Our mobile phones play an increasingly important part of our daily lives. Barcode scanning’s popularity has been growing as the use of smartphones increased but it has not yet taken off in South Africa. The video below takes a look at more uses for 2D barcode scanning.

In their March edition Esquire Magazine had barcodes next to each product featured in the magazine.

Image courtesy of ScanLife.com

When readers scanned the barcode a menu opened on their phone and they could choose to either buy the product or to get more information on the product. In addition, the menu also featured an option to ‘Subscribe to Esquire.’

Charities are using barcodes to encourage people to donate to their causes. ScanLife is a partner for the ‘Be The One’ campaign that aims to restore America’s Gulf Coast. ScanLife provided ‘Be The One’ with a 2D barcode that they have been using on their promotional material and t-shirts. When you scan the barcode you are taken to a .mobi site where you can sign the petition to save the Coast or you can watch videos from celebrities who are involved with the cause.

The possibilities of barcode scanning in mobile marketing are endless. Retailers can use barcode scanning to provide shoppers with more information on a specific product or restaurants can use it as part of their promotional strategy by ‘hiding’ mobile coupons in the 2D barcodes.

Based on the book ‘The Accidental Billionaires’ by Ben Mezrich The Social Network will start showing in South Africa later this month. The movie tells the story of the founding of Facebook and has done extremely well during its opening weekend.

Will you go see the movie?