Most lists of QR code advertising examples repeat results nobody can trace, and a few get the famous ones wrong. This list sticks to seven campaigns with a published source. For each one you'll see what the ad did, where the scan led, the result and who claimed it (or a plain "no results were published"), and what you can copy.
The examples are grouped by channel: TV, billboards and transit, in-store screens, packaging, and print. The last section covers how to run and measure your own QR code ad.
QR codes in TV ads
A code on a TV screen has to stay up long enough for someone to find their phone and point it. Both of these ads solved that the same way: the code was the whole ad.
Coinbase: a bouncing QR code (Super Bowl LVI, 2022)
Coinbase's Super Bowl spot showed nothing but a QR code drifting around a black screen, like an old DVD screensaver. Scanning it opened Coinbase's site, where new users could claim $15 in free bitcoin and existing users could enter a $3 million sweepstakes.
Result: according to Coinbase's CMO, Kate Rouch, more than 20 million people tried to access Coinbase within a minute, over six times its previous peak traffic (Decrypt). "The volume we experienced was astounding in comparison to our projections," she said, and some people couldn't get onto the site at all. The ad, produced by Accenture Interactive, went on to win the Super Clio for best Super Bowl commercial.
You'll often see this written up as "20 million scans". That isn't what Coinbase reported: 20 million people trying to reach a site is traffic, not a scan count. The spot also ranked last on USA Today's Ad Meter, per Adweek, which is a useful reminder that "liked" and "acted on" are different measures.
The lesson: the code can be the creative. Plan for the destination's capacity too, not just the code.
Burger King: the "QR Whopper" (US, April 2020)
Burger King ran TV spots with a QR code floating around the screen. Scanning it opened a coupon for a free Whopper with any purchase made through the BK App, capped at 10,000 Whoppers and ending April 30, 2020 (Marketing Dive). It landed during lockdown, when restaurants were pushing app ordering hard.
Result: no results were published.
The lesson: the offer was worth putting down the remote for, and the scan led to the action Burger King wanted (an order in its app), not a homepage.
QR codes on billboards and in transit
Outdoor is the channel with the most pushback from inside the industry. Billboard Insider, an outdoor-advertising trade site, has run reader opinion against QR codes on roadside billboards because of driver distraction, and a separate piece on where they do make sense, which favors places people walk or wait, such as transit. That's trade opinion, not a regulation. It does match the subway and Times Square examples below, where people were on foot.
If your board faces a highway, skip the code and use a short web address people can remember instead.
Tesco Homeplus: a virtual store in a Seoul subway (2011)
Homeplus, Tesco's chain in South Korea, covered subway platform walls in Seoul with displays printed to look like supermarket shelves. Commuters scanned the product codes to fill an online cart while waiting for the train, and the shopping was delivered to their home. The agency was Cheil Worldwide, and the campaign won the Media Grand Prix at Cannes Lions 2011 (Phys.org).
Result: Phys.org reported that online sales rose 130% after Homeplus covered a single station, and that the three-month campaign lifted registered members 76%. Neither figure is attributed beyond the company itself, and the Cannes Lions archive entry shows no results, so treat them as the brand's own numbers.
The lesson: put the code where people wait with their phones already out, and make the scan be the purchase.
Shake Shack: a citywide truffle hunt (New York, April 2023)
Shake Shack ran ads on 500 digital billboards across Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. Scanning one opened a page where you "dig" for prizes: a $2,000 grand prize (the value of a pound of white truffles) and promo codes for its White Truffle menu, running through April 16 (Marketing Dive). Grand Visual handled creative and Talon the media.
Result: no results were published.
The lesson: a game plus a short window gives people a reason to scan now rather than "later", which usually means never.
L'Oréal Professionnel: an AR billboard over Sephora Times Square (2023)
On October 30, 2023, L'Oréal Professionnel put a digital billboard above the Sephora in Times Square. Scanning the code triggered an augmented reality effect of its Metal Detox hair oil pouring out of the ad and over the square, and pointed people to a free sample at Sephora. The billboard ran until November 13, and the codes stayed live on social media until the end of November (Glossy).
Result: no figures were published, but Glossy reported that the initial supply of a few hundred samples was already running out.
The lesson: tie the scan to a physical next step a few steps away.
QR codes on in-store screens
Chick-fil-A: app downloads from digital signage (2019)
Chick-fil-A showed a QR code on its in-restaurant digital signage that linked to its app. Result: app downloads rose 14%, according to an analysis by UPshow, the signage vendor behind the campaign (Marketing Dive). No baseline or time period was published, so treat it as a vendor's figure rather than an audited one.
The same article reports a UPshow pilot at Blackrock Bar & Grill over Mother's Day weekend, where a scannable coupon shown on the restaurant's TVs had a 27% redemption rate. Same caveat: it's the vendor's number.
The lesson: a seated audience with time to kill, and a single clear action.
