
Jeez, just when you thought the
CueCat -- that USB device for scanning barcodes in print ads -- was dead, dismembered, burned, buried and wiped from history, it's making a comeback. According to
Silicon Alley Insider, Google has introduced bar codes embedded in newspaper ads. Apparently, obedient readers will scan these bar codes with cell phones and unleash three benefits:
"First, it saves the reader the trouble of typing in a Web address into
their phone -- an annoying process for the majority of wireless
subscribers that don't have phones with QWERTY keypads. Second, it can
take the reader to a very specific page, based on an individual ad --
like a coupon or a map to the advertiser's store. And third, it ties
into Google's analytics tools, so advertisers can get a very specific
sense of which ads work and which don't, when people are viewing them,
where they're standing (GPS), etc."
I don't know about you, but this seems to be heavily weighted toward benefiting Google and their advertising customers (not that there's anything wrong with this, of course), and less toward the geek who scans a bar code for a six-pack of beer, then realizes that he can't print the damn thing from his cell phone.
Bottom line: This is yet another of those ideas that starts with advertiser needs, and then looks at what people might actually do. Seems kind of backwards, right? Right.
Technorati Tags: cuecat, google, barcode, scan, advertising, newspaper