Nope, you’re not crazy. Those QR and other codes in magazines designed to help people interact with the products advertised online really are multiplying.
A record 2,200 mobile action codes were printed during the second quarter of 2012 – a 61% increase over Q1’s 1,365 — according to an Aug. 28 report by mobile marketing company Nellymoser Inc.
Analyzing the April, May and June issues of 100 of America’s widest circulation magazines – 46,132 pages in total — the company came up with several eye-opening statistics:
- QR codes continue to dominate, accounting for more than 80 percent of codes used since December 2011. (Other action codes run the gamut from standard UPC codes to SMS shortcodes.)
- The number of magazine ads using codes jumped 5% over last quarter to 10.1%.
- The number of brands using codes in ads jumped to 598, 33% over last quarter’s 451.
- For the first time, every magazine contained at least one action code.
