• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, March 2, 2010

Movie studios are often at the leading edge in digital advertising and Universal Pictures is no exception in its cross-media campaign for "Repo Men," the futuristic thriller starring Jude Law that opens Mar. 19.

Capitalizing on the growing popularity of mobile barcodes and tying into the movie's plot, the effort makes UPC barcodes a key element of its promotional push. Since Feb. 1, Universal has placed barcodes from startup Occipital, in 30,000 outdoor movie posters in 15 cities including New York and Los Angeles.

When the codes -- also embedded in online ads -- are scanned by iPhone owners using Occipital's Red Laser application, they get access to content including video teasers for "Repo Men." The film takes place in the near future when artificial organs can be bought on credit, but also repossessed when users fall behind in their payments.

In that vein, the barcodes also include fictional movie-themed ads showing synthetic organs with snarky taglines, such as an artificial heart beneath copy reading: "Go ahead. Have The Cheeseburger." Another pushes a liver upgrade with: "We Encourage You To Drink Irresponsibly."

Barcodes also feature prominently in the film as a way for the organ repo men, including Law and co-star Forest Whitaker, to track transplant recipients.

Ben Blatt, manager of digital marketing for Universal Pictures, said the campaign developed with digital agency 360i and creative shop The Visionaire Group marked the first time the studio has deployed barcodes in movie advertising.

Media companies and marketers from Hearst magazine to Sprint are increasingly using mobile barcodes to deliver coupons, product information and other content to cell phone users instantly. So it's hardly surprising that a major movie studio would deploy barcodes to help sell movie tickets.

While Blatt wouldn't discuss results of the effort so far, he said the studio was pleased with the approach appealing to the young male, tech-savvy demographic that can help build buzz for a sci-fi film like "Repo Men." "It's not a mass market reach, but a complementary mobile extension for the campaign," he said.

To that end, the promotion also includes a nationwide contest in which participants are challenged to find four "Runners" -- mysterious figures trying to evade capture. A Runner that lasts a month without getting caught will win $10,000. But contestants who can catch one will win $7,500.

To help spread word of the game virally, Universal partnered with Lone Shark Games and Wired, where writer Evan Ratliff last year went on the lam and was tracked by a horde of techno-hunters as part of the magazine's Vanish contest. For the Repo Men treasure hunt, players follow clues dropped online and via barcodes.

But the movie isn't aimed only at geeks. To reach a broader audience, Blatt said Universal begin making a bigger promotional push online and on TV in the next two weeks, including a YouTube home page takeover on Wednesday. The Red Laser barcode will appear in the large masthead ad for "Repo Men" on YouTube.

"We're definitely going after a wider audience," said Blatt. "For us, this was just kind of an interesting thing to try, and we're always trying to do new things -- and whenever we get the chance to tie in to creative ad elements with film, it works better."