FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
9/15/2008
9/15/2008
Contact: Fern Marcya Edison
845-679-6319
845-679-6319
New advertising campaign asks the question DOES OBAMA OR McCAIN HAVE A DRINKING PROBLEM?
NEW YORK (September 15, 2008)) - You may want to ask the question -- if John McCain and Barack Obama both care so much about the environment, shouldn’t they be demonstrating this while on stage in front of millions of people? The bottled water companies must love that their product is repeatedly placed into the hands of the two most highly visible people in the world right now. Not to mention their staffs and throughout campaign headquarters in many states across the country. It’s better product placement than Reese’s Pieces was in the movie ET!Obama and McCain may think twice the next time they reach for a bottled water, thanks to a new advertising campaign from Tappening (www.tappening.com) – a group dedicated to promoting the many environmental, health and financial benefits of drinking water straight from the tap.
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. (http://wjz.com/watercooler/bottled.water.senators.2.814398.html) 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.
About Tappening: Tappening (www.tappening.com) -- 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.
About DiMassimo Goldstein: DiMassimo Goldstein (DIGO) is a NY-based marketing strategy and integrated communications agency focused on creating, inspiring and maintaining brand advocates, in order to build brands the fastest and most efficient way possible. DIGO’s “digital brand direct” approach provides strategy, design, innovation, advertising, direct, digital, brand advocacy and social marketing for clients ranging from blue chip to entrepreneurial marketers, such as Crunch, Citibank, Gateway, Vitamin Water, The Plaza Hotel, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, GoSmile, ESPN and The American Red Cross, among others. For more information, visit www.digobrands.com.
About Ericho Communications: Founded in 2007 by bestselling author, Eric Yaverbaum, Ericho Communications is a full-service public relations firm “where green meets the latest that technology has to offer,” -- ranging from the recent launch of the first ever video text messaging company and new peer-to-peer video-sharing Web site, to Tappening and work with Tibet. Yaverbaum is the former president of Jericho Communications, where he managed a ‘who’s who’ of brand names for 21 years, including IKEA Home Furnishings, Domino’s Pizza, Subway Sandwiches and Salads, Progressive Insurance, TCBY, Sony, H&M, Bell Atlantic, American Express, and many more. Yaverbaum is also the author of four books, including “PR for Dummies,” which is required reading in marketing classes at 57 U.S. universities. His fourth book, “The Everything Leadership Book,” was published in May. Ericho Communications has offices in New York City, and White Plains, NY. For more information, visit www.erichopr.com
Yaverbaum and DiMassimo are available for interview.
Copies of the ads are available upon request.
23,589,312 page views | (c) 2008. Tappening.com
