Field Notes Inside an Integrated Communications Agency

While you may associate this message with the consumption of alcohol, it seems that a case is being made to apply it to the most basic of beverages. Water. Yesterday in Ad Age, there was a story about a marketing shop and a PR agency that have joined forces to stop the darling of the beverage industry from bottling and selling water.

Mark DiMassimo and Eric Yaverbaum (whose last name sounds like a party drink) have launched an awareness campaign they’re calling Tappening. Basically it’s an anti-bottled-water campaign targeting, as of now, Coca-Cola. The campaign encourages people to drink tap water and buy reusable bottles. Conveniently, they’ve got some for sale that say, “Think Global. Drink Local.” and “What’s Tappening?” Catchy, huh?

Right now DiMassimo and Yaverbaum are planning to collect 1 million used water bottles, stuff them with their message and deliver them to the new CEO of Coke, Muhtar Kent. Their reason for targeting Coke is that it’s the big fish. The goal behind Tappening isn’t to get the beverage companies to recycle bottles. Coke has already agreed to do that. Tappening is about decreasing the demand for bottled water by getting people to stop buying it and helping restaurants and delis profit from the sales of tap water.

All of this sounds great but as a resident of North Carolina, one of many Southern states experiencing the worst drought in recent history, I have to wonder if this course of action is in fact the “responsible” one.  I’ve got seven or eight cases of bottled water in my pantry right now. And if it doesn’t start raining soon, I’m going to buy more. It just goes to show that being environmentally responsible isn’t as easy as it seems.