ScanLife 4.0, includes a couple cool new features to make barcode scanning a bit more fun for the holiday season.  One feature allows users to customize the scanner screen by selecting from themes like “Top Gun” and “Holiday Cheer”.  Just go to the Settings screen in the app to change it any time!

Current theme examples from our app:

Now we want YOU to design the next custom Scanner Theme and be seen by millions of ScanLife users around the globe!

So whether you’re a Photoshop expert or just have a knack for basic design, we want to see your ideas.   Make it fun, make it cool, make it colorful – whatever you want!  Just remember to leave some open space in the center of the screen so you can see what you’re scanning…

What do you get?

The winner will receive a $200 Gift Card and have their personal Scanner design embedded in the next release of the ScanLife app for iPhone and Android!

Rules to Enter

1. Create any kind a visual representation of your idea – can be a rough representation or a finished design, but we need more than text.
2. Upload your design to our Facebook wall – www.facebook.com/scanlife
3. Get as many Likes as you can which will influence the final judging

Entries will be taken until January 1st, 2012.

Now get creative and good luck!  If you don’t have the current ScanLife app, just go to www.getscanlife.com from your mobile device.

We’ve been working hard on some cool features to make your ScanLife app experience better than ever.  We’ve packaged it all up to give you ScanLife 4.0  right before the holiday shopping season to make it easier and more fun to scan QR Codes, UPC codes, and more.   It is now available for Android and iPhone as of today!

Here’s what you’ll find:

• View a Live Feed of products being scanned around the world in real time.  Click a product to view more info just like you scanned it.
• Ability to choose themed scanners such as a “Top Gun” or “Holiday Cheer”
• Delete individual items in History, or clear all (new for Android)
• Access to additional product reviews from retailers like Best Buy and price comparisons from Buy.com
• Access to nutritional facts and ingredients directly from brands like Coca-Cola, Kraft, and Pepsi (US only)
• Capability to share deals and products on Facebook and Twitter
• A completely redesigned user interface when reviewing product information
• Even faster scanning for UPC and QR Codes

Live Feed:

Product Results:

You can download the app from your stores, or even better just scan this code and we’ll send you to the right store using our OS Detection filter!

We’re thrilled to announce the release of the ScanLife Mobile Barcode Trend Report for Q3 2011. This edition marks the one year anniversary of the inaugural report, so we have  focused on how far mobile barcodes have come in the past 12 months.

One of the report’s highlights is the total number of scans processed by ScanLife to date. Through September, we’ve seen over 20 million scans, representing a 400% increase from 2010 during the same time period. This massive number shows just how explosive growth has been for mobile barcodes.

Other key takeaways from this report:

• 2D code activity continues to rise at an impressive rate, as 44,653 2D codes were generated from the ScanLife platform in Q3 of this year.

• Another demonstration of scan growth is around our single largest customer campaign.  A year ago the largest campaign saw 65,000 scans and in Q3 a customer completed a 6-week campaign that netted over 400,000 scans.
• The number of countries scanning in a single day also increased from 77 to 128, a 66% increase.

• Female scans increased by 13% and now represent over 40% of the ScanLife mobile app audience.
• Over the past year, the Grocery (food & drink) category jumped from 14% to 40% in all 1D products scanned.

A big thank you to everyone who made these numbers possible!

You can download the full report here.

If you’re like us, you’re always disappointed after you scan a QR code and receive a poor user experience. Either it links to a complicated PC formatted website, or it’s not providing additional value (i.e. simply a home page).  The content after the scan is really the most important piece to any successful QR Code project.

To make this easier, we have come up with the Custom Menu Code which is available right from the ScanLife platform with any of our Pro Accounts.

This new code action allows you to easily mobilize your brand – and your code in a matter of minutes.

• Upload your own image for a product or logo
• Choose up to 7 different code action options like a web link or a pre-filled email or just display some text for a coupon offer
• Easily connect users to your Facebook, Twitter & YouTube pages
• Choose from a couple background templates

Creating a Custom Menu Code is simple, just follow these steps:

1. Upload an image

2. Choose a background color

3. Enter headline & body text

4. Choose your menu items

Custom Menu Code Examples

Scan each code below to try it yourself!

To help celebrate “Mobile Marketing Week”, ScanLife is going to be giving away daily prizes starting today through September 9th.  All you need to do to enter is brush up on your mobile barcode knowledge.  “The QR Quest: Scan Your Way to Victory” Contest works this way:

1. Follow us on Twitter
2. Each day, a QR Code will be tweeted that links to a trivia question related to mobile barcodes
3. Just scan the code, and answer the question
4. If you are correct, tweet your conquest and you’re entered for the daily prize including gift cards from our favorite customers!

Need some help?  Here are a few key stats that might give you some hints:

- Scans come from over 125 different countries every day.

- 2D barcode scanning is currently outpacing the growth of 1D barcodes, a major shift from 2010

- Comscore found that more than 14M people scanned a code in the month of  June alone

- Over 45,000 2D barcodes were generated from the ScanLife platform in the 2nd quarter, a 300% increase from a year ago.

- Over 400,000 unique UPC codes, or products, were scanned by the ScanLife app in a single month.

You can also download the latest Mobile Barcode Trend Report here which has all the details.

Good luck, and happy Mobile Marketing Week….

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Here is some legal stuff for your enjoyment:

Eligibility: No purchase is necessary to enter the Contests. The Contests are open to all legal U.S. and Canada residents (other than residents of Quebec) 18 years of age and older at the start of the Entry Period (as defined below). Employees of Scanbuy, or those of its subsidiaries, advertising and production agencies, and other companies directly involved in the implementation and/or operation of the Contests, along with their immediate families and household members, are not eligible to participate in the Contests. All federal, state, provincial, and local laws and regulations apply. Void where prohibited or restricted, in any manner. By entering a Contest, entrants agree to be bound by these Contest Rules and the decisions of Scanbuy and/or its authorized agents. Use of automated devices is strictly prohibited. An entrant shall only be entitled to win one (1) prize per ninety (90) day period and no entrant shall be entitled to win more than one (1) prize (by entering multiple Contests) in any ninety (90) day period.

Agreement to Contest Rules: By entering a Contest, you indicate your full and unconditional agreement to, and acceptance of, (a) these Contest Rules and (b) Scanbuy’s decisions, which are final and binding. Winning a prize is contingent upon fulfilling all requirements set forth in these Contest Rules.

Contests Timeframe: All Contests will take place in conjunction with Mobile Marketing Week, which will take place September 5^th through September 9^th.

Entry Period: A Contest begins when @ScanLife posts a link via Twitter leading to a QR code that contains the official giveaway question (“Official Giveaway Question” can be accessed by scanning the QR code with a mobile device equipped with a camera phone and mobile barcode scanning application) and ends when @ScanLife and/or @Scanbuy receives an @ reply with the correct answer to the Official Giveaway Question (as determined by Scanbuy in its sole and absolute discretion) from an eligible participant (“Entry Period”). Scanbuy’s computer is the official time-keeping device for each Contest.

How To Enter: Follow @ScanLife on Twitter and submit an @ reply to @ScanLife via Twitter with the correct answer to the Official Giveaway Question posted by Sponsor during the Entry Period. Only one (1) entry per person per Contest. Any attempt by a person to submit more than one (1) entry by using multiple/different Twitter accounts, identities, registrations, or logins, or through any other methods, shall void all of such person’s entries and such person shall be disqualified from the applicable Contest. In the event of a dispute over the identity of an entrant, the entrant will be the registered owner of the Twitter account.

Selection of Winner: At the end of the Entry Period Scanbuy will enter all correct responses (as determined by Scanbuy in its sole and absolute discretion) to the Official Giveaway Question posted by Scanbuy into a pool of potential prize winners, and the winner will be selected randomly. The winner will be notified by Scanbuy via tweet and/or direct message within three (3) days after the applicable Entry Period ends and will be asked to provide his or her full name and shipping address. In order to receive a direct message from Scanbuy, you must (a) be following @ScanLife on Twitter and (b) have your account settings set to “unprotected” and/or “public.” The winner will have three (3) days to respond to the direct message with their name and shipping address. If a winner cannot be contacted or fails to confirm his or her eligibility and shipping address within three (3) days of notification, an alternate winner will be selected by Scanbuy. Selection of winners will be conducted by Scanbuy, whose decisions are final.

Prizes: Each winner of a particular Contest shall be entitled to receive one (1) of the following prizes (as determined by Sponsor in its sole and absolute discretion):

• Gift Cards from various Scanbuy customers

All prizes awarded are non-transferable and cannot be redeemed for cash or credit (in whole or in part). Any prize notification or prize returned as undeliverable will be forfeited and awarded to an alternate winner. By accepting a prize, each winner agrees to be responsible for all federal, state, provincial, local, or other applicable taxes associated with acceptance and use of the prize. Once a prize has been delivered to a winner, all liability for any loss or damage, including any property damage, personal injury, or death to the prize winner or any third party shall be the sole responsibility of the prize winner and the prize winner shall indemnify and hold harmless Scanbuy and its affiliates for any claims therefore.

Release of Liability: By participating in a Contest, you release Scanbuy and its subsidiaries, affiliates, partners, employees, directors, agents, advertising agencies, and others associated with the implementation and/or operation of such Contest, from and against any and all injury, loss, or damage caused or claimed to be caused by your participation in such Contest and/or the acceptance, awarding, receipt, use and/or misuse of any prize. Notwithstanding the foregoing, in the event that the preceding release is determined by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid or void for any reason, each entrant agrees that, by entering a Contest, (i) any and all disputes, claims, and causes of action arising out of or in connection with such Contest, or any prizes awarded, shall be resolved individually without resort to any form of class action; (ii) any claims, judgments, and awards shall be limited to actual out-of-pocket costs incurred, including costs associated with entering such Contest, but in no event attorney’s fees; and (iii) under no circumstances will any entrant be permitted to obtain any award for, and entrant hereby waives all rights to claim, punitive, incidental, or consequential damages and any and all rights to have damages multiplied or otherwise increased and any other damages, other than damages for actual out-of-pocket expenses. Each entrant acknowledges and agrees that the Contests are not endorsed or sponsored by Twitter in any manner whatsoever.