QR codes on product packaging
Heinz: what happens when the campaign ends (Germany, 2015)
This is the example nobody puts in a highlights reel. Heinz ketchup bottles in Germany carried a QR code for a promotion that ran from 2012 to 2014, where you could design a personalized label. After the campaign ended, the promotion's domain expired and was bought by an adult website. In 2015 a customer scanned his bottle, landed there, and told Heinz on Facebook. Heinz apologized ("We very much regret the incident") and sent him the personalized bottle he'd been after (The Drum).
The lesson: packaging sits in pantries for years, so the code has to outlive the
campaign. A code with the campaign address baked in can't be fixed once it's printed
(see do QR codes expire?). A dynamic code can: when the
promotion ends, you repoint it to an evergreen page. On Crafty QR the redirect is a
302 sent with Cache-Control: no-store, so a new destination applies on the next
scan. And keep renewing the domain anyway.
Where packaging is heading
GS1 US's Sunrise 2027 initiative is moving US retail from 1D UPC barcodes to 2D barcodes "like QR codes", so checkout systems can read them. GS1 asks brands to update existing QR codes to the GS1 Digital Link standard with their product's GTIN, and UPCs stay on pack during the transition. The likely result is one code on the box that works for both the checkout and the shopper.
QR codes in print ads and direct mail
Print has the clearest growth numbers. MRI-Simmons found that the number of print ads with QR codes rose nearly 550% in 2021 compared with 2019, from an analysis of more than 85,000 magazine ads (MRI-Simmons).
For mail, USPS runs an annual Integrated Technology Promotion, a postage promotion for mailpieces that use technologies such as QR codes. Check the current guidebook on PostalPro for the discount and dates before you plan around it.
Be wary of the response-rate stats that circulate for QR codes in mail. The most-repeated one traces back to a 2012 study of magazine codes, not mail.
What the best QR code advertising examples have in common
Put the seven side by side and the same few things keep showing up:
- A reason to scan now. A free Whopper, a truffle dig with a deadline, a sample downstairs, $15 in bitcoin. A bare code with no offer asks people to do you a favor.
- A code big enough, on show long enough. Coinbase and Burger King made the code the ad, so nobody had to hunt for it.
- A placement with a free hand and a spare moment. A subway platform, a restaurant table, a street corner in Times Square. Not a highway.
- A destination that can take the load. Coinbase's site struggled under the traffic it asked for.
- A plan for after the campaign. Heinz shows what happens without one.
A short call to action under the code helps too ("Scan for a free sample"), because it tells people what they get before they scan. On Crafty QR, a frame with your own label text is a Pro styling option.
How to run and measure your own QR code ad
Here's how the campaigns above translate into settings. For the full walkthrough, see QR code analytics and scan tracking.
- One dynamic code per placement. Give the bus shelter, the flyer and the shop window their own code so you can compare them. If you're unsure of the difference, read static vs dynamic QR codes. The Free plan includes 1 dynamic code, Pro and Pro+ have unlimited, and Pro+ can bulk-create up to 500 codes per batch (URL and other single-value types, namely text, phone, SMS, email, WhatsApp and FaceTime).
- Put UTM tags in the destination URL. Our short link redirects to the destination you saved, and anything tacked onto the short link itself isn't passed on, so the tags have to live in the destination.
- Expect scans and visits to differ. Our scan counter ignores link previews, prefetches and known bots, and collapses rapid repeat hits from the same connection. So your scan count and your Google Analytics sessions won't match, for the same reason Coinbase's "tried to access" number isn't a scan count.
- Repoint when the campaign ends; don't delete. You can change a QR code after printing and the new destination applies on the next scan. Deactivating shows a "This QR code is no longer active" page, which beats a dead domain but is worse than an evergreen page.
- For offers, consider a landing page. A Pro+ QR code landing page can carry a coupon block with tap-to-copy and a lead form.
- Check your capacity and history. Redirects keep working past the monthly scan cap (1,000 tracked scans on Free, 20,000 on Pro, 100,000 on Pro+); only tracking pauses. City-level detail stops after 1,000 lifetime scans per code, while country and device totals stay accurate. Analytics history is 7 days on Free, 120 on Pro and 365 on Pro+, so check that before a long campaign. You can compare plans on the pricing page.
Quick answers
Do QR codes work in advertising?
They work when there's a clear reason to scan and an easy moment to do it. The free Whopper, the truffle hunt and the subway store all gave people both. A code dropped on an ad with no offer and no context usually gets ignored.
Should you put a QR code on a billboard?
On pedestrian and transit placements, yes. On roadside boards, the outdoor industry's own trade press warns about driver distraction, and a short web address is the safer choice.
Did 20 million people scan the Coinbase QR code?
No. Coinbase's CMO said more than 20 million people tried to access the site within a minute. That's attempted site traffic, not a scan count.
How do you track a QR code ad?
Use a separate dynamic code for each placement and put UTM tags in each destination URL. The analytics guide covers the setup.
What happens to the QR code after the campaign ends?
If it's static, it points wherever the printed address points, forever, which is what caught out Heinz. If it's dynamic, you repoint it to a page that will last.
To build one code per placement, start with the dynamic QR code generator or go straight to the URL QR code generator, then flip the dynamic toggle when you save.