• by David Goetzl , February 2, 2012

At its core marketing has always been akin to throwing spaghetti against the wall and seeing what sticks. But, now with all these efforts to find gold in social media and would-be breakthrough apps, it seems as if there’s a lot more tossing.

The reasons aren’t rocket science. Costs can be cheaper. And, if every 13-to-30 year-old has a smartphone glued to a palm, then it makes sense to try and take advantage of that.

Yet, it’s increasingly hard to believe some of these gambles – low cost or not – are actually working. Smartphone behaviors are still evolving. To a degree, the devices may be as exciting and enticing now as remote controls were when they first entered living rooms.

There are all kinds of buttons and interactivity options on remote controls now, but still how excited do people get about them? Over time, the thrill of checking in on Foursquare at the diner or tweeting while watching TV may decrease as the novelty wears off.

Marketing stunts in those arenas will have to be exceedingly – really exceedingly – unique to get traction. And, while Fandango may think it can transform movie ticket sales with a new mobile app, it seems hard to believe any initial interest will gain traction.

A Super Bowl spot Sunday from Universal Pictures backing its upcoming film “Battleship” will include a prompt to get viewers to use Fandango’s mobile app or Web site to sign up to receive a “fan alert” with information on show times and ticket sales. Participants will also be entered into a sweepstakes to win free movie tickets for five years. (Universal and Fandango are both part of NBCUniversal.)

“We want this to be the new standard for movie marketing,” NBCU digital marketing executive Nicholas Lehman told Ad Age. “We want to shorten that last mile between movie marketing and promotion and ticket buying and getting film fans into seats and theaters."

As Ad Age suggests, there is some potential if Fandango develops a t-commerce application allowing instant ticket buying -- point and purchase -- with the remote. Short of that, the new promotion seems to fit the trite spaghetti hurling cliché.

Obviously, it would appear only additive. Any consumer that signs up presumably is a plus. Or is it?

Signing up to get a "fan alert" while watching an ad can be a nice cure for boredom or KDD (“keypad deficit disorder”). It's a spreading malady seen in people who can’t bare to be idle and not bang on the keypad for mere seconds.

But, weeks or even days later, when people actually receive the alert, it could be a major turn-off – especially when it carries such an uninspiring name as “fan alert.” There are way too many promotions and ads and alerts coming at people these days.

Obviously, this is hardly unique to the movie marketing business, but it could be another reason why smartphone opt-in fatigue could set in.

This is not to degrade Fandango’s attempt at ingenuity. But, perhaps a better way to start – albeit more expensive – would be to offer something more appealing than a reminder about a show time or ticket-buying or sweepstakes opportunity.

Something as uninventive as a discount -- heard of Groupon? -- might work better. Especially, when even the most avid fan eager to buy a “Battleship” ticket via Fandango might have to spend $13 for a ticket plus a $1.25 convenience fee.

Come to think of it, the prices are probably the biggest hurlde to making that "last mile" feel like a walk in the park.