Everything you need to know about StoryCodes

Yes — but not a conventional one. StoryCodes generates distinctive, scannable images built around an encoded URL. It combines QR code functionality with campaign creative and connects every StoryCode to an Experience Platform developed for advertising.

Yes. StoryCodes is a QR code generator created specifically for advertising. StoryCodes can be integrated into billboards, connected TV Pause Ads, print campaigns, packaging, posters and other campaign creative without introducing a conventional black-and-white QR square.

A QR code generator for advertising should offer more than visual customisation. Marketers should consider scannability, viewing distance, placement, dynamic destinations, contextual experiences, campaign management and measurement. StoryCodes brings these capabilities together in one platform.

Yes. A StoryCode performs the same fundamental function: people scan it with their smartphone to open a digital destination. The difference is that the code becomes part of the campaign artwork and is supported by a platform for managing and measuring what happens after the scan.

Yes. StoryCodes use a dynamic redirection layer, allowing marketers to update the destination or experience without changing the StoryCode itself. The printed or published creative can remain unchanged while the experience behind it evolves.

Yes. You can redirect an existing StoryCode to a different landing page, product, offer or experience without reprinting or republishing the creative. This makes it possible to reuse a StoryCode across different phases of a campaign — or across entirely new campaigns.

Yes. A StoryCode can appear across connected TV, (D)OOH, print, packaging and other campaign surfaces. When detailed comparison between channels, creatives or placements is required, the campaign can also be configured so that the StoryCode used on each surface is slightly different — encoding a different URL per surface — so their performance can be measured separately.

StoryCodes developed its own tool. This uses multiple AI models, specialised generation methods and dozens of parameters to transform an encoded URL into campaign-ready artwork. The generation process balances visual freedom with the structure required for reliable scanning.

A Pause Ad is a connected TV format shown when a viewer pauses the content themselves. Because the viewer chose to stop, the ad stays on screen as long as they want and their phone is already in reach — which makes it one of the few TV moments where scanning is genuinely easy. StoryCodes turns that paused frame into a scan and a measurable action.

Yes. Billboards, bus shelters, digital street panels, transit and station media all work. Because the destination lives on the Experience Platform, a digital out-of-home campaign can change what a scan opens by time of day, weather or location while the panel keeps running.

It can. Use one StoryCode across OOH, a magazine ad, packaging and a Pause Ad for a single shared experience and a combined view of engagement. If each channel needs something different, we create visually similar StoryCodes that each encode a different URL — consistent creative, channel-level analytics.

Yes. The experience after a scan can be aligned with the audience a campaign is targeting. Target sports fans during a tournament and lead them to athlete content; target travel intenders the following week and lead the same code to destination content. The targeting, the ad and the post-scan experience stay aligned while the StoryCode itself is unchanged.

Every scan is captured with its time, location, channel or source and device, then reported by campaign, experience and placement. With GA4 integration and campaign tracking, scan traffic can be connected to what happens on your website afterwards — engagement and conversions — so offline placements contribute to your attribution.

Yes, at any time. That is the point of routing the code through the Experience Platform: the printed artwork stays exactly as it is while the destination, the rules and the content behind it can all be updated.

Scan measurement is designed to work without requiring personal data. Where an experience does collect personal data — a coupon that asks for an email address, for example — that collection is consented, purpose-limited and covered by our data processing terms. Contact us and we will walk your privacy team through the specifics.

Quishing is phishing carried out through a QR code. A malicious code may direct someone to a fraudulent website that imitates a trusted brand, asks for credentials or payment information, or attempts to install harmful software. Malicious codes can be distributed digitally or placed as stickers over legitimate codes in physical locations.

No QR format can completely prevent phishing. StoryCodes can, however, reduce the risk of certain physical quishing attacks. Because the code is integrated into distinctive campaign imagery, covering it with an ordinary QR sticker is more likely to disrupt the design and attract attention. Audiences can also verify the destination domain shown by their phone before opening it.

A fraudulent black-and-white QR code can look almost identical to a legitimate one, especially when placed over another white QR square. StoryCodes are visually connected to the surrounding campaign creative, so an overlay is more likely to appear inconsistent, misaligned or visibly added afterwards.

Our proprietary tool that creates StoryCodes is not available to the general public, so creating a StoryCode that looks like the original on a poster, a billboard or a physical surface is very difficult compared with just using a free QR code generator and making a black-and-white QR code.

Brands should combine distinctive creative with regular placement inspections, secure HTTPS destinations, restricted platform access, clear ownership of destination domains and a documented response process. Adding the expected domain beside the call to action can give audiences another way to verify the scan.

When a StoryCode is routed through the Experience Platform, its destination can be changed or disabled without reprinting the physical creative. This can help a brand respond quickly to a compromised or incorrect destination. It does not help if an attacker has physically covered the StoryCode with an entirely different code, which is why placement inspection remains important.