Tappening - Obama, McCain drinking problems - wild posters, USA

Tappening attacks the candidates bad habit of drinking bottled water wherever they go with this campaign. Their full release is after the jump. Tappening -- founded by Mark DiMassimo and Eric Yaverbaum -- is an educational campaign designed to encourage the public to drink only tap water, and to send a message to the bottled water industry about its unnecessary and extreme waste of fossil fuels and resultant pollution of the Earth.

The joint venture between New York-based ad agency DiMassimo Goldstein (DIGO) and PR firm, Ericho Communications, was founded by Mark DiMassimo and Eric Yaverbaum, and has contributed to a liquid revolution -- with bottled water sales declining for the first time in history, and the Senate holding a hearing just last week on the quality and environmental issues surrounding bottled water. As people nationwide have become familiar with the facts about bottled water, more and more are opting for good old-fashioned tap water.

Based on the enormous success of the Tappening Website (just under five million page views to date), the duo is launching their second ad campaign in an effort to influence the influencers and educate even more people about the virtues of tap water.

"We are using our marketing and public relations abilities to un-sell bottled water hype, says Mark DiMassimo. “Typically, people who drink bottled water are doing so because they believe it's superior to tap water, because that’s what billions of dollars of bottled water advertising has claimed or implied. The thing is, that's simply not true." Yaverbaum adds, "tap water is just as good (as bottled water), far better for the environment, and obviously much better for your checking account."

To continue its commitment to the cause, Tappening is pouring its profits back into their  on-going educational campaign. DiMassimo-Goldstein (DIGO) has now created a series of ads that will be placed each week in the states where the candidates themselves make appearances with 80% of the ad budget targeting swing states. The half-million dollar campaign will also include local community newspaper buys and extensive wild postings in the top 10 markets beginning in mid-October, and a full-out public relations blitz. From the obvious environmental issues stemming from the production and transporting of the plastic bottles, to the dumping of millions of empty bottles every year, the ads aim to raise awareness that tap water is simply a more responsible choice. It’s the hope of the Tappening group that the candidates themselves will then not only address the issue with “words,” but in their daily lifestyle.

While the ads focus on a select few messages about the impact on our environment, they are intended to engage the candidates. The ads are not intended to make a political statement or support either one of the candidates, although -- depending on which ad runs at a given time and place -- they certainly may be viewed that way. The first ad says, “McCain Has A Drinking Problem. Bottled Water” and notes that bottled water generates 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide a year. Another ad says the same thing about Senator Obama. A third ad of the first series to be placed reads “Bottled Water is a Major Environmental Issue. Why isn’t it one of theirs?” There are stilettos that appear to look like both Senator Obama and Senator McCain in the ad. The ad notes at the bottom that “Manufacturing bottled water in America uses 17 million barrels of crude oil every year .Get off the bottle. . Advocate Tap.”

All of the ads are tagged with the Tappening,com website address so that consumers can go to the site and make an educated decision for themselves.

Named “one of the hottest products of 2008” by Good Morning America, the Tappening bottle has been featured in media outlets from People to Forbes. Since the campaign’s launch in November, 2007, there has been enormous demand for the Tappening reusable water bottles; over 300,000 have been sold directly to consumers in these first ten months.

Agency:
DiMassimo Goldstein (DIGO)
PR firm: Ericho Communication