We’re finally starting to see increased consumer and brand sentiment toward mobile barcodes, and especially Microsoft Tags for one reason or another. We’ve recently seen several large-scale deployments of Microsoft’s proprietary barcode technology, with high success rates all around.
New York-based fashion designer Rachel Roy is the latest to leverage mobile barcodes for enhanced mobile interactivity through her fashion line. The designer has printed Microsoft Tags on the tags attached to the pieces in her latest capsule collection for Macy’s. Shoppers can use the Microsoft Tag Reader app to scan the codes to pull up a short video in which model Jessica Stam discusses why she likes the piece and offers suggestions for styling it. A different video is attached to each item, with four videos in all. Stam collaborated with Rachel Roy on the collection.
Regarding her decision to use Microsoft Tags, Roy indicated she chose them over other offerings because of their flexibility and ease-of-use. “You can print them onto anything, even fabric, which is very exciting,” she says. “I also like how, unlike other 2D codes that are associated with a permanent URL, Microsoft Tags can be updated and reused with different content. Plus, since the Microsoft Tag works on all major phone platforms, many people are able to read the tag and see the video content.”
Microsoft has made huge headway with its barcode technology, spurred by several huge deployment like Allure Magazine. We reported just last month that Allure gave away $725,000 worth of beauty products via 39 embedded Microsoft Tags in its August issue — a campaign that netted 444,579 total scans. A few days later, Microsoft issued its own press release saying more than two billion tags have been printed since its inception in January of 2009.