If you have to go, US toilet paper supplier helps

Just when you thought that the possible new applications for your mobile phone might soon run out, now a leading toilet paper brand has come up with a very helpful innovation.

Everyone who has travelled overseas knows about the challenges relating to public bathrooms.

Well, thanks to major US toilet paper supplier, Charmin, now you can search for clean public rest rooms on your phone.

As of February 2009, some 52,000 toilets in 10 countries had been logged. There had been more than half a million unique visitors and more than 1,600 downloads of this mobile app. And apparently, those numbers are growing rapidly,

Charmin has teamed up with a free mobile social-networking utility, SitOrSquat.com, to help you locate clean public rest rooms on your phone.

The wiki — housed on the web at SitOrSquat.com and available as a mobile application for BlackBerry and iPhone — launched in December with the goal of turning the digital masses into a mobile army of restroom reviewers. It both helps locate public restrooms and provides star ratings based on their cleanliness and other amenities (especially useful in some countries!).

Charmin can't be accused of just trying to sell toilet paper. This new app is a novel effort at non traditional branding. It’s a good example for all of us that there is always room for more innovation.

It seems to me that this initiative brings together the brand, social media, user-generated content and a savvy app in a way that responds to a very human need.