Marketing with QR Codes - Hooters Girls, T-Shirts and Networking

I’ve contributed multiple posts on using QR codes for events and tradeshows. So I thought it might be a good idea to show you some real life examples of how businesses are actually using them for their marketing.

When I was at Event Camp Twin Cities 2010, I finally got to tweetup with Mike Thimmesch, Director of Lead Generation and Industry Relations for Skyline Exhibits, who is a member of the #eventprofs community on Twitter. Mike was wearing a promotional T-shirt for the company which sported a QR code that people could scan to get more information on their company. That’s one way to use them on promotional products. Other possibilities include tote bags, notepads, tattoos… limited only by your imagination. Kudos to Mike and his company for actually using them in their promotional strategy!

Then in October, the Carol Stream Chamber hosted a Networking 2.0 Social Media Face2Face Meetup event to help newbies and novices in social media take the next step to greater involvement in their networks both online and offline. Each attendee was given a QR code to attach to their business card that hung from a badge lanyard. Attendees could then go around the room and have other smartphone-toting friends scan their code to capture contact information. This was an innovative first-time event which drew not only Chamber members, but followers of the Chamber from the social networks such as Facebook. See video highlights here…

Then, of course, it’s that most wonderful time of the year: Chicago Bears season, oops, NFL football season (I got carried away, sorry). So, yes, I’m hanging at my favorite Hooters restaurant for burgers and the Bears games whenever I can. So you can imagine that I was pleasantly surprised to see how one of my favorite haunts was actually using QR codes. On the Hooters menu was a QR code that links to a preview of the 2011 Hooters Girl Calendar.