Cracking the QR Codes

What are QR (quick response) codes?

You've probably noticed the sudden proliferation of QR (quick response) codes--those squiggly square bar-code-ish symbols that, when scanned by a smartphone, links the user to a specific webpage. I've seen them on store signage, giant outdoor banners, e-mail signatures, even Facebook profile pics. And yes, on magazine covers and ads, too. See Esquire's cover here:

Why magazines use QR codes for marketing
QR codes offer yet another marketing technique and a way to track response rates. For publishers, this means you can launch new promotions of your own or offer your advertisers another tracking mechanism for their print campaigns. A common application for advertisers is to use a QR code to link potential customers to a coupon to try their product. Or, a QR code can take existing customers to additional resources for a product for added value. Basically, QR codes can be a great way of interacting with readers from the printed page to the online world.

Share your QR code experience!

Have any of you tried a QR code? (I know that some of you have, so don't play shy here!) Share with us what your promotion was/is and what kind of response it received. Or are you a scanner of these codes? What moves you to scan one? I was keen to scan a code for a restaurant I wanted to try. Too bad my phone is circa 1982...

More information on QR codesFor more info about how QR codes can work with magazines, have a boo at Martin Seto's Masthead Gadget blog article. (And no, despite his rumour-spreading, he's neither my dad nor my husband. Ha!)

--- Colleen Seto
AMPA Blogger-in-Residence

What Every [Magazine] Intern Needs to Know

An excerpt from an interesting post by Corrina vanGerwen on the Masthead blog

"Interns, pay close attention, as this one is for you:

I recently had a lively conversation with several senior-level magaziners about interns.

Yes, interns, you are noticed, and your editor is going to talk about you with his friends (aka other editors).

 What you want him to say about you is how amazing you are, that you are a godsend, that you do your job exceptionally well. If you are a good intern, your editor will do everything he can to help you along in your career.

What you don't want, is to have your editor speaking badly about you, because we do name names.

 To help all you interns out there start off on the right foot in the biz, here are some Dos and Don'ts:

DO say yes to every job, unless illegal or dangerous. This is not a pick-and-choose situation. Do what you are asked of, and with a smile. A good attitude will get you very far."

Read the full Do's and Don'ts, and share your insight, at

www.mastheadonline.com/blogs/?blogId=571&year=2011&month=January

Alberta Magazines Conference re-cap on Masthead

The Alberta Magazines Conference welcomed over 200 industry professionals last week at the largest conference of its kind in western Canada....read more at Masthead:

http://www.mastheadonline.com/news/2010/20100316909.shtml