>QR Codes – Bridging the Offline/Online Media Gap
>If you are unfamiliar with QR codes, the time to start familiarizing yourself is now. They might take off and be the next big thing. That’s the challenge of course. Of ten new technologies that pop up for use in marketing, a minority of them end up being widely adopted.
So what’s the story with QR? Think supermarket bar code, except you put them on your brochure, print ads, store window, or business cards. People with smartphones can then scan them and be taken to an online location of your choice. Somewhere interesting and not automatically your website. Maybe make it easy for people to follow you on twitter or show them a video that explains what it is they were curious about in their decision to scan your QR code. Maybe load a coupon. Of course we’re still looking at a small percentage of public who are knowledgeable enough to be marketed to this way, but that is only likely to increase.
Mashable recently had an article with some basic starter tips that is worth checking out. Check out what Freeskier Magazine is doing with the technology in the snowsports realm (and get your weekly dose of Digi).
http://www.freeskier.com/site/static/flash/embed_player.swf
I would bet that this will be the year that we see resorts themselves begin to use it on their brochures and ads to achieve better call to action results. I wonder who it will be and what they’ll do with it. I would suggest back of every resort brochure and reasonably easy to find on a trail map. Also distant corner of print ads. Why not allow guests to see live lift status by scanning the trail map, and then you can merchandise that spot. 
