Free Movie Tickets? Where?!?

Sprint sure is doing some interesting things to promote the new Palm Pre. First there were the series of commercials for Sprint's Now Network ("the first wireless 4G network"); I first saw these spots in May at my local movie theater.

The Now Network commercials were paired with home page takeovers on sites like Yahoo, YouTube, and AOL.

Next came the "Flow" commercials for the Palm Pre itself; these commercials have been deemed "creepy" by my new favorite mobile marketing blogger, Steve Smith.

Then there is the Palm Pre website which reflects the setting of the "Flow" commercial, and which invites visitors to, among other things, "Experience the Pre ad campaign" (italics mine).

Additionally, when a person turns on the Palm Pre for the first time, they see another beautifully done video in the same earthy, "flowy" feel as the television ads.

And now Sprint has launched the "r8 it" campaign, which gives participating movie-goers in a chance to win a year's supply of free movie tickets when they rate the movies they see. Viewers can rate the movies and view poll results on the National CineMedia website NCM.com, or, better yet, via the mobile "r8 it" app.

Sprint is also partnering with ScreenVision to install interactive kiosks in 500 movie theaters across the nation. Sprint subscribers can use the kiosks to download mobile coupons for the concession stand.

So, is this intense marketing effort working?

Well, for one thing, Media Intelligencer reports that the award-winning integrated campaign was successful in sparking early interest in the Pre. According to comScore, search terms related to the Pre doubled to 216,000 during the week of the YouTube takeover campaign. That number dropped after the release of the iPhone 3G S, but rebounded in the two weeks after the Pre was released.

Another clue is the Apple iTunes 8.2.1 update, which prevents non-Apple smartphones from synchronizing with iTunes. The Palm Pre's much-anticipated ability to sync with iTunes lasted for little more than one month before Apple blocked it. Is Apple nervous about the new iPhone competitor? Or just annoyed?

It will be interesting to see how the Palm Pre fares in the smartphone market. If it succeeds as a viable iPhone rival, perhaps Sprint's extensive campaign(s) will have had something to do with it.