No time to Rest in the Rest Rooms…..for Marketers!

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Restroom Advertising is nothing new, not even at this blog – Have talked about Restrooms (the Advertising part!) before also, be it Guerillas in Restrooms or LCD Ads and posters inside public bathrooms - Marketers do not want to miss out on this integral space of consumer’s space.

Having said that, another component of Marketing is being exercised on Restrooms now – From Advertising, Marketers have moved on to Branding of Restrooms. Have a look –

At Times Square, P&G has sponsored a Rest Room and branded it as “Charmin Restrooms”, which provides good ambience and a nice view as well!

Naturally, it is to enhance visibility of its “Charmin” Brand of toilet paper. According to an Audio Report from New York Times consumers are being cheered by employees singing and dancing with the music and telling you to go to the bathrooms!

Call it Experiential Marketing or Sensory Branding (music being played inside the restrooms), advertisers sure are moving from Billboards to branding at the Times Square – one step closer to the consumer.



Coming back to India, Public Bathrooms were always tagged as “Public Toilets” and “Restrooms” till recently. I noticed this fine piece of Branding at Cochin, Kerala, where “Comfort Station” is the name of a bathroom – in the heart of the city, next to Jew Town, an area full of tourists – this place sure has branded itself truly living by its name!
Am sure if not P&G, Dabur or HLL might soon be moving in that space as well! Will wait and watch….

Till that time, one can comfortably visit the “Comfort Station” to get some comfort….. ;)

[Charmin – via New York Times]

Comments

Anonymous said…
Well it definitely is an example of great brand space,what better place to market Toilet paper than the loo itself.A similar marketing campaign was launched in Turkey, where Turkish diaper brand Evy Baby reached out to parents by placing changing rooms in shopping malls.

Sanket
www.markedmarketer.blogspot.com
January 07, 2007 6:52 pm
spunksters!! said…
Just to sight another example of 'loo hullabaloo'- at cafe coffe day pune. The restrooms have been used by Brylcream in a very effective way.. They have set up a small dispensor which has different variants of brylcream. Now this comes as a pleasant surprise to most people who appreciate the gesture, to say the least.
February 03, 2007 9:23 am
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