Calvin Klein incorporated QR codes on select billboards throughout New York and Los Angeles as part of an advertising campaign promoting the brand?s jeans.

Billboards at Houston and Lafayette Street and West 20th Street and 10th Avenue in New York, and one in Los Angeles at Sunset Boulevard and Havenhurst Drive, displayed a Calvin Klein QR code that gave device users access to a mobile video featuring model Lara Stone with male models A.J. Sid Ellisdon, Grayson Vaughan and Eric Anderson. Ace Group created the QR code aspect of the campaign.

?It was very successful and you will see QR codes continue to be integrated into our upcoming campaigns,? said Jennifer Crawford, vice president of corporate communications at Calvin Klein, New York.

Calls to Ace Group were not returned in time for press.  

Skinny jeans
The Calvin Klein advertising campaign was centered around the company?s latest introduction, Calvin Klein Jeans X.

Both the billboard and the mobile video emphasized that the jeans are engineered to enhance and maximize aesthetics in a sultry way, with a lean and slim silhouette.

Mobile bar codes served as a means of connecting consumers to the campaign?s video, which was created by consulting creative director Fabien Baron of Baron & Baron.

Here is the video ad:
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The brands' Fall 2010 global print and outdoor advertising campaign was photographed by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, also working in conjunction with Baron & Baron and CRK.

?Mobile bar codes are becoming a necessary element for brands to integrate into their cross-media initiatives whether out of home, online, television or print,? said Laura Marriott, board member at NeoMedia and former president of the Mobile Marketing Association. 

?Mobile bar codes, whether QR or Datamatrix, allow a brand to energize their traditional or digital media buys,? she said. ?For example, by embedding a mobile bar code on a billboard, they are able to activate the advertisement and engage the consumer on the go.?

NeoMedia was not involved in the Calvin Klein campaign. Ms. Marriott commented on the campaign as a third-party source.

Ms. Marriott said that analytics based on the consumer scan of a code could include time of day and location.

QR codes can help brands such as Calvin Klein make better purchase decisions around their advertising and ensure optimal use and communication of message. Although in their infancy, the potential for brands to leverage mobile bar codes in all of their initiatives is enormous.

Calvin?s code
The QR code included in Calvin Klein?s billboard allowed consumers to scan at street level to view the exclusive :40 spot on their mobile device.

Once the video played, viewers could share the QR code with friends on Facebook and Twitter.

The use of a special QR code to access this exclusive Calvin Klein Jeans video is another way for the brand to deliver engaging content to consumers in an interactive way.

Advantages of QR codes
One of the biggest advantages of QR codes is brand activation. 

QR codes activate traditional and digital media by providing an opportunity for the consumer to engage directly with the brand at time of viewing.

The ease of consumer experience is another advantage. 

By leveraging mobile bar codes, consumers are simply able to scan the code and immediately be directed to their desired information, application, call center, coupon or video without having to enter long URLs or phone numbers from their mobile device.

In the case of Calvin Klein, the QR codes were a means of optimizing advertising real estate. 

By embedding a mobile bar code on the billboards, Calvin Klein was able to include more information in a single visual code than it would if it had to include the product information. 

?The analytics which are available to the brand through the bar code campaign will also enable them to measure statistics around the consumer?s interaction with the product or advertisement,? Ms. Marriott said.

Final Take
Giselle Tsirulnik, senior editor, Mobile Marketer