I’ve got Stickybits

Posted by Mark in Reviews on Mar 19th, 2010 | no responses

l came across this product/service after reading an article in a newsletter – proof if it were needed that emails are still a valuable communication tool. It had the subject line “Why everyone is talking about Stickybits”, which you have to admit is enough to get you reading. Despite the mucky overtones of the name, Stickybits is a different kind of exciting – one that marketers will straight away see the potential of.

It requires a few components: a bar code, an iPhone or Android phone with the Stickybits free reader app, user generated content and the Stickybits website.

First you get your bar code. You can get randomly generated ones from the website over you’ve signed up for a free account. Alternatively you can buy bar code stickers made by Stickybits, although at the time of writing these are only available in the US (but you could probably order them on Amazon.com and get them shipped internationally). There’s another source that’s both surprising and exciting, but I’ll come back to that in a little while.

The bar codes you get from the website come as PNG files so you can include them in any creative you choose to use them on, from print brochures to t- shirts, magazine ads to coffee mugs, poster ads to … well that’s the whole point – you use them wherever and however YOU want. Stickybits have made no restrictions on how or where you use the bar codes. In fact they actually ask you to let them know if you do anything interesting with them, so the sky is the limit.

The stickers you can buy are just pre-printed versions of the bar codes. Generated uniquely and separately from those got from the website they allow you to add a bar code to anything that already exists – literally anything.

The next step is to scan the bar code with the app on your ‘phone. Once captured the app will check with the website as to whether its been registered, which it shouldn’t, and the chance to give the code “bits” of content: images, video or audio content, even add what they call a comment (essentially a free text entry in which you can write virtually anything you like, even adding URLs of the fancy takes you).

Once that content has been uploaded you effectively started a discussion thread on Stickybits around that bar code. As the first person to scan the bar code you’re also the moderator for the content thread, able to delete any bits that other users add.

The next person to scan the bar code can also add their own bits, enriching the content available, but they can also look at anything that’s been posted before. Add to that the fact that the app uses the geo-location data from the phone to record where and when the bar code was searched and you not only have a chain of content but you can see where the contributors come from.

Right now many of you are probably scratching your heads and thinking “so what?”, but there’ll be a bunch of you who all have figured out that here you have an opportunity to engage actively with an audience. You could put one bar code on multiple items in multiple locations, or one location that is experienced by multiple people, or even more and bending by, on something that charges location, even passes from person to person in a chain of ownership – anywhere.

You could be gathering feedback on a product, or disseminating information on a museum or gallery piece and getting comments back. In each case you’ll be able to finder out which Stickybits user said what about the bar coded item, when they said at and where. Truly the nirvana of any marketing or PR agency, right?

Now for the real bombshell-it works with bar codes that already exist.

Any product that has an existing bar code can be scanned and given “bits”. Brands are now posed an interesting problem-get in on the ground floor of this and they can take ownership of the “bits” that get added to their products. If they don’t someone else could, maybe a competitor.

You’re going to see land-grabs with this technology similar to the domain squatting of the dot com boom and Stickybits acknowledge that at the moment there’s nothing to stop it, either in their systems or their current business plan. That puts this firmly in the social content arena right now but you can bet your bottom dollar that, before long, you’ll find items in your shopping bag with supporting content, customer reviews, additional offers – who knows? And the data you’ll be able to gather on the scans gives marketers a whole new perspective on their audience. I can only begin to imagine how you might make content sensitive to time and location. Yet again the rules haven’t been written yet

I’m getting in on this on the ground floor with the rest of the geeks who are currently raving about this tool. To prove the point, here’s my bar code – why not get the app and scan it?

Like I said I’ve got Stickybits – how about you?

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Product Review

I’ve got Sticky bits-have you?

I don’t often come across products or services I rave about, especially ones that have only just launched, but here’s one that’s got me all of a buzz.

It requires a few components: a bar code, an iPhone or Android phone with the Stickybits free reader app, user generated content and the Stickybits website.

First you get your barcode. You can get randomly generated ones from the website over you’ve signed up for a free account. Alternatively you can buy barcode stickers made by Stickybits, although at the time of writing these are only available in the US (but you could probably order them on Amazon.com and get them shipped internationally). There’s another source that’s both surprising and exciting, but I’ll come back to that in a little while.

The barcodes you get from the website come as PNG files so you can include them in any creative you choose to

use them on, from print brochures to t- shirts, magazine ads to coffee mugs, poster ads to … well that’s the whole

point – you use them wherever and however YOU want. Stickybits have made no restrictions on how or where you

use the barcodes. In fact they actually ask you to let them know if you do anything interesting with them, so the sky is the limit.

The stickers you can buy are just pre-printed versions of the barcodes. Generated uniquely and separately from those got from the website they allow you to add a barcode to anything that already exists – literally anything.

The next step is to scan the barcode with the app on your ‘phone. Once captured the app will check with the website as to whether its been registered, which it shouldn’t, and the chance to give the code “bits” of content: images, video or audio content, even add what they call a comment (essentially a free text entry in which you can write virtually anything you like, even adding URLs of the fancy takes you). Once that content has been uploaded you effectively started a discussion thread on Stickybits around that barcode.

The next person to scan the barcode can also add their own bits, enriching the content available, but they can also look at anything that’s been posted before. Add to that the fact that the app uses the geo-location data from the phone to record where and when the barcode was searched and you not only have a chain of content but you can see where the contributors come from.

Right now many of you are probably scratching your heads and thinking “so what?”, but there’ll be a bunch of you who all have figured out that here you have an opportunity to engage actively with an audience. You could put one barcode on multiple items in multiple locations, or one location that is experienced by multiple people, or even more and bending by, on something that charges location, even passes from person to person in a chain of ownership – anywhere.

You could be gathering feedback on a product, or disseminating information on a museum or gallery piece and getting comments back. In each case you’ll be able to finder out which Stickybits user said what about the barcoded item, when they said at and where. Truly the nirvana of any marketing or PR agency, right?

Now for the real bombshell-it works with barcodes that already exist.

Any product that has an existing barcode can be scanned and given “bits”. Brands are now posed an interesting problem-get in on the ground floor of this and they can take ownership of the “bits” that get added to their products. If they don’t someone else could, maybe a competitor.

I’m getting in on this on the ground floor with the rest of the geeks who are currently raving about this tool.

Like I said I’ve got Stickybits – how about you?