While film studios and entertainment brands are successfully leveraging mobile and social for real-time engagement, these marketers are not building effectively on the campaigns to create a solid mobile strategy.

Entertainment brands have been quick to jump on second-screen marketing experiences with companion applications and commerce-enabled mobile advertising, but are lacking in translating these experiences into a wider-reaching mobile strategy. With mobile expected to play a bigger role in how consumers shop this holiday season, savvy entertainment brands can significantly benefit from mobile to promote movie releases and television specials this year.

?Our entertainment brands are very strong at leveraging and creating social media buzz in real time, either leading up to a movie release or during the airing of a TV show,? said Douglas Rozen, chief innovation officer at MXM and senior vice president/general manager at MXM Mobile, New York.

?In fact, because of tight integration between mobile and social, we are able to determine, weeks in advance, the potential success of a movie based on social conversations mostly occurring via mobile,? he said.

?That said, we are working with clients on how to better use mobile as a marketing channel not just a content and engagement channel. In this regard, entertainment brands can learn from verticals like retail, CPG and travel/hospitality in their use of mobile marketing from ads and search to linking the digital world with physical environments.?

Social companion
As smartphones and tablets replace laptops as a research tool for consumers while watching television, entertainment brands are breaking through with compelling second-screen apps and content.

Take Twitter, for example.

HBO, MTV and NBC all have active Twitter accounts that the brands use to engage with consumers in real-time during TV shows.

To propel its monetization efforts, Twitter rolled out its Amplify ad program this year that lets brands serve a promoted real-time tweet to consumers that are watching a TV program and tweeting about it.

Viacom's MTV recently inked a deal with Twitter to use Amplify around its award shows and programs (see story).

Last week, Twitter expanded these advertising options with a new product called TV conversation targeting to make the program more readily available to marketers. 

While Amplify was more aimed at marketers looking to extend the reach of their TV spots, the new ad tool is available for any marketer to target consumers tweeting about TV shows.

In the entertainment industry, these new tools could be particularly effective for entertainment brands.

For instance, an entertainment brand sponsoring a TV show or sports game could leverage the tool to target consumers that are watching the show in real-time.

?These brands recognize the impact their mobile efforts can have when they are in someone's hands, one click away from the consumer's social platforms and the incremental amount of reach that exists if they can ignite an action,? said Brandon Stuart, creative director of Fanscape, Los Angeles.

NBC is also working with Comcast to test a new feature within Twitter's mobile app and site called "See it" that turns a mobile device into a remote control to drive tune-ins (see story).

The problem with these initiatives is that they tend to be one-off campaigns that have little impact after a TV show ends and the conversations on Twitter die down.

As mobile becomes less experimental for brands, entertainment companies that traditionally dial up end-of-year marketing spend should be investing in developing campaigns that push marketing into 2014.

Content-happy consumers
There is no doubt that consumers are moving towards smartphones and tablets to binge watch their favorite TV shows and movies.

Up until now though, companies including Netflix and HBO have dominated this space with subscription-based services that do not rely on advertising to monetize their efforts.

Additionally, Netflix and Amazon are making a big push into original content that give consumers an incentive to watch online-exclusive video to increase subscriptions.

With more consumers accessing content across multiple screens, broadcast networks and entertainment brands are under increasing pressure to offer more compelling second-screen and online streaming offerings.

?We've seen brands like Netflix swoop in and make entertainment content consumption seamless across platforms and void of advertising, so the pressure is now on the big brand networks to advance their offering to compete,? Mr. Stuart said.

However, there are a few interesting examples of how entertainment brands are using apps that dole out exclusive content.

For example, Universal Pictures used an app to promote its ?Despicable Me? franchise that translates conversations from the film?s minion characters.

Additionally, Paramount Pictures developed an app in January that used location-based features and audio recognition to let ?Star Trek? fans unlock special content (see story). 

Increasing mobile spend
Entertainment brands continue to lead as one of the top verticals leveraging mobile advertising.

In fact, entertainment brands are the third-largest vertical on Millennial Media?s platform. These brands also integrate mobile commerce into campaigns twice as much as other verticals to drive quick ticket sales (see story).

Despite the high mobile ad budgets, many entertainment brands are still running basic mobile campaigns that link to Fandango or another ticketing site to drive pre-sale tickets.

Take a recent campaign from DreamWorks Pictures to promote the film ?Delivery Man? that was released last week.

DreamWorks Pictures ran audio and expandable ads within the Pandora iPhone app to build up hype for the movie.

When consumers clicked on the ads, a landing page from Fandango pulled up show times and ticket prices at nearby theaters.

While the campaign was effective in building awareness and sales for films, the ad lacked compelling content to keep consumers engaged for a longer period of time.

In addition to deep-linking to ticket sales, Mollie Spilman, executive vice president of global sales and operations at Millennial Media, Baltimore, recommends that entertainment brands try adding character bios or mobile-specific content to campaigns.

?Many entertainment brands understand that pulling the consumer into the experience is the best way to drive engagement,? Ms. Spilman said.

?Unfortunately, we?re still seeing some brands put longer, made-for-TV trailers onto mobile,? she said. ?This is a total creative/device mismatch. Instead, brands should create shorter, mobile-specific trailers.?