How do you create brand awareness in a world in which customers no longer put up with interruptive ads? It is a huge challenge for today’s brands.
I came across a great example covered by AdAge yesterday: the Charmin SitorSquat mobile application (thanks to Sucharita Mulpuru over at Forrester for the heads up). Download the app to your smartphone, and you’ve got instant access to the nearest public toilet, ranked by cleanliness.
Kudos to the folks at Charmin for branding to me in a fun and useful way (especially when you’ve got to go!).
I also loved this last paragraph in the AdAge piece:
This is the first time a toilet-paper brand has partnered with a downloadable mobile application, P&G said in its release. Other relevant potential mobile applications may not immediately spring to mind, other than perhaps text alerts when the roll is running low at home. But the technology doesn’t exist yet for that.
Maybe this will exist sooner than you think . . . 
LOL … entertainment and a value-added blog post to boot. I forwarded this post to my brother. I mentioned to him the real value may exist while traveling (in unfamiliar territory) and he finds himself in need of a public facility. Who knows … if it’s upscale Charmin may be present.
As for text alerts when the roll is running low I have my doubts regarding some people. I think they’ll chose to opt out of this ‘feature’. Thanks Mark.
Thanks Mark W. You really hit upon one of the benefits of this kind of advertising–it spreads.