick Wilson Ho Oh”

The last can be found on the inside of a fridge at Zedd’s Pharmacy

When scanned with a QR Code scanner on a smartphone or tablet the message below would pop up

“Thank you so much for playing our game, now I’m rich with love AND money! !!Nick Wilson!! Ditto!!!”

There is no better time to get a QR Code then now, to find out more information, or pricing on QR-Code Marketing, then please don’t hesitate to get in touch, call our friendly team on 03333 444 644

Quick Response codes, are a useful way to encourage individuals to interact with a product or service. They can be used for a variety of engagement tactics including driving consumers to an e-commerce landing page or giving in-depth product information.

According to a poll conducted by Marketing firm MGH over 50% of people use QR-codes to get download a coupon or accesses additional information about a product

The study also showed one-third of all smartphone users have scanned a QR-code and two-thirds have seen one. Before creating a QR-code campaign, make sure you have covered the following:

• Not all users already have a code reader downloaded on their phone. Any time you place a QR-code, provide a link to a QR-code reader so they can download the reader to scan the code.

• Make sure that the QR-code goes to a site designed specifically for mobile phones.

• Think through the placement of the code in the real world. Putting a QR-code anywhere with bad cell reception such as a subway makes it useless.

• As with any marketing initiative, measurement is key. Follow the success of a QR-code with a trackable URL, which will provide stats on the number of QR-code scans per hour as well as the devices used.

To find out more information, or pricing on QR-Code Marketing, then please don’t hesitate to get in touch, call our friendly team on 03333 444 644

Another way to “modernise” the way clubs can advertise is using Bluetooth and Wi-Fi marketing as it is compatible with most Mobile Phones. Using Bluetooth and Wi-Fi marketing can be used to attract new customers and keep current customers up-to-date, because you are pushing out the advert 24/7!

It works by sending an advert which can involve a simple but it can even contain music, digital effects and pictures or even electronic business cards. It’s not considered spam as it has to be accepted by the receiver, if it is declined, then the device will not try to connect with that device again unless you make it.

We recommend having the stand alone device in the building during the day as people passing by will be getting the advert pushed towards their phone. The device covers 100 yards where it’s stationed.

We can also provide a “Lite” device that uses the windows phone (which we will provide) which has the software pre-installed so sending them to walk through busy town centres where they would normally hand out flyers and various hand-outs which could be dropped or thrown away.

This software works on all phones, both old and new, however with the more modern blackberries, HTC’s and some android devices require a 4 digit key (which is “0000”) to download the file so advert may need to be altered so they know this.

At this moment in time, this technology it isn’t compatible with any Apple products. (iPhones, iPods and iPads) so to get your advert to these we provide a Bluetooth and Wi-Fi system which works in the same way but ensures your advert is getting to all customers on all devices.

To find out more information, or pricing, or enquiries please don’t hesitate to get in touch, call our friendly team on 03333 444 644 or visit our website at: Click here to find out more.