Lacoste QR Campaign
By @edent
· badvertising flash lacoste mobile QR Codes · 300 words · read ~1,395 times.
Nick Burcher has done a great job detailing Lacoste's new QR code campaign.
Being the curmudgeon that I am, I want to point out a couple of rather glaring flaws in its execution.
Contrast
See if you can scan in the code on this image. The image links to Nick's site if you want the full resolution version. 
I tried several different phones and scanners and wasn't able to get the code to scan. This is because QR codes are designed to be black and white. As I've explained before, most QR readers will assume light colours are white and treat them as a background image. This means that many reader just won't be able to scan the code.
I've made the contrast much higher which has resulted in a more readable code. 
Content
The next troubling flaw is the content present on the site. It appears to be a flash game of Pong.
While I'm no fan of the iPhone, excluding it from your campaign doesn't seem like a smart move.
Trying to capture your visitors' details is a great idea - but doing it on a tiny flash screen is a usability disaster.
Lessons Learned
- Test your QR code on as many scanners as possible. Especially if you're doing something "interesting" with it.
- Test your site on as many phones as possible. Watch people interact with the site and see what changes you should make before setting it live.
- Reduce the data in your QR code. Lacoste are using "http://www.lacostechampionship.com/" - they could save themselves ~40 bytes to make a smaller, more readable code by using "http://lacostechampionship.com"
