Advertising at the Point of Need

what a great topic to ponder on :)

i believe these ads are really meant to capture your attention. don't we all read what's written behind cubicle doors? advertising works if your efforts stand out. i remember i used some door hanger ads from Prova and instantly, the response was noticeable.

Hi, cool post. I have been wondering about this topic,so thanks for writing. Keep blogging. Looking forward to reading your next post.

Hi, cool post. I have been wondering about this topic,so thanks for writing. Keep blogging. Looking forward to reading your next post.

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Hi Chris, nice post and totally agree. Check out our company www.lookdownads.com I think you'll like what we are up to.

Also, your name sounds familiar, are you from Seattle? I was the Founder of another company (just left/cashed out) called www.visibletechnologies.com. I started Look Down Advertising about 6 months ago and we're having really nice traction.

Anyway, maybe we can conenct sometime.

Best,

Dean

Dean Graziano
Founder and CEO
Look Down Advertising
125 Jackson Street
Seattle, WA 98104
(206) 234-8123
dean.graziano@lookdownads.com
www.lookdownads.com

Video screens in the bathroom are available, olivierBlanchard. Our company has been doing video screens in restrooms for 2 years now. http://www.mediavisionfl.com

It is a great way to brand, and we have had the most success with services and products that are complimentary to the location of the installation. DUI lawyers, liquor companies, etc. are a natural fit to advertise at bars. The demographics and gender information allow us to specifically target our ads.

Bathrooms might be considered a "dirty" place to put your brand, but this is the very place that your customers are. Developing a solution like ours has given small and medium sized businesses a place to be heard for a great price.

I can appreciate the fact that some people are reluctant to loose the bathroom as a place of tranquility. That is why content is very important and has been the largest focus of our company lately: provide relevant information and make the experience helpful...not intrusive and offensive.

Great blog post. Enjoyed the humorous perspective. On a serious note, I put a rebuttal on my blog! Hope you enjoy it as well..

These are some designer urinals!!! I mean... I would feel naughty peeing in that bathroom. For whatever reason, it seems like an art gallery more than a bathroom. Marcel Duchamp hung a urinal on the wall and called it art. The title I think was "Fountain" and it was very important in the Dada movement. http://becksearlescott.files.wordpress.com/2009...
I have seen that pee-stand and I think these are much nicer!!!

This post is interesting to say the least. Traditional marketing at its best or worst? Trying to figure that out. A women's bathroom is seclusion in a private stall so reading what is on the door allows I would think more thought compared to the urinal.

First thought was well men need to look at something instead of counting tiles (that is what guy friends said they do) but then I think of the water splashing up on the ad, it crinkling and it losing credibilty.

I just think of a dad taking his son and the son saying dad what is that and the dad being like nothing son, Let's just finish and go while the guy next to you looks over.

Suzanne Vara/Lvadgal

@chrisbrogan Some friends of ours here in Seattle have just started a company that runs urinal ads (wrappers). They just happen to have come from social media too! www.lookdownads.com

Thanks for the props Keith!!

Dean

Founder and CEO
Look Down Advertising

Well they do have a captive audience for at least 30 seconds, which is about the same amount of time as a commercial for probably a fraction of the price. If you can promote your business and get in the mind of the consumer this seems like a somewhat decent way to do it.

I've seen in cafe's and restaurants in Tel Aviv, in same sex toilets, captive audience taken seriously. A man, facing the toilet, sees an ad for men (deodorant etc) and the woman, sees, well, feminine ads. First time I saw it, it made me laugh and I wondered in how many places before I didn't notice it :-)

It's just a matter of time before someone starts putting video displays over urinals at airports, stadiums, restaurants, etc.

If I had to go in those urinals posted, I would give my full attention to making sure I got it in. Just like golf, it's best to keep your eye on the ball, so to speak.

The same could be said of Twitter or a TV spot. Who is going to buy a car while they're watching television, or Tweeting? Besides the bathroom ads for condoms, beer, and breathe mints, I'm assuming most are a brand building campaign. After all, when at the urinal, they have your only somewhat-divided attention, more of your attention if you can aim without looking.
I used to put up fliers for my band above urinals and the backs of stall doors in the ladies room (well, someone else did it for me) that worked quite effectively. I was actually told "I say your poster in the shitter dude, awesome. Since then the only time I've used the bathroom tactic for was a drunk driving campaign which was both relevant and timely.
For those complaining about 'invasion of your privacy": what's more private, using a public bathroom or your living room couch?

This tells me I should hit every women's bathroom I can and post flyers!!

they create comfort

guys are always awkward standing next to one another
looking anywhere but *there*

now they can all rest assured
their eyes will be on the ad
so will the other guy's
if it's funny they can chuckle
like guys like to do

Interesting insight, I can feel where you are coming from. But depending on the establishment, I could see viagra and cialis being right in the game advertising there. I think once we saw the advertising at the gas pumps, you had to know that the rest of your life was going to be invaded.

