Critique Wall.com

Pingmag.jp has another great post, this time about advertising in Japanese Train stations. “Top 10 ad-tricks in Tokyo's train stations” is an interesting overview of some creative advertising techniques that are used in one of the busiest train stations in the world.

I was really interested in the “take away” ads. That is something that we don't see that much in western advertising but I think it has a neat element to it. First it leaves something to be discovered. “What is underneath all those pieces?” The first one of these that I heard about was also in Tokyo for the release of the new iPod nano. I'm sure the expense of an ad like this is huge as you are constantly having to restock the ad, but it gives the user something fun to take home.

Another thing that was briefly touched on is the use of QR, or Quick Response codes in Japan. These are little bar code type things that you take a picture with your mobile phone and it will do something, like call a phone number, text message something to you, return a map of where you are, or pull up a website on your phone. They are quite popular in Japan and have yet to make an appearance in the states in any force. There are several companies that are trying to do something like that in the states, but again, it just hasn't gotten the push behind it that it has over in Japan yet. I have recently started playing with these technologies at work as we begin to develop our mobile strategy and how we will move ourselves into that area. I have been thinking, reading and learning a lot about the mobile web this year and this is something that is really beginning to pick up steam in the USA.