This idea is contributed by Sadique Salim 

 

Its official. The city of mosques has become the city of billboards. At times you cant see through towards the skyline without being tempted by one of the square shaped advertising hoardings. It’s a question of too many….too alike! Deny it….at your convenient time….but aren’t all billboards look exactly the same?

 

Its called OOH (out of home) sector therefore any media that can be effectively used to attract people when they are out of home should be the business of the outdoor agencies. Keeping that in mind lets propose a new business idea for outdoor agencies…..Public Toilets.

 

Well lack of public toilets and the smelly nuisance created due to such lack is as old as any structure in Bangladesh. But what should have been a public sector situation can be a private sector business initiative. Think about it. Outdoor agencies can spring public toilets all over Bangladesh. The trick is….in all those public toilets, just above the “urine distribution centers”, there will be advertising.

This is a trend known as “Captive Marketing”. Its basically a very simple concept of pitching your brand message to a captive audience, one who has nothing better to do at that time other than urinate and see your brand message.

The OOH agencies thus can have boards placed conveniently just above the toilets and rent those spaces to different brands. Thus creating a win-win situation for brand (Placing its message in an unbeatable place), OOH agencies (earning money while conducting CSR) and public in general (Finding clean place for urinating).