Media Guardian: Fox faces anger over Tom Cruise voicemail ads

There is certainly a hint of irony here - promoting a film about intrucing futurist advertising by using highly intrucive futuristic advertising.

Rupert Murdoch's Twentieth Century Fox is facing a furious backlash from film fans who have received unsolicited phone calls to promote the video and DVD of its Tom Cruise movie Minority Report. [..]

Listeners heard Tom Cruise's character breathlessly ask, "Where is my Minority Report?" followed by a voiceover urging them not to miss out on the film, which was released on Monday on video and DVD. [..]

Although SMS text messaging is commonly used by marketeers, Fox claims it is the first time voicemail messages have been used for advertising.

Related - Ad Age: The Promise and Problems of SMS Marketing

A great article on SMS campaigns from around the globe. My favourite:

Buzz was created in Singapore when people flipped open their phones to find friendly messages from God. Working for the evangelical Churches of the Love Singapore Movement, Ogilvy transmitted witticisms purportedly from God via SMS. On Friday afternoons, many Singaporeans received a message saying, "Thank me it's Friday. God."

NPR Audio Stream: 'Spam Queen' Defends Direct Marketing Via E-Mail

This is a follow up interview with Ms. Betterly who was recently profiled in the WSJ, labelled as a "Spam Queen."

Whilst the interview is quite interesting, unfortunatley the interviewer does not properly challenge her. Ms. Betterly puts forward the defense that all the people on her list once opted in for something, and that they are free to unsubscribe, so what's the problem?

The real danger here is that with people like Ms. Betterly putting themselves forward as legitimate email marketers the line between "spammers" and "direct e-mail marketers" is set to become increasingly blurred in the eyes of the public.

Whilst the Direct Marketing Association appears to have finally woken up to this threat, the challenge that the industry face in creating a differential between legitimate and non-legitimate email marketers should not be underestimated.