ADOTAS

Now, what if more than 50 million people in North America now have an app on their smartphone that can read a standard QR Code, and comScore found that 14 million Americans scanned in June alone? Sounds great, right? Now, you can go QR crazy and throw a code onto anything. People will go right to your home page and they will get all of the information they could ever want!

Not so fast.

In their simplest form, codes are a quick way to get to your website, but there is a much bigger opportunity to be realized. Deploying QR codes should come from a strategic idea that solves a need for your users. To demonstrate the effectiveness of deploying a strategic QR Code campaign, let’s look at some recent campaigns from Taco Bell, Tesco and Ford.

When Taco Bell sponsored MTV’s Video Music Awards they wanted to deliver exclusive MTV content to its customers in a way that would engage them with the actual product. ScanLife-powered QR Codes were placed on items like cups and boxes that would immediately link to mobile-formatted content.

What made this campaign unique was that the content was refreshed every week, so each time a code was scanned customers would see something different. This led to over 400,000 scans in just six weeks, which was a direct result of strategically combining code context and content.

Speaking of context, the next example is a gold standard. Tesco, a global grocery retailer, developed a program in Korea that combined the best of brick & mortar and e-commerce into a single shopping experience. It papered an entire commuter train station with what looked like real store aisles – milk, eggs, and other staples, but they needed one more ingredient to make this static installation come to life – QR codes.

Image courtesy of 2d-code

The program allowed customers to simply scan the codes to add an item to their shopping cart, buy, and ship the order to their home. Tesco could even make suggestions based on scanning behavior for other items that may not have been visible in the station. This was an amazing example of how codes can turn anything into a virtual store with ink, paper, and a great idea.

Finally, many people think that QR codes need to always link to the same content because the data is “hard wired” into the code. While this is true at a basic level, there is much more you can do to make your code smarter.

Ford ran a campaign that asked people at an event to “collect” or scan five unique codes that were distributed on Twitter and event signage. Once the same user scanned the entire group, he/she was automatically entered into a Ford Focus sweepstakes. All consumers had to do was enter an email once, and the real-time metadata did the rest. It’s important to understand that each code is unique, each user is unique, and – once you combine the two – you can have a really engaging experience that is relevant and exciting.

The world of QR Codes is upon us. Codes are being published in droves, and people are now ready to scan. But don’t disappoint them! They are taking the time to engage with your brand, so take advantage and give them an experience that will make your QR Code proud.

• Yahoo! is reportedly dumping its 35% stake in Yahoo! Japan, which has a total market value of $19 billion plus $2 billion in net cash. But what about Right Media? Apparently Yahoo! isn’t going to take the money to buy Hulu…

• Call tracker 800response has launched CallFinder, a real-time speech analysis application that scans calls for key phrases.

• Kevin Drew Davis is the new executive creative officer at Digitas Chicago. Last seen serving as executive vice president and group creative director at DraftFCB Chicago, Davis has also fronted creative teams at Wieden & Kennedy, The Richards Group and GSD&M over his 20-year career.

• According to Knowledge Networks’ MultiMedia Mentor research tool, tablet-owner spend an average of 4 hours and 19 minutes on the Internet daily versus 2 hours 55 minutes for all consumers. Fifty-five of those Internet minutes are on their tablets, with 24 minutes going toward social networking, gaming and search. I’m going to guess the other 35 minutes are for p… puppies. Pictures of puppies… Yeah.

• Following taking top prize at TechCrunch’s Disrupt San Fran, Israeli startup Shaker, which hosts virtual bars where your avatar can hang out with Facebook friends (it kinda looks like Meez for older Facebook users…), scored $15 million in a Series A round of funding led by Menlo Ventures. Innovation Endeavors (Eric Schmidt) and CrunchFund (Michael Arrington) also gave to the cause.

• AOL and Yahoo! aren’t the only major websites producing original online video series — eBay Motors has just launched two new series to catch the interest of its 14 million monthly uniques. Sponsored by Ford, “modJOBS” is an eight episode series following the transformation of a stock Ford Mustang GT 5.0 V8 into a pimped-out “supercar.” And hosted by Justin Bell, “World’s Fastest Car Show” is a weekly joyride into the heart of car culture, including test drives, celebrity visits and auto shows.

