Companies have a new way of contacting us, as if email, SMS, landline and cellphone calls, Twitter DM, snail mail and fax mail wasn’t enough.

It’s called AVM - automated voice messaging. You phone rings, you answer, and instead of real, live person talking-to you, you hear a recorded message.

Those punting it as a means of getting hold of customers and potential customers say it’s a win win situation - for consumers it’s easier to put the phone down on an AVM rather than a real person, and companies don’t get to spend time trying to market to someone not interested in their product or service.

And then there’s the cost: it costs companies far less than conventional cold-call telemarketing while allowing them to deliver a more powerful message than text can offer.

But again, I don’t think marketers have quite thought through the irritation factor. A man who asked to be identified just as Stephen said he excused himself from a meeting when his cellphone rang this week, thinking it was an important call.