Using QR Codes to Capture Leads – An XMPie Marketing Campaign at mediaPro 2010
By David Baldaro, Sales and Channel Manager, UK, Ireland & Middle East
As the excitement for this year’s mediaPro Expo in London built, we needed a new, innovative cross-media campaign to help demonstrate XMPie’s capabilities to attendees. Last year we came up with the ground-breaking Twitter campaign that got people talking, so we had big shoes to fill!
After a lot of thought and discussion, we settled on a location-based game to attract customers to the XMPie stand. FourSquare integration was one interesting concept, but that was limited in such a small area like an exhibition hall. Using QR codes, on the other hand, was an enticing thought. QR codes are in the minds of many advertising and marketing executives, so we used them to build the mediaPro 2010 lead-generating campaign with a gaming edge.
Leading with an iPad as an incentive, 15 different QR codes, each configured with its own point value, were created and placed in different locations around the venue—on posters, vinyl banners, exhibition supplements, postcards, and even on t-shirts worn by staff members! Some QR codes were loaded with more points than others, like the one that could be found at the XMPie presentation on the second day of the expo. Obviously we wanted people to come to the presentation, so a massive 1,000 points were up for grabs there!
The first time a gamer scanned a code, we brought them into a mobile site with instructions and a form for capturing their information (name, company name, e-mail and mobile number). Once registered, the points associated with the QR code they scanned were allocated to their account. So, the more QR codes that a gamer scanned, the more points they received, and the better the chance they had of winning the coveted iPad!
More points could also be earned by answering additional questions on the mobile site. Unsurprisingly, the questions were all relevant to our needs and weighted according to the questions that we really needed answered. Each gamer could also check their standing on the live leader board on the site, or on the screen that we had in the exhibition stand. They could also see that more points were available; they just needed to find the additional QR codes.
It was great to see gamers chasing the staff with campaign t-shirts around the venue, hunting for QR codes and coming to the stand to ask about the campaign and XMPie. For us, it was an autonomous campaign—once it started it just ran. We needed to do nothing other than monitor the leader board and check that everything was working. Some gamers even made the return visit on the second day just to get the points at the XMPie presentation. People loved the gaming aspect and the way the campaign was executed.
The result was happy gamers, especially the winner, and a database of potential leads and new information for us to follow-up on. Max Cottle won the iPad at mediaPro with a total of 7,450 points!!
Cross-media campaigns do not have to conform to traditional mediums like print, e-mail, Web and mobile. Innovative campaigns involve different technologies dependant on the audience that they will be engaging. We did not need any personalized print within this campaign, so we stuck to mobile RURLs, e-mails and SMS communications. After all, this was a campaign focused on the mobile and connected audience.
QR codes are a great tool and offer a huge potential to marketers, once they understand that a QR code is not just there to bring a recipient to a mobile website. Someone scanning a QR code is initiating a response, raising a flag, and showing that they are interested. Don’t waste that opportunity by bringing them into a static mobile site. Every QR code potentially has a ‘location’ assigned to it; be it next to a printed product advertisement or a physical location on a map, this is relevant data that should not be ignored by the marketer. Use it! It can add much needed relevance and start a conversation.
In our campaign, a QR code had a location, a marketing message, and a point value. All three of these aspects came into play when someone scanned the code. We referenced the location, spoke about the marketing message and awarded the correct points. Each QR code scanned, along with each interaction, was tracked via the XMPie uProduce Marketing Console so we could see what interaction was happening in real-time. Some people believe that QR codes cannot be tracked easily. This is not the case. By using QR codes within a cross-media campaign, you can track and engage people on a whole new level. We did it, how can you?
XMPie is ExactTarget’s “2010 Embedded Partner of the Year”
Filed under: Awards, Cross Media, E-mail, Events, General
By Ranen Goren, VP, Cross-Media Products & Enterprise Solutions, XMPie
ExactTarget, which has been an XMPie partner for the last three years powering the e-mail technology behind the XMPie e-Mail Service, recently presented XMPie with the “2010 Embedded Partner of the Year” Grand Prize Award!
This is an important milestone for the partnership between XMPie and ExactTarget because it shows that interactive marketing experts acknowledge the power of the integrated e-mail service, as provided by ExactTarget, within a complete cross-media solution, as provided by XMPie.
Here’s what the judging committee had to say about the XMPie solution.
XMPie’s embedded ExactTarget offering…
1. Provides seamless integration as part of software and services offering;
2. Enables clients to offer sophisticated use of e-mail;
3. Includes advanced personalization; and
4. Delivers a strong feature set and superior deliverability.
For example, the XMPie e-mail below includes a personalized image, greeting and URL, which are sophisticated features that have proven to increase response rates for us and our customers. XMPie makes it possible to do all of this, with the superior deliverability and tracking of ExactTarget, in one single software package that integrates print, e-mail, Web and SMS together into real cross-media campaigns.
Receiving the ExactTarget award was exciting and timely. Just the day before, I presented XMPie’s latest e-mail features of our one-to-one cross-media solution, PersonalEffect 5.0, at the XMPie Users Group Conference in Orlando, Fla. With the wealth of new features and improvements, together with the new lower pricing options offered by the XMPie e-Mail Service, we had a lot of great news to deliver.
For our customers who are not using the XMPie e-Mail Service, I believe the best news for you is that we now provide a free trial option that allows you to evaluate it very easily and for free, with no commitment at all. With this new option, every XMPie customer 
with the cross-media edition would benefit from checking out our much improved – and affordable – e-mail options.
We were a bit surprised and delighted to see that almost everyone in the audience that came to the e-mail session at the Users Group Conference is already using e-mail in their campaigns. This was a big improvement from previous years when we saw only 30 to 50% using e-mail. It shows again that e-mail has become more than just a “nice-to-have,” but rather a critical ingredient in the cross-media mix.