Retailer J.C. Penney is utilizing a great promotion for the holiday season 2011.  When you purchase a gift from J. C. Penney, you scan a QR Code and leave your voice message for the gift recipient.  When the recipient receives the gift, he scans the QR Code and hears your message!  Simple, but very effective and novel.

In fact, a very similar application was done by Advanced Telecom Services back in 1990.  Let’s say the grandkids sent flowers to Grandma.  The grandkids would record a message on a 900 number.  When Grandma received the flowers, she would call an 800 number to listen to the message from the grandkids.