by Maryna Frolova, PR Specialist, Dell Storage — February 11, 2010
My name is Maryna Frolova and I’m the new PR Coordinator for Compellent. This is my first blog post for Compellent and you’ll start seeing more blog posts and tweets from me, so please check back often and give me your feedback here or by following me on Twitter @MarineroF. Before I joined the team, one of the things I liked about Compellent is its forward-thinking product and marketing. Today, I get to tell you about one of those innovative initiatives.
QR codes are a way for us to tell Compellent’s Fluid Data story to the highly mobile crowd. You’ll start seeing us use those in a number of different ways at trade shows and with our marketing materials, so we wanted to give you a quick overview of what they are and how we will use them in the coming weeks.
Now, back to the original question, what’s a QR code? A QR code is a matrix code that stands for “Quick Response” that was intended to quickly decode content using a QR code reader. The codes are starting to show up within ads in magazines, on billboards and clothes, with major brands like Nike and Ralph Lauren using them. Below is an example for you to test out.
When you see this special bar code, scan it with your smart phone. To make this work properly, you’ll need to download an app that enables it (we’re using get.beetagg.com). Once you do that, a video or Web site related to the original poster, brochure, handout or t-shirt that you scanned will pop up on your smart phone. In this case, a YouTube video should start playing. Go ahead, test it out. What do you think? It’s pretty cool, isn’t it?
Soon, we will have a dedicated QR mobile site that will pop up and play demos or other videos, much like this YouTube video did, and look like the screen shot you see on the left. This portal will allow you to share the video and get more information on the spot.
If you want to learn more about the use of QR codes, read this New York Times story about it. Keep an eye out for more Compellent QR codes and the mobile site coming your way soon.