How Branded Used QR Codes as Storytelling Tools

By Jason Boog 

On this encore edition of the Morning Media Menu, one filmmaker outlined his unique promotional efforts to introduce the world to Branded (the film is now streaming on Netflix).

We caught up with filmmaker Jamie Bradshaw to talk about building the campaign for his mind-bending movie. Bradshaw explained how he used San Diego Comic-Con, potato chips, QR codes and movie trailers to introduce readers to his first film. Here’s an excerpt from the interview:

We are actually getting a really great response [to QR codes]. A lot of people are feeling empowered to use them. We are using more of them than I think anybody has ever used before (that’s what they’re saying to us). There are a hundred QR codes embedded throughout the trailers and the poster for the film. And they are all live and take you to different subversive content that is all part of the labyrinthine universe of this story.

Bradshaw added:

It’s a mind-bending labyrinth (not unlike a nightmare) that the character goes through, and we want the audience to go through it too–in which every single thing in your world is turned upside down and you don’t know what to believe. We wanted the campaign to be emblematic of that journey that the movie offers the character and the audience. You use the QR codes to go through this labyrinth yourself.

Press play below to listen to the entire interview. Check out our QR Code Tools for Booksellers, Authors & Publishers post for more resources.

Here’s more about Branded , including the trailer (embedded below):

BRANDED is a dark and mind-bending journey into a surreal, dystopian society where corporate brands have unleashed a monstrous global conspiracy to get inside our minds and keep the population disillusioned, dependent and passive.