Lionsgate acquires 12,000+ engagements with Uniqode (formerly Beaconstac)

The search for a more robust and feature-rich QR Code solution

According to Mike Caballes, Lionsgate’s digital marketing consultant, QR Codes have been a staple content gateway for many of the entertainment giant’s promotional materials. Its marketing team would utilize the technology to amplify the interactivity of both traditional and digital advertisements:

“We utilize different advertisements such as social posts and panned-out traditional posters for our movie-related marketing campaigns. We add QR Codes on these collaterals for various campaign-specific reasons. Primarily, we want to promote audience interaction.”

But being the most successful mini-major studio in the US, Lionsgate leaves no stone unturned in its efforts to spark audience interest before every movie release. For Mike, an ever-evolving marketing landscape meant that the tools and technologies they were using for their campaigns had to keep up.

While QR Codes were integral to the team’s film promotions, it didn’t take long for Mike to realize that their QR Code solution lacked essential functionalities. Most notably, it didn’t allow limitless QR Code destination changes.

For Mike, this meant the difference between an adaptable campaign and one that’s passive and restricted:

“We printed a QR Code on a movie poster promoting a release six months ago. Ultimately, we decided to redirect that QR Code to another type of promotion. But since the QR Code lacked a dynamic aspect, we couldn’t do it. That spurred me to find a solution with dynamic capabilities so that we could continually update our target URLs. Once we print out a poster, we don’t want to re-print it again to accommodate for the URL change.”

Mike understood that working with a more robust QR Code solution is a must if the team were to leverage the technology’s full potential for creating versatile and trackable movie advertisements.

“I’ve tested many free and paid services out there to try out various QR Code functionalities. Eventually, I came across Uniqode’s dynamic QR Codes and signed up for a free trial. It worked flawlessly, and the platform interface was extremely user-friendly.”

Using Uniqode to improve film ad interactivity and outcomes

Before settling with Uniqode, Mike went on an active hunt for a QR Code platform that could provide the functionalities his team needed but couldn’t get from their current solution. The primary features he looked for was on-demand destination edits and robust location tracking capabilities.

Upon experimenting with various QR Code solutions, it was clear to Mike that Uniqode was the ideal choice:

“I’ve created accounts for the top three QR Code solutions that came up in my research. One of which was Uniqode. I found that the other two solutions weren’t as easy to use. I couldn’t test many dynamic QR Code functionalities on the other platforms. That’s one of the main reasons why I chose Uniqode, where we eventually found success.”

Uniqode met their demands for various dynamic QR Code functionalities, particularly the flexibility brought by unlimited destination edits and in-depth location tracking. In addition to acquiring these essentials, Mike was also able to extract more value from the platform than he originally intended.

Deploying versatile and customizable points of interaction

According to Mike, being able to update a QR Code dynamically was priority number one. The reason was simple. Distributing bulk-printed promotional materials is a film marketing necessity. Often, the success of these print-based promotions lies in the QR Codes that provide them with interactivity.

The kinds of marketing campaigns his team runs are prone to significant pivots. So Mike realized that the destinations embedded in the QR Codes shouldn’t be immutable—each QR Code must be versatile enough to allow modifications on demand.

“I wanted to utilize dynamic URLs for the QR Codes. That was the specific thing I was looking for. I wanted the ability for the QR Codes we deploy to change their destination, whether that’s a different giveaway, sweepstake, or any type of promo. We also didn’t want to print the same collaterals en masse twice.”

It only made sense for Mike and the team to switch to a QR Code solution that offers versatile and customizable touchpoints. And this ultimately prompted them to settle with Uniqode:

“I looked into a couple of case studies, recommendations, and reviews, and that’s how we settled with Uniqode. Once we started generating Uniqode’s dynamic URLs, it became one of the things that positively impacted our campaigns.”

Staying on top of paper-based ad performance

Lionsgate is a film studio that caters to a varied range of movie-going demographics. For Mike, it was essential to organize a sound ad-tracking process to confirm if each paper-based ad is indeed impacting the right audience.

Uniqode provided the fundamental tools they needed to set up a robust tracking system, allowing the team to stay on top of each traditional ad’s performance.

But apart from fundamental tracking functionalities, Mike noticed that Uniqode had the distinctive ability to hone in on exact geographical areas for monitoring engagement. This feature proved to be a significant plus when determining the success of any print-based promotion:

“Uniqode’s analytics allowed us to zoom in on any specific area to see the exact places people are scanning from. That’s what stood out for me. We had a movie called ‘Fall’ which targets a younger demographic. I was looking at who was scanning our QR Code for the initial trailer release, and I could easily deduce that it was middle and high schoolers, confirming that we’re on track with our target audience for this particular release.”

Uniqode provided the digital marketing team with a comprehensive geographical map displaying real-time QR Code interactions. This feature was a significant step up from the less intricate “list view” location tracking other solutions offer.

“Having general geographic tracking is great enough. But being able to actually zoom in to see the specific places people are scanning from will give you many insights into audience demographics. That was quite helpful. It’s how I deduced that we’re on the right track with our campaign for the movie Fall. I simply honed in on multiple metropolitan areas and saw that scans are coming from locations near schools, fast food joints, and parks, indicating that scanners actually belong to the demographics we are targeting for the movie.”

Leveraging a plethora of invaluable tools in a single intuitive dashboard

Apart from being able to provide each of the team's desired QR Code functionalities, Uniqode's usability as a platform and its branding capabilities quickly stood out and became a deciding factor.

The platform’s intuitive interface eliminated tedious learning curves, and the branding capabilities allowed the team to tailor the service to each of their promotional guidelines:

“Uniqode is a QR Code platform that is super easy to use. And it just works. The branding capabilities have also been brilliant for our company. Overall, the platform has a lot of features that digital marketers will find quite convenient.”

The platform’s digital business card creator was also a notable feature the team found highly beneficial. This functionality wasn’t initially on Mike’s wish list, but it nevertheless came with their current plan.

It immediately became a welcomed bonus that provided a ton of value for their organization’s networking activities:

“We’re also taking advantage of the digital business cards. Uniqode has quite a few fans here at Lionsgate for its digital business card solution. At my marketing group, we’ve offered them to people attending conferences or other shows where they meet people one-on-one. It’s just easier to pull out an Apple Wallet and have a QR Code right there.”

Mike also expressed his satisfaction with Uniqode’s 24/7 customer support, which made a significant contribution to the team’s overall user experience:

“If we ran into a problem, there’s always customer support, which has been really helpful. If I need to escalate something, I ask for an escalation, and someone will immediately help me out. It’s been a good roll and a positive overall experience.”

The outcome

Uniqode provided Mike and his team with the features they needed to improve their QR Code-enhanced movie marketing activities. These refinements brought 12,000+ engagements from 65 major cities nationwide.

The unlimited dynamic modifications meant the team could steer clear of needless reprints and repetitive QR Code generation. And the pinpoint location tracking allowed them to accurately assess if the engagements they were amassing were from the right demographic.

“The platform has performed great. Based on our ROI, it’s been terrific. It’s definitely one of the better purchases we’ve made since I’ve been here. It did what we needed it to do. As I’ve said, it just works!”

When asked about what aspect of his job keeps him up at night, Mike had this to say:

“Some aspects of my job keep me up at night, but those haven’t anything to do with our QR Code-related activities. Since working with Uniqode, I got everything I needed to do what I needed to do. So there really isn’t something I could say that keeps me up at night regarding QR Code use. I know we can create QR Codes anytime. It doesn’t matter if it’s 11:30 in the evening or if we’ll need it somewhere in the UK or another country. I could simply create one in minutes.”