Don’t look now, but a mobile ad networking company is involved in a promotion for DreamWorks Pictures’ “Eagle Eye,” which hits theaters today.
Millennial Media was tapped to help design a unique mobile ad and promotional campaign tied to the film. Eerily, the campaign even uses the voice of an actress in the film to send voice messages to opted-in participants.
The “Eagle Eye Mobile Challenge” began Sept. 8 and continues through this Sunday. It represents Paramount Pictures’ most extensive mobile marketing initiative to date and the largest ever for a fall theatrical release, according to a press release.
Naturally, the Mobile Challenge was designed to build buzz about the film and get people to go to the theater. It mimics concepts from the film, so participants feel like they’re part of a plot similar to the film. Scenes are embedded in mobile banner ads across the mobile Web, explained Eric Eller, senior vice president of products and marketing at Millennial.
After consumers click on a banner, they’re taken to a mobile landing page where they can opt in and enter a sweepstakes for a chance to win a $1,000 gift card from Circuit City. As part of this process, they receive “a mysterious call” on their mobile device that mirrors the strange phone calls received by the protagonists of the film. The voice, in combination with subsequent SMS messages, directs consumers through the mobile interactive experience and allows them to interact with their friends at the same time.
Opted-in users will get one final call today encouraging them to go see the film, Eller said. Millennial Media is collecting data during the promotion and will report the results back to Paramount. Eller said he wasn’t at liberty to share any stats, but “it’s doing very, very well.”
For his part, Eller said he didn’t get to see the film beforehand; Millennial was told just enough to give them the idea for using the woman’s voice from the film and develop other components of the mobile campaign. But he plans on seeing the movie this weekend.
The movie is a suspense thriller, directed by D.J. Caruso, and executive-produced by Steven Spielberg. It stars Shia LaBeouf, Michelle Monaghan, Rosario Dawson, Michael Chiklis, Anthony Mackie and Billy Bob Thornton.
Here’s a description of the movie, based on a press release: Two strangers, Jerry Shaw (LaBeouf) and Rachel Holloman (Monaghan), are thrown together by a mysterious phone call from a woman they have never met. Threatening their lives and family, the strange caller pushes Jerry and Rachel into a series of increasingly dangerous situations by using the technology of everyday life to track and control their every move. As the situation escalates, these two ordinary people become the country’s most wanted fugitives and must work together to discover what is really happening and why.
