The Oklahoma State college football team is slapping QR codes on the back of player helmets.  That could be an Onion article or meme fodder and yet it’s proof, life is stranger than fiction.

The head coach is eccentric and eclectic and likely more than a bit frustrated by the new world order in college football that has players getting paid.  I won’t burden the non-fan with all the details but college athletes couldn’t collect corporate sponsorship dollars while in school for fear of losing their scholarship and amateur athlete status.  That barn door is now open.

The QR code is 1.5 square inches and not scannable from the stands but, in theory, is from your couch.  Scanning lands you on a general fund page for dollars that will flow to the athletes.  These are not unique codes so one can’t “designate” money to the guy who just made a great play.  Though one can imagine that being the intent, desire or expectation of the fan.

The team is describing this as innovative and revolutionary.

Doing something first is not synonymous with innovative.  Have you seen a NASCAR driver lately?  They’re human billboards with more logos than a shopping mall directory.

And QR codes?  I know they’re experiencing a rebirth, hell YouTube is introducing them as is Instagram in the form of profile cards.

But real  innovation is novel and by extension, should be hard to replicate.  This is gimmicky and fueled not by a desire to create a greater fan/player/team connection but by desperation to fill the newly created coffers whose size will only grow.

It may “work” because it’s gimmicky. But it’s also equally, ephemeral.  It’ll also get borrowed in the copy cat race to the bottom and the burst of dollars that came in will recede like the tide.  But unlike the tide, it wont’ come back and like ash trays on airplanes, the orphaned QR code will be there for a few years beyond its functional life.

I’m not suggesting you ignore QR codes.  We are exploring ways to make them work but know it has to satisfy some underlying need or goal.  Slapping it on the OE or reply form is a football helmet moment – quick, easy, and ultimately forgettable.

Kevin