Universal Pictures is promoting its new ?The Five-Year Engagement? film through a series of mobile ads that feature the movie?s trailer and branded radio station.

The company is running the mobile ads within Pandora?s iPhone application. Universal Pictures has used mobile advertising in the past to help strengthen awareness and increase engagement for its upcoming films.

"Universal was very clever in hooking in the ability to launch a mix tape of the movie soundtrack, this action could bump up the clicks to the ad, also allowing the ad to click-through to watch a video is a great use of mobile ad space within Pandora, and increases the percentage of users that will share this video through social media," said Marci Troutman, CEO of SiteMinis, Atlanta.

Ms. Troutman is not affiliated with Universal Pictures. She commented based on her expertise on the subject.

Universal Pictures did not respond to press inquiries.

Mobile engagement
The expandable mobile ads not only promote the new film, which stars Jason Segal and Emily Blunt, but also lets users view a video.

In addition to the mobile ads, Universal Pictures has also rolled out its own branded radio station for the film that further lets consumers engage with the company.

By running mobile ads, Universal is able to reach its target demographic while they are on the go.

Although there is no commerce element to the campaign, it would have been effective if the mobile ads also led consumers to Fandango or Moviefone?s mobile sites where consumers could order tickets.

All about the movies
Universal Pictures has been using mobile for a while now.

Last year the company used Microsoft Tag technology to promote its ?Bridesmaids? film.

The promotional campaign will featured Tags on full-page ads for the film that will ran in Cosmopolitan, InStyle, People StyleWatch and Us Weekly (see story).

Earlier this year, Universal Pictures teamed up with Fandango during Super Bowl XLVI to engage football fans with an interactive TV ad that also promoted Fandango?s popular mobile ticketing applications.

Universal Pictures ran a trailer spot for its upcoming summer action-adventure film ?Battleship.? The end of the spot featured a tag directing viewers to Fandango?s mobile apps, as well as its Web site http://www.fandango.com/battleship (see story).

Most recently, Universal Pictures partnered with HSN to create a multichannel shopping experience that promotes the upcoming ?Snow White and the Huntsman? film and lets consumers buy looks inspired from the movie across all devices (see story).

By using mobile, Universal is able to not only promote its new release, but reach consumers on a variety of channels.

"Engagement with mobile ads on a site like Pandora, or a news site is a great way to boost traffic to social in turn setting the stage for a viral effect within social media," Ms. Troutman said.  

"Viral effects from mobile to social media have the potential of exposure that a super bowl ad would have," she said. 

Final Take
Rimma Kats is associate editor on Mobile Marketer, New York