Iron Man to market The Incredible Hulk

Was Universal expecting 'Iron Man' to be this big? I don't know. They probably didn't think they were getting the second prize by buying the 'The Incredible Hulk' distribution rights, while Paramount bought 'Iron Man.' But now Universal is using 'Iron Man' to sell 'The Incredible Hulk' to their audience. People who are currently calling MovieTickets.com for 'Iron Man' tickets are receiving a paid advertising message.

The computer will ask the caller, "Like Tony Stark? See more of him in 'Incredible Hulk' in theaters on June 13. Press 1 to get a text message reminder..." If they do, they will get a SMS the day before 'The Incredible Hulk' opens. "We've done audio ads for ticketing sites in the past. This was a really cool opportunity to contextually target and serve the ad to a really relevant, hyper-targeted audience, and have the ability to re-target them," Megan Crowell of advertising agency Ignited said.

Apptera, the company that implemented the message, said the campaign saw a 3% sign-up rate. "What the studio wants to do is get a big opening weekend, to have these time bombs, people carrying cell phones that start buzzing on opening day," they said. So there you have it. Hollywood's new way to target you, cell phones. Last month we saw a similar idea with the new Batman movie. Some people got a call about 'The Dark Knight,' with some questions about Harvey Dent.