New Belgium, Boston Beer Co. and a bunch of other breweries are dabbling in QR codes. On labels. On 6-packs carriers. On little tags around bottle necks. Point your mobile phone at a QR code and you may get access to a native mobile app, or more likely, a mobile-specific site, or even more likely, just the brewery’s regular website.
So here’s the question…do you find this techonology valuable?
Retailers have become extremely lazy when using QR codes. They seem to feel that they need them to be “cool”, but then they simply send you to their website. Show me something interesting, something new, something different. I hardly ever scan them anymore because they are nearly always a re-direct to the main website.
The only way I’d use these if the QR code would take me to the review page at one of the two big beer review sites.
Agree with RFBeerGuy, most are just redirects to the regular website (or maybe a mobile version). Give me specific info about the beer… hops, yeast, malt used… inspiration for the beer… how the label was designed… where the name for the beer came from… food suggestions… etc, etc, etc.
If a label QR code took you to Untappd’s mobile site to automatically check-in and rate the beer, I would use it… this seems like a no-brainer to me.
Here is another question. Is the internet useful to beer drinkers?
The correct answer is, “It can be… but it doesn’t automatically happen.”
Good point, Richard. The poll question itself is about whether people think to/care to scan at retail which, I’m assuming, is the goal for most breweries putting these on labels.
I get asked by folks a generation ahead of me to implement one of these silly things at least once a week. I’ll tell anyone who will listen, “there has to be a pay off.” A promotion, giveaway, prize, or something.” Otherwise, why wouldn’t you just bust out that very same smart phone and type in the URL??!!
1) beers often don’t have all of the info I’m looking for: IBUs, ABV, **BOTTLING DATE**, etc.
2) QR codes often have no useful information
I can imagine a solution.
@ Chris: YES!! Give me the born-on date and I will use the QR code every single time.
Alas, this is a pipe dream. Sadly, most breweries do not want to divulge this information for fear of lost sales.
@Dan, you are absolutely correct, if there is no functional payoff it is ludicrous. The Sam Adams one pictured above is horrendous. I scan, get delivered to their website, which is AGE-GATED (I’ll never understand this silly ploy that State & Federal officials make people jump through to LOOK at beer related stuff). So even if they are going to age-gate it, make it a functional mobile site with easy to use functionality. But moreover the payoff is just stupid. Really, essentially a PDF on the glass? I know Boston Beer has done videos on this glass and beer tasting, send people to the video for crying out loud.
@Jay and @Chris, I would not trust a QR Code system to deliver an accurate date of bottling. If the brewery can’t put it on the package I’d avoid that beer, especially if it is one that can’t stand up to the ravages of time.
I noticed while at a friend’s bar that a keg from Harpoon had a QR on it. I tried to scan it but it was so small (maybe 1 in x 1 in) that my phone wouldn’t pick it up. I’m not sure how all phones are but mine has problems picking up really small QRs. And really big ones just look awful. So they are kind of pointless to me.
I am a fan of qr codes but there seems to be a lot of them go to a standard website and not mobile friendly. I would like to see some beer info, contests or other interaction.
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