Restaurant chain Olive Garden's latest mobile advertising campaign uses targeted spots to drive more business to its locations.

Playing off a "dinner and a movie" theme, Olive Garden started running ads on the Moviefone app for iPhones. The ad talks about the restaurant's limited-time food offerings, helping to inform about a special deal before diners ever enter an Olive Garden location, according to Mobile Commerce Daily.

Once the ad is clicked, it leads to a mobile-optimized site that provides further details about all of the restaurant's limited offerings for appetizers and dinner.

An industry expert quoted in the article praised the "dinner and a movie" angle of the ad, as well as the mobile optimization of the site that provides information on the dishes being offered on special.

However, Rimma Kats, the article's author, said the ad would have been more effective if it included a call to action like a sign-up form instead of just information. She also said it could have been enhanced with a locator feature to make it easier for users to find the nearest Olive Garden restaurant.

Olive Garden has used mobile ads within the iPhone's Pandora app to spread the word about its new limited-time offerings over the past two years.