Toys R Us is running the campaign within Pandora’s iPhone application. The mobile effort directs consumers to the company’s new optimized site where they can shop the latest toys.

“The mobile advertisements on Pandora are part of our overall holiday marketing campaign,” said Meghan Kennedy, a spokeswoman for Toys R Us.

Mobile shopping
The company is running expandable and audio ads with Pandora.

The mobile ads read “Why Shop Anywhere Else for Toys? Why? Learn More.”

When consumers tap on the mobile ad, they are redirected to the Toys R Us mobile site where they can browse ongoing promotions, check out featured products, view the company’s weekly add and start a wish-list.

Furthermore, consumers can find the nearest Toys R Us location, browse their shopping cart and use the search functionality on the top of the screen if they are looking for a specific product.

A mobile campaign such as this is not only a great way for Toys R Us to drive sales for its products, but the initiative is also timely, as the holiday season is right around the corner.

Consumers are constantly on their mobile devices and rely heavily on them now more than ever for their shopping essentials.

By running a mobile advertising campaign, Toys R Us is staying top-of-mind.

Toys for tots
Toys R Us is no stranger to mobile.

Earlier this year, Toys R Us used QR codes to promote more than 20 of its large outdoor items and is let consumers visualize how the product would work and look in their own backyards.

Since many of the outdoor items were too large to display in-store, Toys R Us used in-store signage that let consumers scan the QR code of a product in which they were interested (see story).

Most recently, Toys R Us redefined the way mobile consumers shop this holiday season with a multichannel campaign that incorporated redesigned mobile applications and optimized sites, as well as new QR code scanning capabilities (see story).

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