ANNUAL
REPORT
2017

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  DOPPER OLYMPICS
  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  

  ‘Sport connects people, from all around the world, from all layers of society. Just like the oceans are the connecting factor between all continents. For us, our Olympic rings symbolize our drive to reach our goals together, as a team.’ - Virginia Yanquilevich, CEO

  Five rings and a bottle forged in the fires of VDL. Sounds like a Tolkien story, but to be honest, it all started with the question any three-year-old asks about 124 times a day: Why? In 2017, we already had the drive of Tom Dumoulin, but how were we going to reach our goal? To help us set up a Cersei-worthy strategy, Dopper went looking for a new CEO. Who would survive the ultimate test: an escape room challenge together with our founder Merijn? Virginia Yanquilevich, that’s who! She didn’t escape, but she and Merijn immediately became Dopper’s very own G&T: an inseparable, intoxicating duo who inspire us and give us (Dutch) courage. Virginia’s first goal as CEO? Create focus and help us answer the big questions, like ‘Why do we do the things we do?’ and ‘Which Argentinian wine should be in our wine fridge?’. She has proven herself to be extremely valuable, on all accounts.

  Saving the planet is world-class sport!

  It didn’t take long before the strategy was linked to the Olympic rings. Saving the planet is nothing short of world-class sport after all! We already worked along five year plans, which happened to coincide with the Olympics. Everything came together in 2016 in Rio, we’re now working towards our goals for Tokyo 2020 and we are already discussing 2025, Paris. Oui are on our way!

  ‘Every ring is a specific goal that contributes to our mission. And all rings and goals are interlinked, which means that they also connect all departments and persons. Every Dopper employee and every department is working hard to get that gold medal: a better world for everyone!’ - Merijn Everaarts, Dopper’s Founder.

  Together with all Dopper employees, we took the Olympic rings, our coloring pencils and wrote down the five things we wanted to achieve before 2020. We all added our signatures to these goals, they became our bible. But as holy and cult-like as that sounds, they do leave room for improvisation. Does putting a water tap point on Mars help us reach our goals? Then what are we waiting for!

  Fun and games!

  We built the foundation of all our goals in less than a year’s time. We can’t see why the new Game of Thrones Season should take so long. But then again, we are not dealing with dragons. And creating the rings was relatively easy. Write them down, everybody pledge to contribute to them, light an Olympic flame on the beach. Done. But of course, this was only the beginning. We have been working hard to lay a solid foundation for the next few years, but Dopper wouldn’t be Dopper if 2017 wasn’t fun! We don’t know if we will see the day the single-use water bottles are banned from the supermarkets, so we’d better celebrate every step along the way. And we did! Especially when we won the Election of Entrepreneur of the Year of Noord-Holland, when we launched our new Perfect Paradise Collection and when Sinterklaas celebrated his birthday and we all got the days between Christmas and New Year’s off as a present from Merijn and Virginia! 2017 was the year that gave Dopper a boost in the right direction. Let the games begin!

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  MAKING IMPACT
  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  ‘Last year, Sales and the Dopper mission have become inseparable. We sell bottles to spread our message, not the other way around. It’s all about making an impact. Which means that we’re choosing retailers who are helping us tell our story. No room for our mission? No sale.’ - Stephanie van den Berg, International Sales Manager

  Dopper is famous in the Netherlands. You can’t go for a walk in Haarlem without spotting multiple colorful bottles in the hands of joggers or on the side of a kid’s backpack. But you can’t tackle a worldwide problem by sipping from your Dopper at home. There are plenty of countries where there is clean drinking water, but single-use water bottles are still polluting the environment. That’s exactly where we come in! Get ready U.S.A, France, UK, Germany, Belgium and many more: you are in our splash zone! We are creating a global community, raising awareness and inspiring people to reduce plastic pollution. And it’s working. For example, last year our bottles and their message were hard to miss in Galeries Lafayette in Paris and Bio Company in Germany... Our mission is spreading like wildfire!

  Dopper data

  Dopper, being a Dutch company, has a solid retailer network in the Netherlands. But there are already some foreign retailers in our sales top 20, like Oxfam (UK) and Bio Company (Germany). We sure are in international waters now!

