I went to Chicago last week for the long-weekend family reunion that my mom’s side holds every other year. The coolest thing this time ‘round was the yellow school bus my cousins and I rented to go from the ‘burbs to barhopping in downtown Chi-town! The second-coolest aspect of the weekend was the dominance of text-message marketing. Sure, it’s nice to really get away from work and anything related therein. But I gotta be happy when my industry is doing well, especially with the impending recession.

What I encountered, I think any marketer, in any industry, can adapt for his or her own purposes. Read on!

Text-message mileage
On my way up I flew US Airways. During the free beverage distribution, I noticed the paper napkins were emblazoned with the phrase, “Everyone is texting—including US.” The copy then explained that passengers could send a message to the airline’s own short code (which spells out “textUS”—get it?) in order log their latest mileage points. The short code is apparently used to help customers with other things, too, like flight information. And even though “everyone” is using SMS these days, the airline has a cute step-by-step animated explanation on its website for people who aren’t sure how to text.

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