Great post Chris. Glad you dragged this topic out into the open. It's when you go into the small closed stall bathrooms in coffee shops and as soon as you close the door and flip the lock the lights come on, the video screen comes alive above the bowl with the music, you then turn to the sink and the above sink screen comes on and to cap it all, you turn to the left and the hand dryer also has a screen. And to think that when you originally go in there you thought you might be able to have some peace and quiet for 2 minutes.

You are so behind the times Chris :)

The future of urinal advertising is heat-sensitive stickers:

http://www.oddball.com.au/promo_products/ws_doa...

From race cars to Golfers, everything is a potential media buy. I remember being at a conference and there was actually an ad IN the urinal - a blue plastic target with the words 'OnTargetMedia.com' written around the edge. Needless to say, I couldn't help but interact with it.

But did I visit the site? No. It was an impression though.

There is a lot of static out there - and we tune out most of it. But planning where to place your media is often more important than the media itself.

Wow, my blogging partner wrote on this topic a month ago. But that post, "Read While You Pee" came from her female perspective. And with the point overall being that often with regard to advertising the specific message itself actually dictates where it can best be placed to most efficiently reach a target.

By the way, those are some mighty artsy looking urinals in your picture!

Advertising also works better when there is some action I can immediately take towards purchasing (if buying right then isn't an option). For example, maybe those Tide to Go sticks are sold in the hotel gift shop right next to the bathroom. Tell them that.

Without some immediate action I can take, the ad quickly become message fighting for awareness in my memory when that need actually arises.

I agree with you that advertising works best when we are at a point of need; however, advertising also works best when we actually look at it. We may see a billboard for about 5 seconds as we drive by. We may be reading a book when on the subway thus not paying attention to all those Jameson ads (i'm clearly from NYC). When standing at the urinal, what else do we have to do but stare at this ad. We are almost forced to look at it for longer than we might view most ads. Sure, the ad should be relevant to our needs, but at the very least it probably has our attention--no small feat these days.

One more thought: Have you ever seen those mugs that show some image or writing when you put in the hot water?

Maybe there could be a liquid/heat activated message inside the urinal. It could measure the ph or some other element of your urine and tell you if you needed to drink more or change your diet...

This could be useful.

Or at least really damn funny.

It says a lot. And I've thought about this many times, too. Especially when I use the bathroom at a local family restaurant who has the newspaper behind a glass case on the wall in front me. It might not be true advertising but other parts of the bathroom experience have been used as "advertising opportunities"; like truck stop bathrooms that sell condoms and others that have certain feminine cleaning products. And with urinal advertising, although it's somewhat effective, I've also felt bad for the company who's name is on the inside of the urinal or on that little freshness cube. There not ads necessarily but just having the company's name in my stream of vision has been effective in getting me to think about the company while I'm held captive.


It would have been vary daring of you to take a picture of the ad on the urinal ;)

I think it's worse than that. Talking to me while I'm peeing is kind of creepy. Especially if you don't know me and I can't see you.

It's intrusive in a very weird kind of way. And it would make me want to get as far away from you as possible. Right after I zipped up.

You know what's actually funny about all of this...you can advertise anywhere! As long as people will see it, there's grounds for advertising. People can see an ad for QTips and say, "I need more of those" and go out and get them. It's funny how advertising works and how easy it is to get some people to buy products. Some are easier to persuade than others. It's always important to realize the target market you are trying to attract. Since this is in a bathroom, I would guess the ad was for Scott's Toilet Paper haha?

Is it the point of need or the point of attention? In the case of urinal advertising (and other examples of a truly "captive" audience) they (the advertiser) are trading off the audience's ability to act or respond to a need with the knowledge that the audience is highly likely to see and read the ad because their ATTENTION (for the most part) is completely focused on the wall right in front of them. If it is reasonably interesting to a MALE, you'll read it, and perhaps remember it when you've completed the need "in hand," and are later at a point of need for the product advertised. With all the clutter and info overload we encounter, sometimes I wonder which is better, hoping you catch someone at the point of need, or knowing you have their full attention so at least the message will be heard. There is no right answer.

By the way, the BEST urinal I ever encountered (wish I could remember where) had a peephole that you could easily lean forward and peer into while taking care of business, and through the peephole they were running old fashioned black and white scratchy soft core porno reels... LOL.

I agree with Mark. Point of Need doesn't necessarily mean Point of Sale (although it should be in some proximity, temporal or geographical). At an airport, good matches for a bathroom or urinal ad might be a bestseller or discount on books from an airport newsstand, or inflight movie rentals in the international terminal. At a bar or nightclub: alcohol, condoms, etc.

