Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/68592
NEW to add to their marketing messaging," says David Javitch, vice president of marketing for Scanbuy. Javitch says companies can deliver valuable content via QR Codes such as exclusive recipes, nutritional information and cooking demonstrations. And the trend is going strong. The company estimates that 50 million people in the country have scanned a QR Code or UPC from their smartphone. A Scanbuy study in January 2012 found that 86 percent of marketers surveyed over a wide range of industries plan to use codes in the near future. "Placing QR Codes on food packages is practical and an effective way to engage with an audience because there is always a point where the customer is physically holding the package—before and after the purchase," Javitch says. The caveat, he notes, is that the content has to be valuable and executed properly. Tempo Strategic's Cason echoes this sentiment. "An effort has to be made to create good, original content," she says. "People want pretty pictures, engag- ing videos and to feel like they are part of TIPS FOR EFFECTIVE QR CODE PROMOTIONS Jennifer Herrick Pacific Natural Foods t 1JDL UIF SJHIU NFTTBHF GPS UIF SJHIU medium. A five-minute video might be better suited for at-home viewing than on a mobile device. t 8IFSF BQQSPQSJBUF MJOL UIF 23 Code to recipes, cooking demos and shopping lists that can optimize customers' time at the market. t 5IF DPEFT DBO PGGFS XBZT UP FYUFOE usage with current customers as much as to attract new ones. By linking to recipes, the product can show customers there are more ways to use it than just the obvious. t $SFBUJOH UIF FYQFSJFODF CFIJOE UIF codes—such as launching a website and hiring a web agency—is where a company will incur the biggest costs. Minimize additional expenses by timing a QR Code launch with a package refresh. (But even adding codes to existing packaging often just requires a printer-plate change and shouldn't be too costly.) t 5FTU DPEFT GVODUJPOBMJUZ BOE IBWF UIF ability to change the content behind the code without having to actually change the code. t 0GGFS B EJSFDU EPXOMPBE GPS UIF DPEF reader on your mobile site to help customers new to QR Codes access content more quickly. Summer Fancy Food Show Booth 1001 36 ❘ SPECIALTY FOOD MAGAZINE ❘ specialtyfood.com