QR Codes: sport and lingerie

QR codes are probably some of the most overrated marketing tools: until now, the lack of a real spread of QR reader has stopped this cool idea from actually....working.

They are useful as attention-getter, but the actual (economic) payback is yet to be verified (even if they've been used for years).

Still, every now and then, the QR codes are used in an interesting way - this means that they're not simple "links" to more informations, but are actually somehow "embedded" in a message, or particularly coherent with the environment.

A couple of examples:

Victoria's Secret: here the QR codes are used to "censor" the naked bodies of Victoria's Secret models, and the reader can actually provide the full image (even though the lingerie shows up!)

Betfair: the betting website had a deal with a duo of professional beach volleyball players, to have the QR code appear on their back - a mix of QR code advertising and ass-vertising, which might actually work due to the fact that during a sport event, people are already receptive and, probably. doing photos: the set up is definitely positive for a QR campaign in public events

Even with these creative ideas, the success of QR codes in the end will be linked more to the diffusion of the technology (I'm thinking about a default integration in the smartphones' camera) and of the internet access...from everywhere, for everybody. Will they survive untile then?