Privacy and Publicity: Any information you submit as part of a Contest will be used for purposes of such Contest and will be kept private. Except where prohibited, participation in a Contest constitutes an entrant’s consent to Scanbuy’s use of his/her name, likeness, voice, opinions, biographical information, and state of residence for Contest purposes in any media without further payment or consideration.

Disputes: Except where prohibited, you agree that any and all disputes, claims and causes of action arising out of, or connected with, a Contest or any prize awarded shall be resolved exclusively by the appropriate court located in New York, New York. All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation and enforceability of these Contest Rules, your rights and obligations, or the rights and obligations of Scanbuy in connection with a Contest, shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of the State of New York, without giving effect to any choice of law or conflict of law rules.

Taco Bell and MTV have teamed up to help promote this year’s MTV Video Music Awards with the help of ScanLife. The fast food chain has placed QR Codes on all of their “Big Box Remixed” packages and large cups. The codes deliver all kinds of VMA content to users including teasers, sneak peeks, artist interviews and performance footage.

Even better, the content changes on a weekly basis, so users can expect to receive a different experience for scanning throughout the six week campaign. The scan rates are already into the six-figure digits, and you can find out more about it from their website.  Don’t have an app?  You can even use our Scan and Send service by just snapping a photo of the QR Code and texting it to 43588.

They did a great job with explaining how it all works, so check it out, and head out to your nearest Taco Bell and join in on the fun!

We’ve just released our latest campaign examples from July. Like always, campaigns ranged from a variety of industries including Tourism, CPG and Retail. The summer has also become a popular time for sweepstakes, as we had codes linking users to contests from Hanes, JanSport, Tilly’s and more. And in perhaps the most bizarre code use we’ve ever seen, a man from Paris had an EZ code tattooed to his chest, becoming the first ever animated tattoo.

July’s Key Campaigns:

-          Frito Lay – Our Promise campaign

-          HP – Packaging promotion

-          SeaWorld – App Download promotion

-          Sharpie – Start Something Now campaign

-          Crystal Light – Flavor Over Fizz campaign

Every quarter we publish data showing the significant growth in mobile barcode scanning.  This edition is a little different as we are now sharing some hard numbers that really show what we see every day.  Information like how frequently consumers are actually doing this, what are they scanning, and how many marketers are really publishing codes.

For example, in the time you read this blog post, 60 unique scans were processed through the ScanLife system!  (Maybe some of you are speed readers, but we are now processing more than one scan per second and a year ago it was 10 per minute). 

That comes from both our app, other apps, our codes, and other codes.  Bottom line is that a lot of people are now scanning codes from all over the world.  In fact, we believe there are roughly 45 million people in North America alone that have a code scanning app on their device today.

Why is this happening?  People are buying Smartphones in droves, they need easy ways to get more information, tens of thousands of QR Codes are being published in the market, and millions of UPC codes are already on products.  Once you add all of this together, barcode scanning is taking off.

Some other key takeaways from this report:

- Scans come from over 125 different countries every day.

- 2D barcode scanning is currently outpacing the growth of 1D barcodes, a major shift from 2010.

- Over 45,000 2D barcodes were generated from the ScanLife platform in the 2nd quarter, a 300% increase from a year ago.

- Over 400,000 unique UPC codes, or products, were scanned by the ScanLife app in a single month.

- The number of females scanning increased 13%, and the 35-44 age-group increased 8% from the last quarter showing a continued trend toward the mainstream.

You can download the full report here.  We hope that this information provides a little insight as to what’s happening in the space, and keep scanning!

For the past few weeks, we have been Beta testing our latest code action, the OS Detection code.  This is our latest example of our Premium Codes, that use the analytics from mobile user traffic in real time to deliver dynamic and relevant content.  In this case, the code detects the OS (operating system) of the mobile device scanning the code, and redirects to content the code publishers choose to show. 

This works with both the ScanLife app, and any other standard QR Code reader.

Of course, the best application for this code, is to get a mobile application!  Many brands and publishers have apps for iPhone, Android, and maybe BlackBerry.  A single OS Detection code can be created for all of the leading operating systems, and there is even a default landing page in case you have an app for two of these, but not the others.

Here’s a video showing how the same code goes to different app stores based on the device – Android and iPhone:

Here’s a video that shows how easy it is to do this with a ScanLife Business account:

This takes minutes to set up, and you don’t have to bother with building any landing pages or investing in extra mobile detection systems. You just plug in the URLs, and you’re done!

Here’s a code to try it yourself:

ScanLife has just released it’s third edition of the Mobile Barcode Trend Report which looks at data and analysis from UPC and 2D barcode scanning aggregated across 30 countries around the world. This data includes scans from both the ScanLife app and other 3rd party apps.

Below is an infographic with some highlights from the report.  Download the complete PDF to see why people like Coca-Cola and George Bush!