Jazz Festival Deploys Outdoor Ads with QR Code Overlay in Paris

We were in Paris last month during the Saint-Germain-des-Pres Jazz Festival, and want to share with you one part of the advertising we saw for this 12-day event.

We saw outdoor ads promoting the festival on Rue De Rivoli, one of the most prominent commercial streets in Paris. This is a high-traffic density street, which is ideal for outdoor advertising.

The specific format used here was sidewalk posters, which makes mobile overlays viable, and the organizer leveraged this with QR codes on the posters.  See photo we took of the outdoor ad above.  QR code is on lower right corner of poster.

One of the things we are always interested in with outdoor/mobile executions is what the mobile payoff is i.e. what does one get for scanning, texting, or tapping so we scanned the QR code here. We were taken to a screen providing a free mobile app for the event, which we found beneficial.

Today’s mobile technologies (QR, SMS & NFC) enable a robust set of payoffs. Choose one that will benefit your audience. You want someone who takes the time to engage with your ad to feel it was worth their time i.e. a web site link may not be the best payoff.

Mobile overlays can drive engagement and incremental ROI, but poor payoffs can kill it!

Posted on June 25, 2014