The company is running the expandable mobile ads within Pandora’s iPhone application. Sony has used Pandora in the past to promote its new releases.

“Running mobile ads is important for any company or brand seeking to leverage the unique here-and-now revenue opportunities mobile offers,” said Wilson Kerr, vice president of business development and sales at Unbound Commerce, Boston.

“Since the audience can be laser-targeted by the song they are listening to, response rates can be both measured and improved, as the campaign plays out,” he said.

Mr. Kerr is not affiliated with Sony Pictures. He commented based on his expertise on the subject.

Sony Pictures did not respond to press inquiries.

Movie time
The Sony Pictures ad reads, “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Own it on Blu-ray & DVD. Tap to Buy Now. Sneak Peak.”

When consumers tap on the mobile ad, they are redirected to Amazon’s mobile site where they can order their copy of the film.

From there, users can also add the film to their wish list.

Consumers can buy the film through the mobile ad

Running a mobile ad such as this is a great way to reach consumers no matter where they are.

Users have their mobile devices on hand with them all the time and by running mobile ad campaigns that lets them quickly and easily buy a film is effective.

“The wisdom of this approach is that Sony can know what ads are working, in realtime, by revenue generation metrics,” Mr. Kerr said.

“By delivering mobile ads to an audience listening to songs that prequalify them to be interested in the movie, Sony is taking advantage of prequalification to accelerate sales,” he said. “The songs and bands on the movie’s soundtrack are a good place to start.”

Mobile efforts
Sony has been ramping up its mobile strategy over the last year.

Last year, Sony let consumers buy tickets and view showtimes for its “30 Minutes or Less” film via a mobile ad (see story).

Recently, the company used mobile ads to drive awareness for its new film “The Vow” and let movie enthusiasts buy tickets via their mobile device (see story).

Sony also drove sales for its “Bad Teacher” film via mobile ads and lets consumers pre-order their copy through iTunes (see story).

“Smart studios will use mobile to deliver messages that both inform and, more importantly, provide the opportunity to buy tickets, downloads or DVDs,” Mr. Kerr said.

“Campaigns paired with commerce-enabled mobile landing pages are a powerful new way to buy branding and revenue performance lift,” he said. “Again, the real upside of this conjoined approach is the ability to shape campaigns in real time, by moving ads in correlation with conversion rates.

“What ad on what song generated the most DVD pre-sales via mobile? Sony likely knows.”

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