Lionsgate, Aloft Hotels Run QR Code Campaigns
'For Colored Girls' movie marketers and boutique hotel brand are using QR codes to leverage the so-called physical Internet.
'For Colored Girls' movie marketers and boutique hotel brand are using QR codes to leverage the so-called physical Internet.
New campaigns by Lionsgate Films and Aloft Hotels underscore how QR codes appear to be picking up speed in the mobile marketing space.
Lionsgate has announced a so-called “physical Internet” campaign for the upcoming movie, “For Colored Girls,” that employs QR codes and SMS promos. Via a system by New York-based Augme Technologies, people with smartphones viewing the posters can scan the QR codes to download a mobile site. That site will contain a movie trailer, a synopsis of “For Colored Girls,” a “Living Portraits” photo gallery of the movie’s cast, and a text reminder for the movie’s Nov. 5 release date.
Consumers can also text “COLORS” to 30333 to gain access to the mobile site. The print-posters-and-mobile effort focuses on big markets like New York, Houston, Chicago, and Los Angeles. An Augme Technologies spokesperson explained the initiative’s execution via e-mail. “The mobile campaign call-out is featured on out-of-home media outlets, including bus shelters, wild postings, and all movie theater posters of ‘For Colored Girls’ in and around those major cities.”
Meanwhile, Aloft Hotels launched its first QR code campaign on Oct. 4 and will run it through Friday. The boutique hospitality brand is encouraging patrons to search for digital tags around its hotels. Each location has up to three tags/QR codes, which are appearing on postcards, room key inserts, projections on video walls, and other spots around the hotels. Customers who scan the tags with their smartphones can input their name and e-mail address to be entered into a contest for a trip to a Napa Valley-area, Aloft-branded music showcase called “Live in the Vineyard.” Patrons can enter up to three times.
Paige Francis, VP of marketing for Aloft Hotels, part of Starwood Hotels & Resorts, told Promo Magazine in a recent Q&A interview that Facebook.com ads have been purchased for the effort while targeting tech-savvy Gen Y consumers.
“Additionally, our guests learn about the program through the electronic ticker that’s located in all Aloft lobbies, [via] pre-stay reservation confirmation e-mails, and through our [website],” Francis said. “We tend to approach our core customer as a psychographic rather than a demographic, who we see as savvy, early adopters, who look for high-tech amenities and great design when they are on the road…whether they are 28 or 58.”
Warner Bros. Launches Whrrl Campaign for ‘Due Date’
In other mobile marketing news, location-based platform Whrrl and gas station chain Murphy USA have partnered with Warner Brothers to promote the Nov. 5 release of the movie, “Due Date.” When Murphy USA patrons check in on Whrrl in November, they can win free movie tickets, concession stand cash for sodas and snacks, free gas, or in-store Murphy USA merchandise.
According to a prepared announcement from Seattle-based Whrrl parent Pelago, each check-in and Murphy USA-based recommendation will increase a participant’s chances to win. The El Dorado, AR-based gas station brand – with more than 1,000 locations next to partner Wal-Mart – recently told ClickZ that 44 percent of its Whrrl check-ins have been new customers since adopting the geo-social marketing platform in July.