In our innovate-or-whither landscape, you’d expect this august group to be master tacticians in employing the strategies that marketing gurus proclaim best. These days that’s interactivity. But a tour of these giants’ websites challenge that assumption. And occasionally induce a nice nap.

Brand site interactivity comes in two favorite flavors: communication with peers (social networking, video sharing, etc.), and interaction with engaging gadgets (casual gaming, do-it-yourself virals, etc). The first approach builds trust. The second—exemplified by the Simpsonizer, Elf Yourself, and countless others—builds big bursts of traffic. But the country’s biggest brands don’t consistently embrace either, which makes for a methodological muddle.

The Future Is Now

Atop the Fortune 500 sits Walmart, and at the top of its website sits … advertising? Walmart runs banners for products it sells, yet these standalone brands are potential distractions. Still, it’s trying to push products, which seems almost an afterthought among many of its Fortune 10 brethren. Walmart displays products on its website as it does in its aisles—singling some out, and singing their virtues. Unique among the 500’s top ten, its home page highlights “Connect and Share” networking elements: asking and answering questions, sharing stories, blogging about babies, and so on. Most notably, Walmart has gone Amazonian, and includes consumer reviews for each item it sells. If a product performs poorly, peer opinion will sink sales. It will also give consumers good reason to trust Walmart, and seek substitutes elsewhere on site.

General Electric, #6 on Fortune’s leader board, engages online visitors with a prominent jaw-dropping gimmick. A thumbnail click lets you “see a digital hologram come to life in your hands.” You print off an image and use it and a webcam to “test drive” a wind turbine (shown here if your computer can’t handle it). At first glance, the “wow” factor seems little different in purpose than other buzzworthy web tricks. But this relates thematically to the company’s mission, and illustrates its “imagination at work” motto in action.

The Future Is Distant

Unfortunately, as we continue our tour, interactivity and innovation fade rather quickly from view. General Motors (#4) and Ford (#7) offer networking components, but viewers must work hard to find them. You jump to a specific product line site—Chevrolet, for instance—and provide contact information to gain access to social networking features. The marketing purpose is clear: interactivity delivers data, and data delivers dollars. But privacy-minded consumers often deflect the feared pitch barrage with the gazillionth fake identity created on Hotmail or Yahoo! Worse, GM actually bills itself as “Corporate Website.” If that doesn’t fire your desire for new wheels, what will? Ford at least spotlights its F-150 model as Motor Trend’s Truck of the Year, giving the modest click interaction a sales-centric purpose.

We Are The World

Exxon Mobil (#2), Chevron (#3) and Conoco Phillips (#5) sell gasoline and energy, but this isn’t Job One at their image-driven websites (minor exception: Exxon Mobil links to a local gas station finder). We instead see a focus on financial reports, investor links, safety concerns and—inevitably—reverent odes to responsible environment practices.

This is in part understandable. The mainstream media has so bludgeoned these firms for alleged crimes against nature that most Americans now assume that big business is bad for our planet. Don’t believe me? Type “Exxon” into Google’s search box. The second suggestion is “Valdez”—an incident nearly twenty years old. Understandably, energy companies want to combat that image, but they over-react by positioning themselves more as firms that don’t destroy wildlife, than as providers of products that consumers can choose. While environmental responsibility is of course crucial, it’s not the best move from a marketing standpoint to imply a disinterest in selling products such as gasoline, while seeming to cater to Wall Street investors.

We’re Here For You … Somewhere.

The remaining companies that round out Fortune’s Top Ten are Citi Group (#8), Bank of America (#9), and AT&T (#10). All sell goods and services of substantial consumer interest, yet their websites look little different than they might have five years ago. The overall impression is like walking into sprawling corporate headquarters. While you’ll eventually find what you need, before you get started you must pause at the ground floor and study a building directory. In lieu of the ubiquitous plastic-lettered signs that identify what departments reside on each floor, the websites provide twenty to thirty links to get you to the right floor—where you then stare at a new sign and restart the process.

