Not only do I love the series...I love the promotion! To promote the premiere of HBO's Boardwalk Empire, the cable network and BLT & Associates took a simple form of promotion and amped it up a notch. Using standard bus shelter promotions they employed QR codes to turn it into a more interactive and fun piece of multimedia. QR codes are a great way of generating curiosity and excitement.
The billboards were shaped like a large whiskey bottle. The QR code was embedded in the bottle and when read by a cellphone, offered directions and a password for users to gain entry to a secret speakeasy event where the first drink was free.
Although QR codes are not new, they are not always used successfully. Either people are not sure as to how to gain access to the correct reader on their cellphone, or just simply don't know how to use it. Hopefully, we will see more interaction with QR codes popping up in promotions. I would be curious to know what kind of results the promotions was able to generate.
