Paramount Pictures is giving mobile the lead role in its marketing efforts to help drive awareness for its latest film, ?The Guilt Trip.?

The company is running the campaign within the Fandango iPhone application. Over the past year, studios such as Paramount have made mobile its new star by incorporating the medium into its initiatives, and ultimately drive ticket sales.

"The Guilt Trip mobile ad campaign is solid and doesn't contain much for the agency that designed it to feel guilty about," said Simon Buckingham, CEO of Appitalism, New York.

"The campaign contains the usual movie mobile ad campaign options to buy tickets and view a trailer," he said.

Mr. Buckingham is not affiliated with Paramount. He commented based on his expertise on the subject.

Paramount did not respond to press inquiries.

Mobile ticketing
Paramount is running full page mobile ads that pop-up when consumers open their Fandango app.

The ads feature the characters of the film, as well as options to watch the movie trailer, buy tickets or simply skip the ad altogether.

Moreover, consumers can check out showtimes to see when the film is playing at their local theater, get cast information and browse reviews to see what critics, as well as other moviegoers have to say about the film.

Those that have seen the movie also have the option of rating it.

A mobile ad campaign such as this is a great way for Paramount to drive traffic to theaters, as well as get consumers hyped up about its latest movie.

It is important that studios such as Paramount incorporate mobile into their initiatives and have the medium be part of a multichannel campaign.

Over the years
Paramount has been investing heavily into mobile.

In March, Paramount drove sales for its ?A Thousand Words? film through an interactive mobile advertising campaign that let moviegoers buy tickets and learn more about the movie (see story).

In July, Paramount turned to mobile to drive awareness for its ?Katy Perry: Part of Me? movie and ultimately drive ticket sales (see story).

Most recently, Paramount built up hype for its film ?The Dictator? and let consumers buy a Blu-ray or DVD copy via their mobile device (see story).

"For this new campaign, I do think the 'Skip' option is a little unclear- if viewers received a new smartphone this holiday season and saw this option for the first time, they may not know what it means- they may think they can click to skip the line at the movie theater," Mr. Buckingham said.

"Clearer labeling such as Close This Ad' or 'Close Ad' would likely be more user friendly," he said.

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