Kids love dusting!

I was extremely grossed out when, as a child, a learned that dust is made of old skin and something known as 'pet dander.' I'm sure kids today feel the same way. So they'll be super happy to know that none of that shit is collecting on their favorite objects at the Children's Museum.

Jenny Burch, of the Indiana museum's development office, roped in a five-figure deal with the Proctor and Gamble duster "Swiffer" to sponsor the museum.

You really have to go look at the pictures at IndyStar.com. She had to have posed for the picture...she could have smiled, but you can't even pretend that using a Swiffer to clean a 43-foot high glass sculpture is fun!!

January 2010, Will Higgins:

"In exchange for a cash payment in the low five figures, the museum will promote a duster made by Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble. Neither the museum nor P&G would say precisely what the one-year contract is worth.

Signs will go up this month proclaiming Swiffer Duster "the official cleaner" of the museum.

[...]

But for a nonprofit such as The Children's Museum to endorse a product is unusual.

Its Swiffer deal is "probably the most unique one I've heard about," said Dennis Warner, the marketing director at the Indianapolis Zoo, "but, these days, sponsors are trying to get more from their sponsorships."

The zoo, like many such attractions, long has courted corporate partners. Its lions are sponsored by Chicago-based Harris Bank.

The Children's Museum also has a history of corporate partnerships: Its "Jolly Days" indoor holiday playground, running through Jan. 10, has three sponsors.

But the Swiffer deal is next to novel.

[...]

In its arrangement with P&G, The Children's Museum made the first move.

Jenny Burch, a 20-year veteran in the museum's development office, noticed that curators used Swiffer Dusters on the museum's enormous and intricate sculpture made by well-known glass-blowing artist Dale Chihuly.

Burch saw a potential partnership and called P&G.

"They called me back," she said. "I was really excited about that."

Given the rough economic times, a call back from a corporation is something to get excited about.

An industry report in December found that for the first time, corporate sponsorships shrank in 2009 from the previous year.

For The Children's Museum, whose endowment took a 25 percent hit over the past 14 months, sponsorships were off 4 percent in 2009, although they were not a major revenue source. In 2008, they accounted for 3 percent of the $26 million annual budget.

Swiffer will be the official cleaner of the entire museum, but the Chihuly piece will be its signature item, and the Swiffer signs will be near it.

The sculpture is 43 feet tall and centrally located, rising three stories in the middle of the museum's main staircase.

It looks like a nightmare to dust -- thousands of brightly colored glass forms, wrapping and twisting furiously, creating planes and crevices that would challenge any housekeeper.

On a recent visit to the museum, Linda Brady, Indianapolis, and her three grandchildren stared at the sculpture. Brady contemplated what it must be like to have to clean it. She shook her head: "So many nooks and crannies."

P&G hopes that by being used to tackle the Chihuly, the Swiffer will sell itself to the museum's estimated 1 million annual visitors.

"We looked at (the Chihuly) as a major torture test for Swiffer," said Dewayne Guy, a P&G spokesman.

As part of the deal, P&G will be allowed to set up a booth at special museum events to hand out samples and otherwise tout its cleaning systems.

Guy said the company may exploit Swiffer's "official" status through other channels, "but I can't speculate on what that would look like. We really just dipped our toe in the water on this."

Higgins, W. "Sponsorship is a mite profitable." IndyStar.com. January 2, 2010. http://www.indystar.com/article/20100102/LOCAL/1020317/Sponsorship-a-mite-profitable-for-Children-s-Museum

This is my favorite comment from the article:

"ZvilleJohn wrote:
We're members of the Children's Museum & I'm pleased to see that they've found a new revenue source.

When I was in the museum a couple of months ago I noticed how filthy the Chihuly exhibit was. There were many noticeable cobwebs all over the exhibit. I stopped at the information booth to make sure they knew how bad it looked. They indicated that it was very difficult to clean and that cleaning didn't happen often enough. They also indicated that they were considering increasing the frequency of cleaning.

Hopefully, P&G checked the cleanliness of this exhibit themselves before agreeing to sponsor it.
1/2/2010 2:13:20 AM"

Also Important For Cleaning Museum:

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