How to elevate the cumbersome QR code to one that enhances and adds value to customer experience is a conundrum that marketers have pondered since the birth of the smartphone.
But now there is a solution, Matty Beckerman, chief executive of technology company IRCODE, which made its debut at Cannes Lions festival, told Campaign technology editor Lucy Shelley during a recent panel.
“IRCODE – the name comes from ‘image retrieval code’ – turns any image into a searchable object,” he said. “The image itself is the code. So, you no longer have to have a QR code to be able to engage with something.”
An unsuccessful attempt to track down a pair of sunglasses he liked in the movie The Matrix inspired IRCODE CTO and German engineer, Philipp Holzschneider: “He decided to invent a way to watch a movie and take a picture of the screen and then find out all the information behind it,” Beckerman explained. “Many of the best ideas begin with The Matrix, that’s a brilliant starting point!”
And IRCODE's material shows the simplicity of the tech is what makes it have endless potential, not just in advertising but everyday engagement in industries like healthcare, real estate, supply chain and more. It's simple.
Any visual image or video can have a digital destination. With a click of the mobile camera the image immediately opens up to that specific and ownable destination. IRCODE in its early stages will be accessible through its app and web platform but has big plans to go native.
IRCODE – which any billboard, digital advertisement, real-life object, static video and live video can use – began as an idea to change the way people see and learn about the world by merging the digital and physical realms.
“We envisioned hero visuals unlocking rich consumer experiences like exclusive access to concert tickets or a special digital release of a product. But until now, there hasn't been a clear way to make notable and viral campaigns both measurable and immersive,” he continued.
“Recognising the gap in the market, we developed IRCODE to excite consumers while empowering advertisers, changing the value and opportunity of any image or real-world object.”
Its first outing was in the art world.
“We started with people using it as they walk through an art event at galleries and museums to get more information behind the artwork and other objects they see,” Beckerman said.
“We began thinking about how the (image retrieval code) is like a digital watermark for each image.
“So, we figured out scalability and developed a robust analytics suite that gave artists real time insights into everyone who engaged with their artwork… anywhere on the planet."
“And we saw how these all things apply directly to the advertising world.”
Analytics by design
A brand owner has a level of analytics – measurement and attribution – that was formerly unavailable to OOH and CTV ads: this technology tracks and reports real-time data based on actual engagement. You can tell directly from a piece of OOH content how many people have interacted with it and its effectiveness.
One of IRCODE’s advantages over the past attempts to do something similar using location-based and GPS co-ordinates, he added, is the ability of its patented technology to turn an image into a fingerprint then send information back and forth very quickly. Advertisers have full ownership of their images and digital footprints: they can change the destination in an instant and this automatically updates, making the image scannable everywhere it appears, in every possible channel.
This meets both marketers’ ever-increasing demand for solutions that offer immediate feedback and measurable results and, also, consumers’ expectations of experiences that are seamless, easy and fast to access.
“You see things in a couple of seconds, not 30. And it will get down to almost instant – the next iteration is live-scaling,” Beckerman continued. “We don't have to take a picture of the screen it actually just pulls everything up. That's how AI is benefiting us.”
Another advantage is the creative platform – and creative freedom – it offers brands.
“We have enabled the building Snapchat have here at Cannes Lions as a demo, so when people pass it and take a picture of it, it automatically opens the Snapchat app,” he pointed out. “We are a platform for brands to be creative on.”
Then there’s the creative opportunity it offers to not have to rely on using a QR code.
“I don't think any agency with a creative department likes putting QR codes on prints,” Beckerman continued. “It's clunky. And it gets in the way of what we really want when we want to get to the creative things.”
A significant leap forward in advertising technology, updating an outdated format and addressing a direct market need, IRCODE is catching marketers attention. “Think of us as Shazam for images,” Beckerman added. “But it’s also beyond that. Our technology is such that we can be native in the camera – and that’s our goal and that’s where we're heading.”
HOW IT WORKS
IRCODE uses advanced image recognition to enable any passive visual, image, object or media to be embedded with interactive digital information which is accessed by pointing a smartphone at the image – eliminating the need for a QR code.
By making the image the code, every visual touchpoint can become interactive – offering the potential for a whole new level of content engagement to transform interactions between brands, advertisers and consumers and visual content.
The advanced neural networks and proprietary image retrieval technology IRCODE uses identifies content instantly regardless of lighting, camera angle, or even partial obstruction and embeds interactive digital identities into images.
IRCODE also provides actionable analytics for measuring campaign performance with detailed engagement metrics, enhances transparency by verifying ad and product authenticity, and consolidates multiple ad functions into a single, user-friendly platform.
By allowing visuals to be programmed to unlock experiences, product drops, deals or create unique consumer access and discovery points, IRCODE promises to seamlessly drive consumers to new levels of interaction.
