Company brings clients captive audience with unique ads

PROVO — Starting a new business can be very challenging, and advertising can be very expensive.

But Hannah Laine, the single mother of three, has found a unique or out of the box way to bring clients a captive audience without breaking the bank.

Laine, a 10-year advertising veteran, found an unusual approach to advertising. Her company, Undivided Attention, recruits clients who pay to have framed, full color and vandal-resistant advertisements placed in restrooms.

"It's a really simple concept when you think about it. Someone is sitting there; you're having a direct connection with a consumer," Laine said. 

It's targeted advertising at its finest. In the women's restrooms, the ads are on the inside of the stall door. For the men, it's, well, a standing approach.

“It is the only form of advertising where you can target 100 percent accuracy male and female demographics,” she said. “So it’s no longer a question of men and women driving down the freeway seeing the billboard. You give the men the men’s products, and the women women’s products and it works.”

While the ads are catchy, Laine said clients shouldn’t put too many ads in a bathroom because then they lose why it works. And since viewing time is rather short, from 20 seconds to several minutes, the messages on the ads have to be simple and to the point.

"You need a logo, a website, a phone number and a quick promotion," Laine said, "something that is that fast."

Men and women view advertising differently, and the ads reflect that.

“The women want in your face, simple promotion, texted based. Send a text message to this number and receive a free something,” she explained. “The men’s room, we do more technology, QR Codes, things like that. Scan something and you’ll get a discount.”

Laine started Undivided Attention eight months ago. She already has about a dozen regular clients and plenty of restrooms.

"We have all of the Gold's Gyms in Utah, 16 Gold's Gym locations, from Bountiful to Spanish Fork, also St. George and Cedar City," Laine said.

The ballpark where the Orem Owlz play signed on this season, and Undivided Attention ads hang in several restaurants and a dance club-bistro in Utah County.

Recruiting new clients can be interesting. "Often times we get the ‘They're going where? My ads are going to be where?'" Laine said while laughing.

She said she likes helping local businesses who can't afford the more traditional advertising avenues, and so far the feedback has been good. A sense of humor certainly helps.

"Just turn it into a joke," Laine said. "Laugh about it and say, ‘Hey, I talk bathrooms for a living.'"

Bottom line: Undivided Attention's concept reaches a lot of people at a low cost. The framed ads are $50 each per month.

“This is affordable, for sure,” she said. “We’re talking hundreds of dollars a month instead of thousands of dollars a month.”

And consider this: Gold's Gym has nearly 500,000 people coming through all 16 stores in a month. That's a lot of eye balls who can potentially see these ads.

E-mail: kmccord@ksl.com