A Mexican Newspaper Is Now Printing Breaking News On Bathroom Paper Towels
This is an, um, creative way to drive site traffic.
A highly circulated Mexican newspaper - Mas Por Mas - has begun printing real-time breaking news on bathroom paper towels.
The newspaper wanted to get more people to visit their website and worked with agency FCB Mexico to create a paper towel dispenser that printed out real-time news on the paper towels every time someone took a sheet to wipe their hands with.
A printer was installed inside the paper towel dispensers. Then they were hooked up to the paper's daily newsfeed via WiFi.
Sensors in the machine can detect the presence of hands, and then it prints the latest news. PSFK also says "the printer uses a special kind of powdered ink that could be used in paper towels since it does not leave any stains on the hands."
Each news towel has a QR code that directs to the website of the Mexican newspaper. According to the video below, "the unique visitors to the paper's website increased by 37% in the first two weeks."
Take a look at the full video here: