The best thing since sliced bread - stickybits!

According to every marketing expert and well-respected news website, location-based technology is the hot new thing. By now most of you have heard of fourspuare, which speaking of I think just reached its tipping point. So, this is not about if fourquare is revolutionary or just a trend - there is enough criticism on that written way better than I could ever put it. This is about stickybits.

Today I read about stickybits on trencentral and was beside myself! What are these silly words you ask?! Stickybits is a company that allows you to use your cell phone (with a free iPhone or Android app) to scan a barcode and either obtain or attach some media-rich content to it (say a picture, video, or audio recording). You can either attach a “bit” of information to a barcode that already exists, or create your own barcode. Also, as the location moves about I believe you can also track where it is geographically.

This is about endless possibilities for marketers, brands and people. I feel that stickybits (and perhaps other similar products like Microsoft Tags) is going to revolutionize marketing, content sharing, and location-based tagging. What’s the benefit you ask? Richer content and a new and innovative way to satisfy a participatory culture.

If you need this explained a bit more tangibly, bury yourself in these examples…

1. You’re walking out of a concert and you get a flyer for a band you have never heard of. Typically you drop it on the floor right away because you just know you wouldn’t like them. But this time, there is a barcode on the flyer. You scan the barcode with you iPhone and get to watch a music video from the band on that flyer that has now created a new fan!

2. You’re at the grocery store thinking of buying some new product you have never purchased before (let’s go with udon noodles) but you have no idea what udon noodles are or how to cook and prepare them. No worries - just scan the bar code and watch a video of some famous chef teaching you how to cook them. Okay, you’ll buy them now!

3. You’re driving around apartment hunting in an unfamiliar area and see a for rent flyer so you stop and pick it up. The building is locked and the apartment manager is away so you grab a flyer but wish you could have seen the inside. Of course stickybits is the solution – you scan the bar code and see pictures of the inside of the apartment for rent!

4. How about a contest? You’re an avid Coke drinker on a mission to find the golden ticket. You scan the barcode on each Coke can you purchase until you find that you are the winner of an unlimited supply of Coca-Cola! Along the way you of course get to watch other hilarious videos about your fellow Coke drinkers.

I think you get the point now. A few issues come to mind… how will this impact controversial businesses and people (I can already imagine all the anti-McDonalds videos). This also might be an interesting medium for graffiti artists or anti-media peeps.