Clean Restrooms, Happy People

In a recent Wall Street Journal article titled In Paris, Behavior Brigade Battles To Make Oui-Oui a Non-Non, Susana Ferreira reported on Paris's continuing quality of life battle against public urination. According to the article "...what the French call urine sauvage, which translates to "wild urine," is the hardest to crack. While France's capital has campaigned with some success to have Parisians pick up after their pets, the city is still struggling with the presence of pipi. Urine is hard to escape in certain parts of the city, be it on the street, in the Metro or in parks."

Without attempting in the least bit to be humorous or to become a boor myself, I remembered how I have actually been subjected to thinking about urinals and cleanliness for years now. You see, everyday in the restroom at work, I face the above illustrated sign for Rochester Midland Corporation's Sanor System - a patented hygiene and odor control system. Anyway, as someone involved in art, design and content, what gets me isn't the company's unimaginative and dated logo, but rather the smart and straightforward tagline: Clean Restrooms, Happy People.

Whenever an entrepreneur starts a business or is looking to advertise their company or product in a new light, it is usually a necessity to create a memorable tagline or slogan. These words or sentences are crafted with care and strategy to tell a customer in a short time exactly what your company and brand's mission and core beliefs are. 

It's important to not take shortcuts when it comes to the ideas behind the promotion and marketing of your business. Don't believe me? Here are several good taglines from yesteryear: We bring good things to life (General Electric), Tastes great, less filling (Miller Lite), A diamond is forever (DeBeers), Don't leave home without it (American Express). Can you think of or even remember the bad ones?

It's funny what one thinks of in the cuarto de bano. - PS