397: Mr. Whipple saw it — Our desires, and our future, are all in our hands …

including a series in February about the Tools of Change movement, but today we’re turning to Charmin to make the point that — once again — Charmin is involved in the next step of this hand-held marketing. If you haven’t heard the buzz over the last few days, Charmin is making a big push for its latest promotional program: Sit or Squat.

SIT OR SQUAT

    Among the deepest spiritual questions of our age is: “How can I make it through another stressful day?” So, we rank Charmin’s latest iPhone promotion as truly spiritual. No kidding. (Well, maybe just a little bit of kidding — but this is truly a cool experiment in media.)
    Sit or Squat uses the iPhone’s automatic awareness of your location to help you find a public bathroom. What’s more — the Web-and-iPhone application invites ordinary folks to rate good, bad and ugly restrooms. Here’s the online site. You can get to the iPhone app from that page — or, in the App Store, search for SitOrSquat.
    Sound silly? Hardly. This is a big challenge for millions of people whose daily schedule takes them into cities — where you’ll find lots of bathroom locations listed in this new application. It’s often an even bigger challenge in suburban areas, where you might be spending the day attending an event, calling on clients, shopping or jogging.
    Sure, you can swing by a coffee shop or restaurant and make a bathroom stop while you’re ordering something. But think about it: Parents with young children? Millions of Americans with more frequent needs for a restroom? How about the reassurance that you can find a clean changing table for your infant? Or, insurance that you’ll avoid a sewer pit of a restroom?
    That’s what Sit or Squat “does.”
    It’s a terrific idea, which is why Charmin is sponsoring it.
    And here’s what’s so cool about this: At first glance, it’s NOT Charmin’s core business. Charmin doesn’t market business-scale restroom products. Charmin is doing this largely for the good-will advertising of its products — making us aware that it wants to be our friendly partner in daily comfort. That’s actually the value that Charmin sells, right? And that IS Charmin’s core business: daily comfort.
    Now, you have to admit — there’s at least a spiritual glimmer in this idea.

It’s called What’s on? and it’s produced by the team at Napkin Studio.
    You enter your home cable TV provider once in the set-up phase. Then, anytime you check it, within seconds, you quickly scan what’s on all your cable TV channels — and you can find the next showing and your local channel number for that National Geographic documentary you read about at ReadTheSpirit.
    Very simple idea. It’s now a mainstay in my life — because it’s right there in my hand.