Because so many of these sites’ practices run contrary to sales principles, you start to wonder what they’re up to. You don’t get to be a Fortune 10 by being stupid, so something else is clearly in play. Could it be that with so many companies facing CEO scrutiny or bailout ridicule that engaging sales-centric websites might seem insufficiently sober? With so many consumers either cautious or in crisis, perhaps gravitas is the right tone. After all, an advergame showing how a Citibank card funds a tropical vacation might be tragically tone-deaf right now.

But don’t kid yourself. It likely would sell some more credit cards.

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Ugh. No offense. But if I wanted to make my new site hip and buzz worthy, I would have done something  different at first, some new gadget, game or even just a wacky beer commerical, not a truck. Having said that, the interaction between part of the advertisement and the announcer was fun. The ad, which highlighted Ford’s *F-150 truck, covered the home page, and at one point had the truck peel out, throwing mud onto the announcer in the background.

ESPN.com redesigned its site to make it less cluttered and user friendlyand, therefore advertiser friendly. The old design was jammed pack with links, videos and photos, (which I actually liked) as well as revamping its search functions (which actually did suck). It will give advertisers options for displaying messages, and next month it introduce a new video advertising option specifically with movie studios in mind. Users will also be able to customize their pages such as scores.

With automakers moving more on online, this was probably a lucrative move for ESPN.

*Corrected earlier version.

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Through August, GM has spent $286 million in measured spending, and last year spent $400 million. As the Big Three huddle and try to figure out how to pry $25 billion from the cold hands of congress, GM is looking for every way possible to cut costs.

Pontiac, Saab and Saturn account for 20.7 Percent of GM’s total measured-media spending and 16.5 percent of its sales, according to an Ad Age analysis. According to Automotive News, Pontiac sales through October tallied about 239,000 units, down 20.9 percent from the same period in 2007. Its peak sales year was 1978, when it sold 896,980 units.

GM has already ended its long relationship with Tiger Woods. As Conan O’Brien said, “When asked why, a GM spokesman said, “Tiger Woods is successful, competitive, popular . . . and that’s just not us.’”

GM was the top online advertiser among auto manufacturers in January, delivering roughly 1.7 billion display ad views in the U.S. – Toyota came in second with 1.4 billion and Ford Motor Company rounded out the top three with 1.1 billion, according to a recent study by comScore.

GM also led in reach, with about 103 million unique individuals receiving their display ads during January, followed by Ford which reached 95 million and Toyota, which reached 62 million.

But Toyota won out in the sheer number of ads delivered per person reached – hitting a frequency of 22 ads per person compared to 16 for GM and 11 for Ford.

“GM has really led the auto industry in its use of online advertising,” said Alistair Sutcliffe, vice president of comScore Advertising Solutions. “And, their recent announcement that half of their $3 billion annual advertising budget would be spent online in the coming years is likely to be a bellwether for many industries. Many traditional advertisers are beginning to understand that the Internet enables them to efficiently build their brands by achieving their demographic reach and frequency goals while at the same time reaching the most attractive, behaviorally-defined target segments. This is a winning recipe for achieving an attractive return on one’s advertising investment.”

So where are car companies advertising? The top publisher sites they advertise on are portals and auto resource sites. Yahoo Sites and Microsoft Sites deliver the highest number of impressions – 936 million display advertising views and 585 million display advertising views, respectively.

The massive blitz will cost Ford at least $80 million, according to estimates, and includes custom social networking web pages and banner takeovers on AOL and MSN, a banner campaign on Yahoo, music and performances by artists like Montreal musician DEE, Korean musician and TV star Ahn Jae Wook, Hip-hop artist Kelis, Beyonce Knowles, and DJ Funkmaster Flex on various Ford websites, TV commercials as well as live events. The company is also sponsoring Rolling Stone magazine’s top songs for 2006 both online and in print.

Additionally, Ford will be launching several mobile sites and in-game ads inside games like Major League Baseball 2K6.

To reach China, Korea and Vietnam, Ford is also buying ad takeovers of sina.com and goldsea.com and has purchased air time on Asian TV networks.

