The Real Mary Kings Close tourist attraction in Edinburgh has become one of the first attractions in Scotland to use QR codes on its promotional literature. The QR code links to a TV ad for the attraction, highlighting what it offers visitors.

“We’re continually reviewing our marketing strategies, and by putting a QR code on our promotional leaflets we feel we are engaging with potential visitors even further,” says Lisa Robshaw, marketing manager at The Real Mary King’s Close. “The way we communicate with potential visitors is changing, and is a further extension of the highly successful social media strategy for engagement we currently operate. We’re proud to be one of the first visitor attractions in Scotland to put a QR code on our promotional leaflet, which is also set to be included in our airport arrivals halls adverts and on the underside of taxi tip seats.”

The attraction has worked closely on the initiative with QR Scotland, a QR code marketing agency based in Scotland. Marc Hindley, from the agency, says that working with The Real Mary King’s Close was a great opportunity to show that new technologies aren’t just for young, hi-tech companies.

“QR codes are a brilliant way of mixing media by harnessing the mobile devices that most of us carry around with us, wherever we are,” says Hindley. “The attraction saw the opportunity in their print, taxi and airport advertising to connect to their mobile audience in one of the UK’s biggest tourist hubs. While QR codes are still very much an emerging technology, they have grown massively as a marketing tool since the beginning of this year.”