Advertising in toilets is a controversial form of advertising, and as such, has not yet become a standard. I cannot say I for certain why this is, but I imagine it is the environment (the toilet) that causes the controversy.

This still surprises me, however. From my own and my friends' experiences I know that toilets in cafes, bars and clubs that go a step further from just being clean, and offer some character, or something special always, and I mean always get good comments. In some cases I am aware of, this very fact has even become the reason for somebody to go to the toilet, even to just wash their hands.

Studies show that clubbers go around 2.9 times during an average evening at a nightclub. Statistics suggest that the number of motorway service visits result in almost 100 million impacts for washroom ads each month. The long dwell times—an average of 105 seconds for women and 55 seconds for men—give people plenty of time to take the information in.

My point is that I believe firmly there is a lot of potential for marketing in this environment. Just looking at some of the toilet advertising campaigns that have run in the past, we will find some brilliant examples, including campaigns from Axe(Lynx), Durex, Kleenex, a wash-your-hands campaign, Polaroid, and an admedia sticker poster.

The research comes to back this up, with some impressive numbers:

• 98% of people had a positive or neutral reaction to the toilet adverts
• 84% recalled seeing a specific toilet poster
• 92% of the above group could name specific advertisers without prompting
• 89% of those who recalled a specific ad recalled at least 4 selling points
• Impressions from toilet adverts are 405 stronger than from typical print ads.

Source: separate studies performed by Babour & Munroe Marketing Research Arizona State University and Rice University.

This post may appear somewhat off topic from the mobile advertising/marketing area, but to me it is clear, that with such dwelling times in an environment with very few engaging things to do, there is great opportunity for bluetooth interactive services, proximity marketing, and all sorts of services to go mobile.