The day before Christmas, Ford launches its TV ads, which include sponsorships of FOX’s NFL pre-game show. The Edge will be featured in several Latin and Hispanic shows including Unvision’s Sabado Gigante and Telemundo’s Vas o No Vas. And in January, Ford will be running interactive TV ads through the DISH Network.

Radio personalities Steve Harvey and Tom Joyner will have Edge vehicles to give away on their nationally syndicated programs. Ford is also putting up billboards and graffiti murals in major U.S. cities, including a spot for the Edge on ABC-TV’s 585 square foot digital billboard in Times Square. Ford is even going so far as to project images of the Edge onto the sides of skyscrapers in Boston, Miami and San Francisco.

According to Advertising Age, the push for the Edge is part of Ford’s attempt to revitalize its ailing North American business, which has shrunk 7.4% over the past year.

Visitors are greeted by a video of CEO Bill Ford. The site features an interactive video presentation about flex-fuel vehicles, fun animated characters who illustrate Ford’s safety developments, interviews with designers, video examining Ford’s concept technologies, and two interactive games where users can select and customize their own Ford vehicles.

“We have been receiving positive feedback about our Driving American Innovation campaign and this was another way to reach out to and help customers better understand Ford Motor Company,” said Ford VP Charlie Holleran in a statement. “More than 3 million Web users log on to our ford.com website every month. We believe the innovation link will draw even more Web surfers who will spend even more time learning about our technological, design and safety innovations.”

Ford is promoting the Innovation site through online ads.

Rebecca Martin, general marketing manager for Ford Australia, described the initiative as “subliminal branding.” “It has been interesting as one of the challenges to us as marketers, to step away from something that is overtly branding your product,” she said. “This has been a new direction in our marketing which is about trying to be there with content when people want it, to make sure we are available when they want to hear from us.”

As the auto industry continues to be one of the biggest advertising categories online, Ford will be devoting eight percent of its $55 million advertising budget to the interactive space.

But if numbers must be the totem of success, the Latino population has planted its flag in the marketplace, and has capitalized on the power of the Web. According to a 2005 AOL/ Roper ASW Hispanic Cyberstudy, 63% of online Hispanics, ages 18-34, want to own their own business vs. 36% of the online general population. Additionally, 47% of online Hispanics are very or somewhat likely to invest more in 2005.

But AOL Latino seemed to have realized the promise of this entrepreneurial market ahead of time, having formed an immediate partnership with Ford Motor Company in 2004. Together, the two entities launched a co-branded site, coined Mi Negocio (“My Business”), which serves as an online hub for Latino entrepreneurs and emphasizes community in the process.

In 2005, the companies took their relationship and cause to the next level by launching an Apprentice-style elimination contest that would award $100,000 in cash prizes and a Mercury Mountaineer to the most driven, entrepreneurially-focused participant.

Leading the sales and advertising front at AOL Latino is Mark Lopez, who himself had worked in senior-level positions at companies like Terra Networks and J2 Communications prior to moving up the ranks at AOL. Lopez, who also happens to be an MIT Business grad, fits the mold of both a motivated exec and as a legitimate voice in his community. Recently, ADOTAS had a lengthy chat with Lopez to discuss the purpose of and current goings on at his outfit, and how he views the Latino online marketplace today.

Hi, Mark. So what’s the background on AOL Latino and Mi Negocio? What services does it provide?

Mark: With Mi Negocio, we’re in the third year of the site that we’re doing with Ford and it targets Hispanic small businesses, giving them the tools and some of the insight to really grow their small business or if they’re thinking of starting their own small business. It gives them pointers on how to get started and it gives them sort of a network of other folks that are either other services or like them starting out. So it provides a forum that, three years ago when we started the site, wasn’t available. So we’ve grown the audience and tools available to our users significantly.

Was this something that there was a demand for at the time or was this something where you guys were thinking ahead of the curve, saying that this is really a burgeoning demographic online and it would be good to jump on it before other people do?

A Hispanic audience…is very entrepreneurial in nature, so I think that the need for a hub or a network has always existed. What we know is that within a lot of networks and outside the Internet for a number of years, there wasn’t anything national that really attracts the small business segment. So Ford felt very strongly, and we felt very strongly, that the creation of a site like Mi Negocio could definitely help the small businesses on a national level.