Are you getting thirsty yet?

Finally, something we can ALL drink to!

Okay, I think it's about time that I shared with you one of the coolest projects I've been able to work on at the BYU Ad Lab: The Tap Project. Two years ago, the ad agency Droga5 teamed up with UNICEF to develop a way to raise money to provide clean water for children around the world. Since then it has spread to other cities and this year we picked it up here in Utah!

This has resulted in a lot of work. Each city is responsible for collecting their own media donations as well as creating their own advertising (billboards, TV spots, posters, etc.). The creative team in the Ad Lab has put out some amazing work.

Here's a video that explains how this works
(parts of the video are from UNICEF):

The Tap Project is based on collecting money at restaurants. People will often just order a glass of water when they go out to eat. During World Water Week (March 22-28), restaurants will ask patrons to donate just $1 for that glass of tap water, and the money goes straight to countries that don't have easy access to that water. That one dollar can provide one child 40 days of drinking water! How easy is that?!

As I said earlier, the creative team has really worked hard to come up with some great ads. One of our print ads were even featured in the New York Times! (scroll down, look on the left.) And if you live in Utah, look for one of these TV spots:

Utah Tap :: Here's to the World from Mike Morris on Vimeo.
You can see the other four spots if you search on Youtube or Vimeo for "Utah Tap" (like this).

Wherever you are, please search on the Tap Project website to see if there are any participating restaurants near you! You can even find participating restaurants and then check out their reviews on Zagat.com.

So save a dollar or two and take someone out to dinner during the week of March 22-28 at a participating Tap Project restaurant. Make change for a dollar.

But don't forget to tip your waiter/waitress. The restaurants are doing a lot for this, too.