Where are you going - and what actions might an advertiser logically presume you are taking, after you view an ad? It's this pre-purchase decision or influence period we might call Point of Need - the "point" (sorry for the pun) of the ad is to get you to Point of Sale.

Seems many of your readers are surprised at the audacity of posting advertisements in bathrooms. There's a company in Traverse City, MI that has become quite successful with that business. It started out as "Johnny Advertising" but is now known as "Everywhere U Go". (http://www.everywhereugo.com)

In addition to the 8x10 advertisements in just about every bathroom stall across northern Michigan they also sell ad space on port-o-lets for outdoor events. I believe the owner(s) have also franchised the concept by selling territories in other midwest regions.

From an advertisers perspective -- the pricing is reasonable and the placements in bars and restaurants is vital in our tourist dependent region.

I understand the need to advertise at the "point of need." However, a restroom I went in had advertisements in the stall and I was so annoyed! I thought, "the nerve of them invading my privacy like that!" So when is it considered good advertising practices and when does it cross the line of going too far?

You make a damn good point. Although, the use of urinals in a blog post was kind of hilarious to me.

On a purely practical note Chris, (i don't know about anyone else on this) I don't have a pen and paper handy to write the details down (who to contact etc), I won't whip out my - Phone - 'cos my hands won't have been washed yet and I can't go back after washing my hands because that would look plain weird....

Perhaps it only works for the immediate area like "in the main lounge you'll find the wishy-washy-coffee co" etc - I think it's got to be something that is available outside the door rather than a 'thought' concept of the person reading this will want our service later.

Everything has a place - of sorts...

There is of course an 'abstract of the wider picture' - where you advertise, how you advertise etc but that's for another day.

Jonathan

In a branded entertainment vein (no pun intended), what about 'helpful hints' depending on the venue. Bars could have drink suggestions, hangover cures, etc...

Bringing value to advertisements can increase ROI exponentially when you can predetermine the behavior of people seeing the ad.

The point isn't so much what you want to buy while peeing (hence my failed idea for a chain of in-bathroom convenience stores), but where you are.

I think a trip to the urinal often precedes a purchasing decision. If I'm at an airport, I might be looking for a book or magazine to read before I get on the plane. If I'm in a bar, I'm probably going to order a beer or drink as soon as I'm done. I think the problem is, like everything else, these types of ads are often poorly executed and misplaced...

It used to be there was nothing on the bathroom walls, aside from random "drawings" on the doors.. now, I haven't noticed so much ads for merchandise, but posters about reporting domestic abuse. I go to Penn State Harrisburg, and I first noticed this in the one bathroom on the first floor, the one that has the handicapped sign it (although its for everyone.. well.. women, that one).. and never thought too much about it, it was on the wall on the way in. Later on I noticed another one in another womens bathroom down the hall, only this time the poster (with little rip-off papers with the number to call) was on the INSIDE of the door to the stall. Sooo.. okaaay.. A few weeks ago, I saw the same poster, rip-off papers, only HUGE on the wall inside the women's room at the Hershey Med walkin clinic. This prompted me to ask my boyfriend, who also works at PSH, what was on the mens room walls - his reply.. "nothing.. but some carvings (or something like that)".

its not about the location its about two types of advertising models - impressions vs. relevance. Billboards have been doing it for a long time - you drive past them - do you care what they say? Urinal ads are just a small billboard. Relevant ads like adwords show me whats related to what I am searching for. For urinal ads to be relevant they would need to have more interaction with you... detected a spash - need a shoe polish? urinalysis... i am going to stop now.

It would be a great place to advertise for Detrol LA (that drug for an overactive bladder...gotta go, gotta go, gotta go right now). But the fact that you're talking about the advertisement on blog that tons of people are reading is probably the reason they put the ad there: so people would talk about it.

"For a good time call Barbara..." People have been writing on bathroom walls for years a clever marketing guy just figured out how to get paid for the privilege.

How about the entire "entertainment industry" descending on bathrooms in general? I was in a large chain restaurant the other day and not only did it have the NEWSPAPER-sized ad sheets you see in most metropolitan newspapers, there was a TV (either tuned to "the game" or to a news channel, with reasonably loud volume) blaring and I thought to myself - is there just not a place to "get away from it all"? The answer, until I stepped into that bathroom was YES, but now - what's happened to "down time" when you're "sitting down" in the bathroom?

Great post and keep perspective like this coming.

Dude... Just when we thought there were taboo topics... you went there. Very nice.

I'm seeing a broader theme here that's relevant to helping me... Be aware that there's a time and place for your interaction with the consumer... and it may not be where you think it is.

Ummm yeah.