As the Web got more popular in the last decade, it has been common to see advertisements carrying not much of details but just a terse URL prompting those interested to visit a website to get more info. As Mobile Internet gets more affordable & handsets with cameras get cheaper, a number of applications that leverage both those features have started to emerge.
Microsoft Tag &
QR Code are visual tags that use proprietary technology to encode data in a 2D "barcode". They pack a lot of information in a small space. These visual tags can be used in traditional marketing media like print advertising, billboards, packaging and merchandising. A user capturing a visual tag through her mobile phone camera can be directed to a website for detailed information (that can include online photos & video) by a barcode reader application (that needs to be installed before hand on the mobile).
Picture courtesy: Wikipedia
Google utilizes
QR Code to
promote the most sought out local businesses (in the US) for it's Favorite Places website. Microsoft Tag is being increasingly used by publishers & advertisers, among others, to act as a gateway from traditional media to an internet site or online media. The movie
Avatar used Microsoft Tag for their ad campaign to lead users to richer info online.
Picture courtesy: Microsoft
Microsoft Tag has some distinct advantages over QR Code (content paraphrased from
multiple sources) -
- MS Tag can handle long URLs and allow for content to be dynamically changed. The creator of the Tag can control to which web page a Tag can be directed to.
- Tags can be one quarter the size of other two dimensional barcodes thus preserving precious real-estate on printed materials
- Seamlessly works in Color or Black & White. Businesses can use their color logo.
- Designed to work with the limited capabilities of a typical camera phone.
- Enhanced Reed-Solomon error correction means Tags can still be read even if partially damaged.
- Optimized for both print and video display.
- On many phones can decode using a direct real-time camera video stream, you don’t even have to “click” to read the code.
- Tags are saved for later viewing and can be forwarded to someone else (no need to scan it again).
- MS Tag provides Analytics to publishers. The reporting data can help publishers tweak their campaign if required.
The
Microsoft Tag API allows developers to
programmatically access many of the same operations used on the Tag website.
