First Lady Michelle Obama, Actress Eva Longoria Join Partnership For A Healthier America And More Than A Dozen Companies To Announce Landmark Effort Encouraging People To Drink More Water More Often

WATERTOWN, Wis., Sept. 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- First Lady Michelle Obama and actress, director and producer Eva Longoria today joined the Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA), of which Mrs. Obama is honorary chair, to announce an initiative to encourage everyone to make an easy choice to improve their health and well-being every day: drink more water.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130912/DC78704LOGO ) 

The effort brings together more than a dozen public and private sector partners to encourage people to drink more water more often.

"Since we started the Let's Move! initiative, I've been looking for as many ways as possible to help families and kids lead healthier lives. I've come to realize that if we were going to take just one step to make ourselves and our families healthier, probably the single best thing we could do is to simply drink more water," said First Lady Michelle Obama. "That's it – it's really that simple. Drink just one more glass of water a day and you can make a real difference for your health, your energy, and the way you feel. So Drink Up and see for yourself."

In the next year, supporters of the effort will carry the Drink Up logo on nearly 300 million packs of bottled water; more than half a billion bottles of water; 200,000 packages of reusable bottles; and more than 10,000 reusable bottles. Additionally, more than 10,000 outdoor public taps are expected to carry the brand over the next few years. Approximately one billion media impressions have already been committed, including online and digital out of home media.

"PHA was launched a few short years ago to engage the private sector in helping make the healthy choice the easy choice for busy parents and families. Drinking more water is an easy choice that nearly every one of us—regardless of where we live, what we do, or how busy we are—can make every day," said PHA CEO Lawrence A. Soler. "We applaud the efforts of the supporters who have joined us today, and we thank them for their contributions to an effort that we hope will serve as a continual reminder that you are what you drink, and when you drink water, you Drink Up."

PHA is asking people across the country to visit www.youarewhatyoudrink.org to join in a virtual "Cheers!" to water, or to find the initiative on Instagram (www.instagram.com/urH2O), tagging their pictures #DrinkH2O.

PHA's key supporters in this initiative include:

Water filter companies: BRITA and SOMA are joining the effort. BRITA is teaming up with actress, director, and producer Eva Longoria to design a limited edition bottle that will feature the Drink Up logo as well as adding the Drink Up logo to packages that contain its re-usable filtering bottles. Through its partnership with NBC's The Biggest Loser, BRITA is also integrating the Drink Up logo and messages into one of the most popular TV shows on air. SOMA is helping promote the effort through the hosted dinners and other elite activations it's known for, as well as through its social and digital assets.

Public drinking stations: GLOBALTAP will launch a specially designed bottle and filling station for schools and public locations featuring the Drink Up colors and logos. For every public tap station GLOBALTAP installs, one Drink Up tap station will be donated by GLOBALTAP at no charge to a local school. GLOBALTAP plans to have more than 10,000 taps in public locations, and schools within the next few years. Smart Tap will use a unique form of out-of-home marketing by adding the Drink Up logo to its taps, as well as providing financial and social media support for the effort.

Reusable water bottle companies: In addition to BRITA, S'well Bottle is helping with digital promotion of Drink Up and will create a limited edition S'well Bottle for the initiative, available for purchase nationwide.

Bottled water brands: Aquafina, BEVERLY HILLS 9OH2O, DASANI, EVIAN Natural Spring Water, Hint, Voss, and WAT-AAH! are integrating the initiative's logo on products, through public events, via print, digital, social and out of home media efforts, and through funding.

Additionally, Nestle Waters North America's Arrowhead®, Deer Park®, Ice Mountain®, Nestle® Pure Life®, Ozarka®, Poland Spring®, resource® and Zephyrhills® brands will take part in varied activities, including carrying the logo on certain packaging, home and office delivery trucks, social media messaging and communications within its direct marketing to consumers.

Industry groups, foundations and non-profits: The American Beverage Association is supporting the effort, and its member companies that offer bottled water brands are promoting the initiative in a variety of ways, which include logo placement on bottled water packaging and company trucks, as well as in advertising and through social media. The International Bottled Water Association and its members are actively promoting the effort, while the California Endowment is providing financial support for the initiative. PVBLIC Foundation is aggregating millions of dollars of in-kind value, as well as providing financial support for the effort. Additionally, FoodCorps will incorporate messaging from this effort into schools nationwide.

To inspire people to Drink Up, PHA brought together the best research, marketing, media and creative talents, who donated millions of dollars of time and creative genius to promote the message. Nielsen, a global information and measurement company, served as a leader in this effort, providing critical information and insights into what consumers watch and buy. Antfood Music & Sound Design, BlogHer, Inc., Buck, Cooking Light, Core Strategies, Disney, MyRecipes, Nickelodeon, Proclivity Media, Unite4:Good, VML, Young & Rubicam, and others are bringing the campaign to life with creative and advertising support.

"Lots of people want to live healthier, but life gets busy and sometimes making the healthier choice can seem difficult," Longoria said. "Drinking more water is a simple, easy choice that most people can make every day. I'm thrilled that so many organizations have come together today to help remind people that you are what you drink, and drinking water is you at your best."

For more information on the effort, visit www.youarewhatyoudrink.org.

The Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA) is devoted to working with the private sector to ensure the health of our nation's youth by solving the childhood obesity crisis. In 2010, PHA was created in conjunction with – but independent from – First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! effort. PHA is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that is led by some of the nation's most respected health and childhood obesity experts. PHA brings together public, private and nonprofit leaders to broker meaningful commitments and develop strategies to end childhood obesity. Most important, PHA ensures that commitments made are commitments kept by working with unbiased third parties to monitor and publicly report on the progress our partners are making. For more information about PHA, please visit www.aHealthierAmerica.org and follow PHA on Twitter @PHAnews.

SOURCE Partnership for a Healthier America