All it took was a simple challenge from Esquire and a
free page in the magazine for David Droga to create what
would eventually become the Tap Project, now a global
humanitarian effort and brand. Named one of the "Best and
Brightest" in said publication's December 2006 issue, the Droga5
creative chairman took his page, avoided any predictable
advertising moves and, partnering with pro bono client UNICEF,
announced a simple idea based around water. The Tap Project was
launched last year in New York to commemorate March 22nd as
World Water Day and asked
patrons of several participating restaurants in the Big Apple to
tack on a minimum of $1 to their bill for every glass of tap they
drank, which would thus help provide drinking water to 40 children
a day. After reaching over 80 million people through media outlets,
earning praise and action from celebs and politicians, Tap garnered
Droga5 a Titanium Lion at Cannes 2007. But more importantly, the
initial effort earned UNICEF over $5 million, the equivalent of 1.7
million days' worth of water for children. After having rolled out
across 30 cities in North America this year, the project has
continued to thrive and will expand internationally in 2009.
Q&A with Droga5 Creative Chairman David Droga
Esquire gave you a blank canvas to work on, and you came up with
the Tap Project. Where did the idea come from?
Droga: I'm in the business of building brands, so as an
exercise, I wanted to see if I could build a brand from a
single-page ad out of nothing and create something. I thought I
didn't want to do it for any of our existing clients or for just
commercial reasons. I was just really interested in the whole
global water issue. At this step, UNICEF wasn't even involved. This
was my intent, that I wanted to do it for water. I already knew
some of the facts, but I did a lot more research and the more I
learned about what UNICEF was doing particularly around the world
with children and this water issue, the more I thought this is an
opportunity that only fits UNICEF.
I had the thought about building a brand out of tap water. I just
knocked on UNICEF's door. It's invisible to us literally. We sit in
restaurants, bistros and bars and have a glass of water for
nothing, and we don't even think about it. When you go into the
statistics, it's horrifying. Then, I pitched the idea to Esquire
saying that's what I wanted to do with my one page. To their
credit, they were all over it and actually turned it into a
three-page thing. Then, we organized everything from the ground up.
We organized the celebrity chefs because we knew if we got the top
15 chefs in the country like Mario Batali, then other chefs and
restaurants would want to be a part of it. Then, we organized the
PR and got Sarah Jessica Parker as an ambassador and it just
started to unfold where more and more people started to see the
benefit of the idea. And only after we created the design, logos
and brand identity and advertising for it.
2008 Creativity Award Winner: UNICEF: Tap Project

Quite objectively, we thought wouldn't it be amazing to make this
an industry initiative. In 2007, we just rolled it out for one day
on World Water Day as a pilot for New York. If you could roll it
out in New York, you could do it anywhere. This year, it was rolled
out cross-country and we made it for a week now. The next year,
we're going international and more across the U.S. The key is that
UNICEF is signing deals with chains now and not just one-off
restaurants.
What was the challenge of such a seemingly large
undertaking?
Droga: The challenge when you create something you think is
really strong is to keep it simple, particularly when you're
dealing with something that has many elements to it. You've just
got to make sure it stays pure because it would be very easy to add
multiple layers on it and make it more complex. I think that's why
this resonated with so many people out there.
What were the risks, if any, of taking on a charitable project
like this?
Droga: You've got to think that at the end of the day,
basically we're piggybacking on the goodwill of restaurants all
over the country. Restaurants make more money from bottled water
than anything else. From the get-go, we had to make it very clear
that this was not an anti-bottled water campaign. It was promotion
of the fact you had the option of tap water. If someone chooses to
drink bottled water at the table, they could still contribute their
money to Tap at the end of their meal. Or if they choose to drink
tap, it's the same thing. Also, it was very clear that this was all
about the optimism of what we can do and how we can make a
difference as opposed to a really negative campaign of shock and
horror. The facts are alarming but we didn't want to rub that in
anyone's face. We wanted to show hope.
Check out more of the 2008
Creativity Award winners.