LARGO, FL – The Florida-based marketing firm, Valpak Direct Marketing Systems, Inc., owned and operated by Cox Media, has developed an innovative use of QR codes for its Valpak direct mail coupon pack. The company plans to mail 80,000 direct mail pieces in the next two months which contain QR codes printed on the outside of the envelope and on individual coupons inside the mailer.
QR codes are a digital scanning technology similar to barcodes where digital information can be scanned into a computer with a digital camera on a hand held mobile phone.
Many new hand held mobile devices like the Motorola Razr or Rokr, or some newer phones made by Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson support this technology. One simply points and shoots the code with the camera and a response will then be initiated on the phone’s screen.
Mailing list managers should pay attention to this move as it will probably have ramifications for the future of direct mail marketing. In a recent press release at the PRNewswire website that describes details of the upcoming marketing campaign, Michael Vivio, president of Cox Target Media remarks, “This huge initiative is a great example of the power of print and digital working together.”
In the Valpak campaign, the QR codes will send the user to a webpage where he or she can fill out a form and provide details for the response.
The company had some interesting comments in their recent press release at the PRNewswire website:
This is the first national QR campaign for Valpak, providing consumers a new way to engage with The Blue Envelope®. It also positions Valpak as leading the way in direct mail. As an industry leader for 43 years, Valpak continues to grow and evolve using the latest technology.
Valpak is planning two television campaigns in July and August of 2011 to promote the new technology. The promotional campaign is aimed at engaging its existing audience as well as a new, younger audience who are the current generation of social media and smartphone users.
The QR code campaigns put together fir the Valpak direct mailer were designed by Seattle-based mobile marketing company, SPARQ.ME.
The press release goes on to explain why this campaign is new and unique:
While most QR Code solutions point to sites that are not mobile-optimized and not built to drive new customers, SPARQ.ME has built a platform that is specifically geared to deliver an easy experience for today’s mobile consumer, and to deliver new customers to its advertiser partners.
One of the offers that will be using the new QR codes will be a Valpak “Shop in New York City” Sweepstakes. The upcoming campaign does not plan to exclude people who do not have a smart phone. People will be able to respond by one of three ways – by mail, by scanning the code or by visiting the website manually in a browser. Respondents who choose the traditional response by mail will be able to cut-out and fill out a registration form printed on the inside of the Valpak envelope. They can also mail a hand-printed 3″ x 5″ sheet of paper with required information such as name, address, city, state and zip code.
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