Neustar, the common short code registry for the United States, is working on building a central registry for the global mobile bar codes ecosystem.

In this Q&A, Matthew Valleskey, senior marketing manager for mobile services at Neustar, Sterling, VA, discusses the potential and benefits of the mobile bar code. Mobile Marketer and Mobile Commerce Daily’s Mickey Alam Khan interviewed. The interview:

What’s the promise of bar codes for mobile?
To make access to relevant services through the mobile device frictionless. Bar codes will allow consumers access to rich, relevant content, quickly through the scan of a bar code.

What do bar codes offer that other mobile media don’t?
A simpler and more convenient user experience, and the optimal blend between ubiquity and personalization.

You do not have to open your mobile browser, type in a URL or search for content you want. With just a click of your camera you are taken to the content you want almost instantly.

Are bar codes an opportunity just for retailers or beyond that market segment?
Bar codes are an opportunity for almost any consumer and business sector, wanting provide content or information. Retailing and marketing are the tip of the iceberg.

So how would bar codes work on mobile?
One can use the camera in a mobile phone to scan codes that exist out in the wild.

Inversely, one can present codes on the mobile screen that can be scanned by specialized scanning devices.

These codes could be coupons, tickets or any other number of retail or marketing media.

Marketers complain about the complexity in this area. Is that really the case?
Complaints about complexity are surmountable with the appropriate ecosystem and business model.

Neustar is at the forefront in building a system that is interoperable, and provides a central registry for a global bar code ecosystem.

What is Neustar doing with bar codes?
Neustar is gathering like-minded participants to enable diverse platforms to interoperate. The result is a ubiquitous solution that crosses boundaries, technologies, and functions.

Which marketers do you think are incorporating bar codes in a manner worth following?
Some remarkable work has been done in print media, motion pictures, retail, and financial services. I think companies like Target, JCPenney and Papa John’s all have used bar codes with success.

Any best-practice tips for marketers and retailers seeking to incorporate bar codes into their marketing mix?
First, use bar codes to extend the reach of your existing mobile assets.

Second, think of codes as a connector between dead and live media.

Third, think of codes as I enabling experiences rather than the experience itself.

Finally, use your imagination. The list of potential use cases is endless.

What challenge does the bar code address?
It reduces friction in the mobile data space, and allows easy one-click access to relevant content, quickly.