I'm all for businesses using different and relevant ways to engage their audiences. However, if you are going to use markers for mobiles that need either 3G or Wifi to work, then I think you should also understand how people are using the media you've chosen to advertise in.
I snapped these two pics from the The Evening Standard last Friday. I could be generalising hugely here but I've always used instinct and myself as the joe average punter/benchmark as to whether something would work.
If you break down the use of The Evening Standard, there's very little opportunity for these two QR codes to be used and therefore a waste:
1. Evening Standard thrust in your hand as you enter the tube at night.
2. You sit on the tube and flick through the paper.
3. You reach your destination and dump it or stuff it into your bag to be dumped later.
Now, given that QR codes need a 3G or Wifi connection to fire up a mobile site, there's little point it being on the ad - in The Evening Standard, a rag which is predominantly read on the tube which is devoid of connection.
In my opinion, the use of a QR code to provide richer content has been lost. I'm sure these ads appear elsewhere where the QR code is more useable but the placement here is pointless as the use of the media hasn't been thought about.
