Broadway musical “Wicked” is turning to targeted, commerce-enabled mobile banner advertisements to increase ticket sales.

The banner ads let consumers buy tickets and interact with the Broadway production via games, music and videos. The Wicked banner ads are running in HopStop’s iPhone app.

Since we know exactly where our users are coming from and going to, HopStop is able to offer advertisers highly unique geo-targeting capabilities,” said Joe Meyer, president/CEO of HopStop, New York.

“Like many mainstream Broadway shows, Wicked was interested in targeting tourists, which is why we geo-targeted their ad to Times Square and to many other tourist destinations around New York City,” he said.

Mobile music
Consumers can buy tickets to Wicked via the app to any of the musical’s productions in the United States, Britain, Holland, Japan and Singapore.

The HopStop ad features a click-to-call function to order tickets individually or purchase group tickets.

Consumers can also buy tickets directly from the app via Ticketmaster’s mobile-optimized Web site.

“Every potential customer is different in the way they prefer to purchase products, services, and in this case, tickets,” Mr. Meyer said.

“Offering multiple engagement options increases the likelihood that a customer will follow through with their purchase,” he said.

“Any extra steps to complete an order will make it less likely that a customer will complete their order.”

The mobile ads show additional information about the production, including directions to the theater and show availability.

Here is a screen shot of the landing page of the mobile ad

In addition to purchasing tickets, consumers can learn more about Wicked via the ads.

Users can read a short paragraph describing the plot and view a trailer for the musical via the production’s YouTube channel.

Additionally, users can stream and purchase the soundtrack.

Consumers can also play a trivia game to learn more about the history of the play.

The ads also link to the production’s social media platforms, including Facebook and Twitter.

Target sales
By using a user’s location, HopStop is able to serve relevant ads to consumers.

For example, the Wicked ad only popped up after entering Times Square as the destination, which is where the theater is.

By providing more than just purchasing information, consumers get to interact with the ad more and research the play before deciding to buy tickets.

Wicked is not the only Broadway musical running targeted ads.

Most recently, Broadway show “Priscilla Queen of the Desert” used the Pandora platform to let consumers buy tickets directly to the play (see story).

“Advertisers are realizing how significant the mobile space has become and how it allows them to engage with their consumer at precisely the right time and place,” Mr. Meyer said.

“Being able to leverage a user’s location is very powerful for advertisers, and we expect that mobile will become a much larger piece of the pie in advertising budgets in coming years,” he said.

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is editorial assistant on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York