'This flush brought to you by...'

This one probably didn't make your list of sponsorship trends for 2009. Nevertheless, clever CPG marketers are seizing on the opportunity to sponsor your next flush. You heard that right.

Today the city of Calgary announced it is exploring the option of procuring sponsorship of the city's automated public toilet - "Olga" - which reportedly had over 45,000 flushes in 2008 alone.

It's not just the public sector looking to monetize the public toilet. This Spring P&G's Charmin sponsored their first mobile application, global bathroom directory SitOrSquat. The iPhone application helps consumers on the go find the cleanest public toilets throughout the world. They can find the nearest toilets using GPS or look for specific features like diaper changing stations. Not surprisingly, the most popular area of search is around NYC's Herald Square/34th St (just up the street from us!).

As with pretty much any sponsorship however, there's a potential downside. Things haven't worked out as planned for Seattle's public toilets. “We’re going to have to go back to the drawing board... they’ve become dens of illegal behavior,” City Councilman Richard Conlin told the AP.

So the demographics might not be right for everybody. Nonetheless, a great way to create a buzzworthy memorable experience around a rather unmemorable category. Will that experience pay off next time consumers are in the shopping aisle? That remains to be seen.


photo cred: dcmaster via flickr