The company is running the campaign within Pandora’s iPhone application. The company has relied on mobile advertising in the past to drive traffic to see its latest releases.

“Universal promoting the film Les Miserables on Pandora allows them to reach the music lover demographic which would be interested in tickets,” said Marci Troutman, CEO of SiteMinis, Atlanta.

Ms. Troutman is not affiliated with Universal Pictures. She commented based on her expertise on the subject.

Universal Pictures did not respond to press inquiries.

Mobile ticketing
Universal is running full page, expandable and mobile video ads to entice consumers to buy tickets for the film.

When consumers tap on the mobile ads, they get a series of messages such as “Les Misérables. Love,” “Les Misérables. Dream,” “Les Misérables. Hope.”

Then, users are taken to a mobile landing page where they can buy tickets for the film, read about what the film is about, view videos, browse the gallery and check out extras.

Moreover, consumers are invited to download the book via Apple’s iBookstore.

Universal has also added new components into its ad campaign – something they have not done before.

In the new initiatives, consumers can sign-up for alerts and email notifications to say up-to-date on the film.

Furthermore, Universal has added social media components to encourage consumers to “Like” the film on Facebook, as well as follow the movie on Twitter.

Movie madness
Mobile has played a big role for Universal over the past year.

In November, the company used a mobile ad campaign to drive ticket sales and get fans excited for its “The Man with the Iron Fists” film

Universal Pictures used social media, video and content as part of its campaign to connect with consumers (see story).

Most recently, Universal built up hype for its “This is 40” film with a campaign that mixed in commerce, social media, SMS and video to target movie buffs (see story).

“Having a click to purchase tickets for the holidays directly on the banner gives a clear call to action with a specific time to purchase in order to push sales, also giving an option to set up an alert for a reminder – this campaign is very well done, timely and clearly well positioned,” Ms. Troutman said.

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