Computer processing power isn’t exactly the most widely understood concept to most people, but Intel is hoping to simplify it with a new in-store media strategy to educate consumers about its products.

Targeting university-bound students shopping for new computers, the technology company recently debuted its ‘Mobile PC Buying Guide’ in Best Buys across Canada. The Intel campaign – which is in-store only – is being promoted through in-store posters advertising the mobile URL and on the information tags that accompany PCs on shelves.

The tags include a QR code, that when scanned, launches a welcome screen that tells users what they’re looking at and its key features, and whether or not the features listed are appropriate for the consumer’s intended use. If it’s a yes, the mobile site tells them to see a sales associate to inquire about purchase. If no, it launches the Mobile PC Buying Guide, which first asks them how they will be using their computer the most and based on that answer, it will recommend processors and computers that will best fit their needs.

The goal is to simplify the computer buying experience from the point of view of performance comparison, says Monica Kwias, senior account director at Markham, ON.-based Brandfire Marketing Group, Intel’s AOR which developed the campaign. The digital strategy was developed by Toronto-based Crucial Interactive.

‘So, as opposed to looking at 20 laptops and trying to figure out which ones they should take a closer look at, we help them focus their research in store and…help them figure out what processor they need,’ she tells MiC.

The campaign marks the first time that Intel has used QR codes as a media strategy. With over 1,000 people using the QR code access to the Buying Guide in its first week, Brandfire is already considering it a success and Kwias says the US marketing team is interested in possibly bringing it stateside once the final results are in.