How I Lost a Bet on QR Codes

Mowingo is running a cool promotion at McDonald's: guests are invited to download Mowingo's application (available for Android and iOS), enjoy a free milkshake and get access to other cool deals.

As you can see in the picture above, we have large posters hanging on the walls at the Embarcadero McDonald's in San Francisco.

The poster invites guest to download the app either by typing a URL on their smartphones, or by scanning a QR code:

Unlike my co-founder, Ehud, I was skeptical about the effectiveness of QR codes.

Boy, was I wrong!

Here are the results for the first week:

• Download via URL: 41.3%
• Download by scanning QR code: 58.7%

We will see how things develop over the next few weeks, but I must admit I was wrong. QR codes do work!