Last night I went down to Carolines Comedy Club in NYC to see some radio personalities that I enjoy from The Howard Stern Show. I went with my dad who is a fan of these comedians as well. After the show my dad kept talking about how he wanted to show me a bathroom he found and thought I would like. Weird. So we walk a couple of blocks and I see this:
It’s a restroom sponsored by Charmin. When you enter, they have all the walls wallpapered with the Charmin bears and take you up an escalator into a disco like area. There is a DJ who is way too happy, pimping out Charmin toilet paper. As you get towards the DJ booth, he is talking and asking people if they need to take a number 1 or a number 2 and then directs you towards a bathroom. Each bathroom has an attendant. When you enter the bathroom its basically a DJ booth with a toilet and sink. When your done, an attendant runs in and cleans the bathroom making it ready for the next person. The DJ also asks everyone if they washed their hands. It’s all pretty weird. The next room has different areas that you can take pictures with teh Charmin Bears and learn the Charmin Toilet Paper dance:
As you leave they have samples of Charmin products for you to try and take with you.
My point to telling this story is that advertising is not all direct response. For Charmin to rent a building in Times Square, NY to carry on these shenanigans does not create direct response results. What it does is expose masses of people to the brand by having them try it first hand. It creates a top of mind awareness so that when people go shopping for their home essentials, they hopefully choose Charmin. Although a lot of what we do in affiliate marketing is all about direct response, don’t forget the branding element when creating websites.
fla fla flooey
If that comment really were from Sal Governale, I would be impressed 🙂