Bar Codes Now Appearing in Television Commericals

Bar codes have found a new home for themselves: television advertisements.

Now, anyone with a smartphone is able to scan these little black-and-white boxes from their TVs and pull up additional information on the product being advertised and receive immediate discount offers.

The current leader of this new trend is Bravo, whose audience is largely engaged in fashion and pop culture, making them the ideal participants for this new innovation. Online fashion retailer, Bluefly.com, broadcasts 45-second segments that feature interviews with fashion icons, celebrities and designers. When individuals point their cellphones at the bar codes featured on the commercials, they are promptly linked to the Bluefly.com website and offered a $30 off of $150 purchase discount.

“We see this as a great way to expand our audience in a measurable way,” said Bradford Matson, Bluefly’s chief marketing officer. “This is new for us, but we expect our page views to double.”

With more people using Smartphones, the trend of using bar codes in television advertisements is expected to quickly gain momentum and popularity. It allows consumers to shop from the comfort of their sofa without having to interrupt their TV programming.

Although Bluefly.com is the first national retailer to use the technology, other organizations have also dabbled in the use of TV bar codes. Weather.com briefly tested the technology to urge viewers to gain more access and knowledge on their local weather forecasts and HBO used the new advertisement tool to promote their upcoming season of True Blood.

I think that integrating bar codes into TV commercials is an incredibly smart move to increase promotion and publicity of an organization, product or brand. Although the technology is only in its infancy, Bluefly.com has already noticed an increase in their sales an average of 50 percent. Television bar codes allow for a wider audience to be reached and for users to easily access additional information.

As the technology continues to develop, I believe it will prove to be an incredibly beneficial tool for companies who wish to not only increase their sales but their awareness with the public as well. I am excited to see how this new form of advertising will be utilized by different corporations.

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