1. SMART Join QR Codes for interactive joining (a membership recruitment opportunity
for The Royal British Legion using QR Codes)
A paper for discussion by Bob Rankin MSc DSEngM FADCI MWAA
Chairman, The National Memorial Arboretum National Branch
Introduction
Pick up just about any magazine these days and you’ll find advertisers and even editorial
staffs using QR (Quick Response) codes as a way to create greater online engagement with
products and stories.
Cross-Channel Marketing Enabler
Our Membership recruitment needs to invest in connecting with consumers through the
various touch-points that they encounter. This means having a cross-channel strategy that
will complement our advertising messages and engage potential members, volunteers
(including beneficiaries) in the longer-term. And QR codes are the cross-channel marketing
enabler. They allow brands to integrate their advertising messages in a consistent and
complementary way to optimise the customer experience and drive an effective outcome.
The possibilities are infinite not just for membership but volunteering and welfare, each with
the potential to create long-term membership/beneficiary relationships.
Mobile Marketing Space
Compared to the traditional linear barcode, QR codes (Matrix / Two Dimensional
Symbologies) can contain a greater volume and variety of data. The technology
was originally invented and used in the mid-nineties (I knew about them at Keele University*
while working on another two dimensional symbology in Automatic Identification & Data
Capture Research Group) as a way for the automotive industry to track parts during the
manufacturing process. As they have an open ISO standard and are easy to generate, QR
codes have recently become a popular tool in the mobile marketing space. To read a QR
code on your mobile handset, you may need to download a (free) QR reader from your app
store, which uses the camera in your mobile or smart phone to scan the code.
Ofcom Research SMART Phones
Over a quarter of adults (27 per cent) and almost half of teenagers (47 per cent) now own a
smartphone, according to Ofcom’s latest Communications Market Report [1}. Most (59 per
cent) have acquired their smartphone, which includes devices such as iPhones, Blackberrys
and Android phones, over the past year.
Generation gap
Despite this period of significant growth (2000-2011), the digital revolution continues to pass
some people by. While nine out of ten adults (90 per cent) aged 35-44 have the internet at
home, this falls to just a quarter (26 per cent) of over 75s.
SMART Join QR Codes for interactive recruiting – Bob Rankin 2012

2. And while virtually all (99 per cent) 25-34s own a mobile phone, only half (51 per cent) of
over 75s own a mobile, with this age group more likely to have a landline (94 per cent) than
16-24s (67 per cent).
SMART Join
SMART Join is an opportunity for engagement with a younger target markets (18-24 and 25-
44) using QR codes (encoded URL link) as an interactive method of instant access to our
corporate website’s online joining page. The National Memorial Arboretum Branch “SMART
Join” recruiting poster is an example being pioneered at the NMA along with the “Be A
Legion Member” incorporating the QR “SMART Join Scan Code” coded label.
How it works
The potential recruit uses their smart/mobile phone as a automatic data capture device. The
onboard camera scans the QR code and is instantly transported to the NMA online joining
page.
Recommendations
To take advantage of this potential market I would suggest that all future Royal British
Legion literature from the humblest business card, Legion Magazine to our Annual Report
has an interactive “SMART Join Scan Code” QR Code printed on it. Although the current
online joining page works we should design and develop a series of mobile online joining
landing pages to optimise our users experience.
Notes:
[1] Ofcom Report “ A national addicted to SMART Phones” 4 August 2011
*Background
Bob Rankin apart from being the founding Chairman of The National Memorial Arboretum is
a pioneer in Web Marketing and Web Market Research. During his 18 year career in the
Internet business has been award two International Web Design and Content Awards. He is
also a former Research Fellow from Keele University’s Automatic Identification & Data
Capture Research Group, where his discipline was Two Dimensional Symbologies and
Internet Security.
In 2007 he was awarded the Royal British Legion Midlands Region Certificate of
Appreciation for his work on the groundbreaking North Staffordshire’s County Web Site and
the Honour the Covenant Campaign.
SMART Join QR Codes for interactive recruiting – Bob Rankin 2012