MARKETERS CHASE CONSUMERS INTO THE BATHROOM
September 13, 2004 By Lisa Sanders
Edited for content.

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Once almost universally respected as rare islands of personal privacy, public bathrooms have now become a major target of mainstream marketers and their advertising media buyers.

In the old days, the only "commercial" text normally found in toilet stalls and on urinal walls were those placed by anti-social cranks and hookers of various sexual orientations. Often using ballpoint pens as chisels, they scrawled phone numbers and crude taglines like "For a good time in Dallas, call..."

The venue offers an audience that is captive to its biological needs, said David Turner, president of the Indoor Billboard Advertising Association, founded in 1998. "In a restaurant, 75% of the patrons use the restrooms. In a bar or a nightclub, the average patron uses a restroom almost three times per stay."

Though relatively small in size -- the Indoor Billboard Advertising Association estimates its North American revenues will reach $50 million this year, compared with the $5.5 billion spent on outdoor advertising -- advertising in restrooms in bars, restaurants, airports and shopping centers is on the rise, up 14% from 2003, which rose 12% over the year before. The group's members are 30 independent companies that sell space on "boards" in 200 markets in the U.S. and Canada. Marketers with the greatest increase year to date are women's apparel (48%). Marketers also like restrooms for cost and the ability to target consumers.

But in recent years, marketers like Sony Music, Unilever and Nintendo along with major liquor companies and TV networks have been systematically elbowing aside the hookers and cranks to get their own commercial messages in front of a demographic with its pants lowered and its zipper undone.

Deodorant brands, recording artists, video games and automakers are routinely buying space on the doors of toilet stalls or urinal walls. Meanwhile, other assorted "guerilla" media vendors offer condom packaging and urinal mats as relatively inexpensive messaging surfaces.

Aimed at 18- to 25-year-old men, Axe is a brand that "is about helping a guy attract women," said David Rubin, senior brand development manager. "It is a social brand in that respect, and there's no place like a bar for guys to meet women." Axe's creative features "Pit Man," a visual oddity created by Bartle Bogle Hegarty in New York. The creature is composed of a hairy armpit and a foot. "In a bar, he's much closer to our brand promise," Mr. Rubin said. "He's thinking about meeting someone, he's in the right mindset."

The right demographics
When Sony Music launched country singer Gretchen Wilson this May, the company's media plan included restroom advertisements in clubs and sports venues including the Nashville Speedway and Gaylord Entertainment Center. "The arena holds 50,000 people, watching football, drinking Cokes and beers all day. They'll go to the bathroom possibly three times a day," said Margie Hunt, senior director of marketing for Sony Music Nashville. "We knew Gretchen's music would appeal to lots of people who go to the speedway. It is just a matter of getting the most impressions. We look for the right demographics."

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