Turkish Airlines Asks Olympics Goers to Fly QR Flags

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Turkish Airlines aims to capitalize on the worldwide audience visiting London for the Olympic Games. The airline, which flies to over 200 global destinations, has created a QR code campaign to provide an exciting challenge for Olympic spectators.

The campaign has transformed 73 national country flags into QR codes and placed them on 94 digital bus shelters throughout London. As a gamification strategy, the campaign offers a scavenger hunt to fans. Fans are encouraged to scan their way through London as they wait to catch a bus to their next destination there. After scanning, participants are automatically checked-in with that flag via the Turkish Airlines mobile website.

Upon check-in, the mobile site allows participants to check the total number of check-ins and the number of check-ins per country they've currently logged. The site also has a quick connection to a map location of all the bus shelter locations and allows participants to scan London for the nearest shelter.

The brand started linking fans and followers to the campaign through their Facebook and Twitter pages on July 30, three days after the opening ceremonies. The campaign is entirely digital, using digital bus shelters and social media platforms to push the campaign.

The Turkish Airlines effort will run until August 19, and will award the winner two round trip tickets to a Turkish Airlines global destination.

"QR codes can be very valuable when used in marketing campaigns since they serve as the perfect tool to bridge the gap between offline and online media," noted Neset Dereli, interactive marketing manager for Turkish Airlines, in an email.

"Those exposed to your code can be automatically exposed to your promotion, your specific call to action or your website simply by scanning it with their mobile phone. QR codes also enable sharing and help build online communities."

QR campaigns also allow advertisers to track the effectiveness of campaigns by monitoring the check-in numbers along the way.