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TAPPENING SET TO CONCLUDE “MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE” CAMPAIGN
With a “Message on a Bag” …and a request--No more disposable water bottles please!

NEW YORK (July 9, 2008) - Right about now Muhter Kent, the new CEO of Coca Cola (makers of Dasani bottled water), might be trying to figure out exactly where he’ll put the one million plastic water bottles, soon-to-be en route to the Coca Cola headquarters in Atlanta. But he, and the environment, can rest a bit easier now that Tappening -- the group responsible for collecting the million bottles and pledging to send them to the new Coca Cola CEO as a welcome note – has already sent them to a different location: the recycling center.

Founded by Eric Yaverbaum and Mark DiMassimo, longtime public relations and advertising agency owners, Tappening (www.tappening.com) has been making waves in the bottled water industry since its launch last November, as they lead the charge back to tap water. Intent on educating the public on the virtues of tap water, as well as the environmental effects and cost of bottled products, the group recently launched national advertising that has garnered even more widespread support and attention for “the campaign to make tap water cool.”
The group has also been hard at work with their “Message in a Bottle” campaign to send one million empty water bottles to Coca Cola’s CEO Muhter Kent, as a sign of the public’s dissatisfaction with the pollution, cost, and wastefulness of bottled water.

When the bottles started pouring in, Yaverbaum and DiMassimo began to realize there was a far better use for the tons of plastic they were receiving: “We asked the public to send us empty bottles along with a note to the bottled water industry, and they didn’t disappoint,” said Yaverbaum. “Once the bottles started to pile up we decided it would be a terrible waste to just send these to a company that would simply use them to promote their own recycling programs.  While we applaud their efforts to recycle, it really distracts us all from the serious problems wrought by the bottled water industry.”

Instead of helping Coca Cola to promote themselves, Tappening has decided to sound an even louder and longer message with their new “message on a bag.”  Tappening Co-founder DiMassimo added, “The bags will be on our well-trafficked Tappening.com site, along with pictures of the bottles and messages that we've received from committed members of the Tappening movement -- over a million as of June 19th!”  

The founders recycled the bottles they’ve received; to do something better with these bottles that all too often end up in landfills (80% of the time). Yaverbaum explained,  “Not only are we ensuring that these bottles don’t end up clogging the oceans for the next thousand years, but we’ve also avoided having to send a convoy of trucks to Coke in Atlanta – which would’ve obviously caused additional pollution.”

Simply recycling the bottles, however, just isn’t enough for a group that has influenced millions to join their bottled water resistance. In an effort to put to good use all of the plastic bottles, the group is now offering re-usable “Tappening Bags” made from 100% recycled plastic. The bags will be sold alongside the wildly popular Tappening bottles on Web site.  All profits from the sale of the new bags will go directly towards the continued fight against bottled water.
“We began the ‘Message in a Bottle’ campaign to let companies like Coca Cola know that the public is growing tired of the unnecessary pollution and expense of bottled water,” said DiMassimo. “Now we’re continuing in our mission to make a difference by finding alternative uses for many of the empty bottles created by such a wasteful industry.”

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:
More than an advertising agency, DiMassimo Goldstein (DIGO) is a marketing strategy and communications partner focused on promoting “health, wealth and the pursuit of happiness.” Brand building at this thriving independent includes strategy, research, design, innovation, advertising, direct, digital, buzz, brand advocacy and social marketing. DIGO clients have included blue chip and entrepreneurial marketers such as Crunch, Citibank, Mastercard, Suntrust, Barclays Capital, Pfizer, Gateway, Vitamin Water, Joseph Abboud, Comcast, The Plaza Hotel, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, GoSmile, Juice Energy, ESPN, The American Red Cross, Dr. Mehmet Oz's HealthCorp and Rare Conservation, 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.”   Ericho’s projects range from the recent launch of the first-ever video text messaging company and a new peer-to-peer video-sharing website, 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 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, White Plains and will be opening an office in Tampa, FL this summer. For more information, visit www.erichopr.com.

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Yaverbaum and DiMassimo are available for interview.