Recently a record company out of Germany came up with a creative packaging solution for promotional vinyl LPs involving QR code marketing that they are calling “Back to Vinyl: the Office Turntable.”

Here’s how it works:  The actual mailer that the record arrives in folds out into a turntable with a QR code printed on it.  From there, the user downloads an app onto his/her smartphone and lines the phone up on the paper turntable, at which point a virtual needle hovers over the record.  They can then listen to the LP through their phone.  (It doesn’t actually play the record; the music plays digitally through the phone.)

The video below shows the office turntable in action:

At the end of the day, as with anything, it’s all in how you package and sell it. Kontor Records has done a great job of packaging this “record player” and the stats show it: 71 percent of the 900 mailings were activated!

Will this magic formula work for everyone? No, and frankly, I’m still of the belief that QR codes and QR code marketing are likely on their way out — at least for larger scale marketing efforts. HOWEVER, being creative and coming up with new, inventive promotional ideas is what the game is all about today. Kontor needed a way to break through to their target audience and, at least for now, they have found a way to do that.  Hats off to them for a job well done.