I just got back from a long vacation in New York City. One of the things I love about New York is that since it’s such a huge market, large companies are always willing to try innovative marketing techniques to entice us consumers to buy.
One of the best places to see these advertisements is in Times Square. I was pretty sure just about everything had been tried before in Times Square, but of course, I thought incorrectly.
Charmin has opened their restrooms to the public for the third year in a row. Of course, since this is Times Square, this isn’t just any old public toilet. This is a Times Square toilet. Below is a great video I found on YouTube. Â Not a video I took, but it’s just about perfect.
Outside of the Charmin public restrooms is an army of “brand ambassadors” known as “The Go Team.” This army of, hopefully well paid, actors, is clad in toilet suit armor with bull horns encouraging passers by to come in and either “sit or squat,” while dancing to Charmin’s disco styled jingle, “Enjoy the Go.”
I tried searching online for an MP3 of the jingle, but unfortunately I couldn’t find it. Suffice it to say that it was somewhat entertaining.
Once you step inside and go up the escalators, you enter a “Winter Wonderland” of Charmin Goodness. It looks like Charmin took some cues from the good people at Disney. Like I said, this isn’t just any old public restroom.
The line was pretty long, but fans were prepared to hold it in and wait, while being entertained by more brand ambassadors with microphones asking the crowd about their favorite ways to “enjoy the go.”
The toilets themselves were something else all together. I’m not exactly sure how many there were, but you can see there were quite a few stalls. Each stall was themed differently. Here is a video I found online of one of the disco themed rooms. I guess seeing is believing.
Once you had finished “enjoying the go,” the fun wasn’t over. Oh no. On your way out, you couldn’t help but notice the giant Charmin toilet, with a professional photographer taking pictures of you and your friends sitting on the biggest toilet you’ve ever seen in your life. These pictures could be downloaded later online. It seems Charmin is also trying to compete with Santa Clause this year. I’m not sure you could tell the giant toilet what you wanted for Christmas, though. I really regret not waiting for a picture.
Of course, silly outrageous things, like Charmin’s “Go Station,” aren’t the only things you can see in Times Square. A brand new addition to the magic in Times Square is American Eagle’s new flagship store. This new store is literally covered on the outside by a giant screen w/ commercials, videos, and ads for American Eagle. It really is something you have to see to appreciate.
I think just about everyone knows a little bit about Times Square, but if you haven’t ever been there, you can’t really appreciate the scale of these advertisements and how impressive they really are.
