I’m standing in Times Square and have to go the restroom. Normally, this would be worse than being three beers into a Brown’s game and stuck in the center of a row of screaming fans! But not so now that someone matched a critical need of the people (biology breaks in Times Square) with their core business (your bathroom “business”).
Charmin Restrooms—That’s right. I was in awe. I marveled at the two-story window graphics of the Charmin logo and “bears”. A great example of a brand that saw a need and filled it with a service that is tied to their core product and message. Not to mention the resulting goodwill and positive, prominent exposure. Still not convinced that this was a hit? I Googled “Charmin bathrooms in Times Square” and got 24,100 result returns—including a YouTube video of the experience so you can check it out for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwPYdgjnzxs.
The Charmin Public Restrooms are in the heart of Times Square, have a staff person to greet you on the way in, offer seating and entertainment opportunities, and provide ample, clean, and FREE restrooms. Oh, and did I mention that there’s plenty of advertising of their products? This was so good, I forgot all about the Naked Cowboy singing and signing autographs on the island of 7th and Broadway!
Tony Ellis, CAE
tellis@nacs.org
NACS
1 comment:
Toilet-tainment
There is so much wrong with Charmin’s uber branded public restroom in Times Square (check out http://www.charmin.com/en_us/pages/restrooms/index.shtml or better yet http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwPYdgjnzxs. ) that I simply do not know where to begin.
While points to charming for getting their name out there in a fun ”tounge in cheek” sort of way to flog more toilet paper the whole concept is pretty much an amusement park for bodily functions. Imagine the opportunities to “dance like the charmin Bear” on a small stage, which I assume is to keep you from soiling yourself while waiting for a restroom to open up, or the real life charmin lady at the washroom doors monitoring the line up with a pair of gloves so as not to contract anything from the crazy Time Square tourists.
Of course it’s also the behemoth glarish charmin ads that practically scream at you from every direction urging you to go home and buy the largest package of charmin big mega triple sized rolls that you possibly can and re-live those magical moments over and over again of your trip to Times Square.
Then again it just might be that to actually get some relief at the “free” public branded restroom universe is the need to fight past the “dancing toilet” dude at the front entranceway. Charming Charmin – dancing toilets in Times Square – What irony…..
Mark Patten
Coordinator, MacEwan Bookstores
pattenm@macewan.ca
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