! million messages in a bottle to Coca Cola

by (author unknown), Blue Gold, European Water Partnership Blog on Jan 12, 2008

Muhter Kent, incoming Coca-Cola CEO, will be inundated by messages — stuffed in empty water bottles — proclaiming loyalty to tap water when he joins the company in July if a recently proposed initiative is fulfilled.


The plan, devised under the Tappening campaign, was developed by Mark DiMassimo, creative director of marketing shop DiMassimo Goldstein, and Eric Yaverbaum, president of public relations agency Ericho Communications. The pair head up what DiMassimo refers to as “a public-education initiative dressed up as a brand” to change the context in which bottlers such as Coke do business, according to AdvertisingAge.


The pair released a January 5 press release asking the public to send them an empty water bottle with a note inside committing to drink only tap water. The campaign is directed at companies that purify, then bottle tap water.


The first 1 million empty water bottles are scheduled to be delivered to Kent on his first day on the job this July.


According to AdvertisingAge, about 10,000 bottles have been collected.