I’m not much of a traditional advertising guy. I work primarily with our clients’ online reputations, but I know a bad print ad when I see one.
This particular billboard en route to downtown Rapid City, SD sticks out in my mind.
I drive past this ad space known as “the gap” more than a dozen times each week.
When I saw that the Army Reserve designed and placed a new board (probably costing them a couple grand) in the heart of print ad, USA, I had to laugh.
People are QR code crazy these days, and frankly, I don’t get it.
You would think that being so into technology I would be all for any type of QR code placement.
That is false.
Truth is I’ve become quite jaded to QR codes. The only reason I even scan them anymore is because I’m curious what type of landing page they will direct me to.
Some people do it right—others don’t.
I never did scan the Army Reserve billboard. Reason why? Well, you try busting out you smartphone, loading the QR app and getting a quality scan of a billboard within ten seconds.
I’m not saying it can’t be done. I’m sure the ad can be scanned from the street, but you’d be more likely to pull off the feat if you were walking through the gap on foot.
At first I thought this was the only Army Reserve ad in town. After doing some commuting I realized there are at least two other boards in town with the same awful QR code placement.
Let it be clear: the Army Reserve probably has plenty of money to waste on a terrible billboard, but for what? Couldn’t that money be better used elsewhere?
Whoever authorized such a design was out of his/her mind.
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Tags: ad agency, advertising, Army Reserve, bad print ads, bad print advertisements, Ben Lippert, print ad, qr, QR app, QR apps, QR code app, QR code apps, QR codes, rapid city, scannable code, smartphone, smartphone apps, south dakota, Technology, the gap
Agreed. The billboard is Impracticable, ineffective and looks ridiculous. QR codes are only cool if they have some kind of mystery to them– as you said, leaving one curious. For example, on J.J. Abrams’ new show “Alcatraz” there are QR codes on the prisoners’ cells. There’s too much movement and it’s blurry and hard to get a clear capture of it. It’s making my brain hurt.
Lol I saw that the other day. Who in their right mind is going to be able to use that?