Fred who works at Leo Burnett is an idiot

So i was just sent a link to this video

 

 

lol Fred's an idiot. Please understand I have no issues with tattoos and i have no issues with QR codes.

 

I DOOOOOO have an issue with using URL redirection where the customer doesnt control the first point of resolution.

So Fred is planning on offering his arm up to the first advertiser on ebay for 30 days...get publicity etc etc then after 30 days he's probably going to use the url redirection to send it to his facebook page and pickup girls in bars.
 
....and thats ok, its his body his choice.
 
Here is where Fred the idiot fails in a big way.
 

This QR code resolves to http://scanco.de/1iP

Which then resolves to http://leoburnett.es/fredsarm/disponible/ ...all good right...nope not really.

 

The issue here is that Fred is an idiot because he doesnt own the first point of resolution. It would be so easy for him to setup a domain http://www.fred.com/ and then setup a sub folder on that domain eg www.Fred.com/QRlink which then redirects to http://scanco.de/1iP 

Why would Fred go to the effort of spending $10 a year for his own domain http://www.fred.com/ simple.....

 

 

Currently http://scanco.de/ is owned by 

Name: Benjamin Turley

Address: 172 W 1000 N
PostalCode: 84663
City: Springville
CountryCode: US

 

and it is part of the Scan Inc company - http://scan.me/about/ 

 

Now i'm sure they are all very nice people...see they are studiously working hard in this photo

 

but lets face it 90% of startups fail, and whilst i'm sure that Scan Incs investors are all very nice people....at the end of the day companies are setup to make money....no money no honey.

 

• Shervin Pishevar 
• Ariel Poler
• Troy Carter
• David Krane
• Yuri Milner
• Jim Pallotta
• Saar Gur
• Javier Olivan
• Jonathan Treist
• Naval Ravikant
• Vikas Gupta
• Joe Greenstein
• Chris Redlitz
• Rachel Sheinbein

So where does this leave Fred?

Well basically Garrett found out about QR codes 3 years ago at Christmas in 2009 so hopefully he is still thinking about QR codes in 3 years from now in 2015 but if he isnt..... and the Scanco.de/Scan.me servers get turned off then Fred isn't going to have much luck picking up girls with his QR tattoo and he really should have spent the extra $10 for his own domain.

So what does it all mean.

Its simple, if you are a person/company that will be printing/publishing/tattooing a QR code that you want to last longer than a week....please please please DO NOT publish a QR code where you dont own the first point of resolution.

Set up a domain and then redirect the web calls from this domain on to the analytics/publisher/campaign manager.

This way should the analytics/publisher/campaign manager go out of business/jackup their prices/sleep with your girlfriend you can just redirect your server to another vendor.

I guess no one at Leo Burnett ever read my 60 Second QR-codes for Dummies page otherwise they would know this already.......

Dont worry i'm going to bid on Freds Ebay Auction (I'm currently the top bidder) so i can link it to this blog post and they know not to do it again for staff......or better still clients who are paying Leo Burnett good money for their advice.



Cheers,

Dean Collins
www.Cognation.net/QR