Channel 10 (WBIR) News | Portable toilets serve as new advertising medium

Written by
Steve Butera

Arguably, advertising can be seen nearly everywhere you go. Those who go to this year’s University of Tennessee’s season opener, will see messages appear in the most unlikely of places.

“What people are paying for in advertising is impressions,” said Matt Tunstall, Founder & CEO of Stall Talk, Inc.  He’s working with Five Star Portables to get advertising on all portable bathrooms on and around the UT campus.

“We went from 1, to 2, to 3, to 4 and making a scene of Portajohns. And I know of, or aware of, there’s no one in the country that does this,” said Butch Hawkins with Five Star Portables.

Tunstall and Hawkins collaborated to put ads on multiple portable toilets, creating a panoramic picture.

“They never created murals all the way across. They only advertised on all four sides for the exact same cost that we can present an advertiser with a larger message,” Tunstall added.

Workers at Power T Graphics worked to get the first two advertiser’s portable toilets ready for Saturday’s game.

“Portajohns are not the most popular thing in the world,” said Doug Minter with the Knoxville Chamber. “We need them, you’ve got to use them. But using them for a medium for advertising makes it a little more attractive.”

However, this creation is still generating some buzz.

“We look to have (the portable toilets) all booked, and not only booked for this season, we’re already talking to people about next season,” Hawkins added.

Tunstall said his out-of-the-box idea is generating some big business.

“Once we saw the placement of where the advertising is, right here on the University of Tennessee campus, we knew we had something good,” Tunstall said

He added there are plans for this form of advertising at other Knoxville events, including Sundown in the City, in the future.

http://www.wbir.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=182357