Sprint has rolled out an interactive on-screen cinema experience that encourages moviegoers to turn off their mobile device in exchange for a custom mobile phone dream.

More than 1,000 NCM Movie Theaters will show the experience on nearly 18,000 screens as part of Sprint?s courtesy-message sponsorship that asks moviegoers to turn off their phones prior to the start of a movie. Sprint worked with brand agency Digitas and ad agency Leo Burnett on the mobile initiative.

?Many have created on-screen cinema spots before, but no one has tied it to a phone experience,? said Kevin Drew Davis, executive vice president and executive creative director at Digitas, Boston.

?We?ve taken cinema from the silver screen to your mobile phone, all while activating a social community that can spread the word outside the theater,? he said.

How it works
During the user?s movie theater experience, Sprint?s 40-second public service announcement will direct users to text the keyword DREAM to the short code 60602 before putting their mobile phone to sleep.

When users turn their device back on after the movie, they will find a text asking them to opt-in via Facebook.

After opting-in, users are rewarded with a personalized 15-second video clip capturing what the device has been ?dreaming? while it was ?sleeping.?

The personalized dream is developed over a two-hour period and leverages Facebook activity ? photos and specified interests ? to create a dream relevant to each user?s phone.

Additionally, users can share the personalized dream with friends and followers via Facebook, Twitter and other social networks.

?Our mission was to create something that would take full advantage of the power and scale of a cinematic experience," said Michael Boychuk, senior vice president and executive creative director at Leo Burnett.

"We challenged ourselves to shoot Dream without any computer-generated graphics and instead used a full-size art installation,? he said. ?We wanted to make sure the film was captivating, so much that opting-in to the mobile experience was a no-brainer, and I think we accomplished that."

Word of mouth
The new initiative is part of Sprint's broader cinema advertising program.

Starting with the launch of ?The Avengers,? the Sprint cinema has been playing in thousands of movie theaters across the United States.

?The mobile device has become our primary connection point and premier social tool,? Mr. Boychuk said.

?Some say the future of mobile is social, others that the future of social is mobile,? he said. ?We think they're both right.?

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