Trend: SMS marketing no longer taboo?

A rosy trend piece from AP positions the SMS marketing sector on the verge of mass market uptake by citing recent text-based campaigns, contests and sweepstakes offered by McDonald's, Burger King, Procter & Gamble, General Motors and CBS. Analyst Gerry Purdy, who recently joined with Frost & Sullivan leads off the story with a prediction: ""Probably the most important medium for advertising in the 21st century is going to be the cell phone, not print media, not billboards. It's just a matter of time--there are just too many of them." It's a bullish claim, but with American Idol paving the trail and big names like McDonald's launching campaigns, it may be on point.

Just this month McDonald's restaurants in Schaumburg, IL and St. Augustine, FL launched an in-store entertainment and marketing service that allows customers to send text messages to order up music, music videos and movie previews from Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Sony Pictures. By year-end more McDonald's plan to launch this "m-Venue" service for free during the launch and with a download fee after.

For more on the rise of SMS marketing:
- see this article from AP