Article economic casestudy Sanne Jansen

1. QR codes in fashion magazines
Point your phone to a printed page in a magazine. Take a picture and it will lead you to a
website. That's the power of QR codes, codes embedded in print that can link cell phones
to specific websites. QR stands for ‘quick response’ and was in 1994 created by a
Japanese company called Denso-Wave to use for tracking parts in the car manufacturing
industries. And now used by several commercial companies, that are mainly located in
Japan. QR codes are a direct connection between the physical world and the Internet,
easy in use for advertisers as well as users. In this essay I will discuss the way QR codes
are used in the magazine industry.
QR codes are big in Japan; there are even magazines that exist out of QR codes only, like
the magazine tada gets, which leads the reader while scanning to various games, pictures,
music and other content. This technology is not commonly used by Americans and
Europeans yet since the software does not come pre-installed on mobile phones, but this
is changing now large advertising companies like Publicis Group are pushing to make
this ‘new’ technology popular.
In Japan luxury brands like Gucci and Ralph Lauren are using QR codes to link print
advertising in magazines to mobile commerce sites, which makes magazine ads become
something consumers can browse and buy. Advertisers are able to measure how many
consumers respond to their ads and monitor the results of their investment.
QR codes are not just usable for advertising but can also add something extra to the
content of a print magazine. This can attract new readers and advertisers. An example of
a magazine that uses these codes is Spektakle they found a very inventive way to

2. integrate QR codes into their print magazine. The codes lead readers to other online
articles about the topics they are interested in, recommended videos, pictures and more.
QR codes can be the ‘new’ thing for the magazine industry to make profits since it
satisfies readers and advertisers. It combines the comfort of reading a magazine on the
train with the possibilities to experience a new way of interactive reading.
Sources
http://www.businessoffashion.com/2009/
http://www.japanmarketingnews.com/2008/08/luxury-brands-q.html
http://www.spektacle.com/
http://2d-code.co.uk/tada-gets-magazine/