There's no telling where or when that million dollar idea might pop into your head, but for a couple of Michigan brothers the genius of their success may be part inspiration. part necessity, and part location, location, location.
22-year-old Jordan Silverman was a student at the University of Michigan when it hit him.
"I found myself sitting in the bathroom in the library, bored, reading my phone, " Silverman explained. "The average ad is seen for between 2 and 5 seconds while advertisements in the bathroom can be seen from between 1 to 10 minutes. It's a place where people have nothing else to do, but read."
And the idea to print ads and coupons on toilet paper to capture an already captured audience just kept nagging at him. He partnered up with his younger brother and Star Toilet Paper was born.
As Jordan explains, those initial cold calls weren't easy. "I've been cursed off. I've been yelled at. I've been hung up on many times, but it's one of those where you look forward to the no's because that means the next 'yes' is coming that much sooner. It was a huge learning curve for us doing sales and things like that, but after that, it just took off to where now, in Ann Arbor, we've got 30 companies to advertise with us. We have places ranging from Smoothie King, an Allstate agent, a tutoring center, to the local doctors' office."
All of the toilet paper is made of 100% environmentally friendly materials. "It's high quality 2-ply and printed with soy based ink. We know that softness for toilet paper is important for people, so we try to make sure it's comfortable."
The coupons work like this: You can either tear them off and bring them in. You can use your smart phone to scan a code on the paper. Or you can go to star toilet paper's website, and you can print them out there.
So far the boys are turning a profit, but as Jordan explains they're reinvesting all the money back into the business. "For advertising, it's only half-a-cent per ad, compared to industry standards of $0.04 to $0.12 per print advertisement. An impression that's much lower.
He adds that for venues they just give away the toilet paper for no charge, which is A significant savings for Star Toilet Paper's newest customer, the local library in Westchester.
Robin Lettieri with Port Chester Rye Brook Library says they save about $1,000 a month by getting toilet paper from Star Toilet Paper.
The brothers are working to expand their business model and hope their product becomes the next big form of print advertising.
"We want to be in colleges, airports, stadiums, malls, amusement parks. What we really look for in a venue is a place with a high turnover of people, diverse demographics, and
a demographic base that advertisers will want to reach and already try to reach."
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