  Turning water into wine

  Wherever we go, the design of a Dopper is always a big hit. The colours, the bottle and cup in one… everybody loves it! Last year, our Dopper stand was hard to miss at the fairs Ambiente in Frankfurt, Top Drawer in London, Maison & Objet in Paris and New York Now in New York. We got the most memorable response in France though, where people thought the cup was supposed to be a wine glass! We shared this stroke of genius with the guys of Product Development. Alas, no wine Dopper to be expected any time soon. But during our afternoon drinks, we now occasionally turn a wondering Dopper cup into a wine glass nonetheless.

  Dopper Data

  Last year, 1,687,598 Doppers were sold. These added to our total revenue of €9,694,888. But more importantly, these Doppers saved 67,503,920 single-use water bottles from entering our oceans. Cheers to that!

  With this ring, I thee wed

  Our perfect partner loves the ocean and long beach walks. And his or her favorite drink is - of course - water. In every country, we’re hoping to find our soulmate, a retailer (or two) who will become a true Dopper ambassador and actively carry out our mission. Last year, we got the right international professionals aboard to forge these new partnerships. And to make sure our mission comes across in every country, through every channel, Sales and Marketing became Dopper’s very own Blake and Ryan. Partners in crime, still mocking one another lovingly. So cute.

  Mass inspiration

  We want to confront people with their throwaway lifestyle and encourage them to do better. But in a fun way! So in 2017, we started working on one of the biggest projects you can imagine. It’s true. Even Trump would agree. The Dopper Foundation, Sales, Marketing, Finance, everybody at Dopper got involved for our Plastic Bridge Project in New York. What was going on? We were building a replica of the Brooklyn Bridge out of thousands of single-use water bottles to send a message about plastic pollution. Making an impact in another country? A statement the size of a bridge should do the trick in New York! This bridge will be visiting schools around the US, inspiring the kids to choose a more sustainable lifestyle. And it comes with a tidal wave of inspiration! It’s accompanied by a song, a book, an art class and a theatre play with a rapping panda bear. But you’ll read all about that in our Annual Report of 2018.

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  THE PEOPLE AT DOPPER
  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  ‘Why should the management dictate what a great place to work looks like? We’re doing this together! So we ask all colleagues: what makes you happy? What do you need? We discuss our culture openly. Is it okay if someone comes in at 9:10h when the meeting started at 9:00h? We have to agree on guidelines and feel free to re-open a discussion.’ - Marjolijn Hendrickx, HR Manager

  Our wine fridge doesn’t make Dopper a great place to work. Even though it helps. Our office dog doesn’t make Dopper a great place to work. Sorry Suus, please don’t stop wagging your tail! Dopper is a great place to work because of me. And before you think I’m being arrogant: it’s not just because of me, it’s because of every single individual who is contributing to our mission (so yes, even me). Our Green ring is all about the people at Dopper and creating a culture which stimulates happiness and facilitates growth. And it officially paid off: we made the list of Great Places to Work 2017 with an overall score of 80%! And in 2018 as well (with even higher scores!), but that’s for next year’s annual report.

  Dopper facts

  Our overall score for the Great Place to Work audit was 80% and we ended up in the top 10 of small businesses! Our scores on all categories:
  
  Respect: 74%
  Credibility: 65%
  Pride: 95%
  Companionship: 97%
  
  A score of 97% on ‘companionship’ is 10% higher than the average score in this category!

  Yellow notes for a green ring

  How do you create a great company culture? Two words: post its! When this ring was created in 2017, our HR lady and the Management Team put hundreds of those little yellow fellows on a window to answer the question: what does a great place to work look like? The good news: they found out our key values (proactive, connected, fun and responsible) already covered it. The bad news: we didn’t have a strategy which translated the values into actions. But why come up with a plan top-down? So the entire Dopper crew went to the beach. We organized some fun games, discussed our strategy and bonded over drinks. When the sun set in the sea, we had the outline for our Dopper way of working.

  Dopper facts

  There’s always room to improve! The Great Place to Work survey showed us we needed to focus more on:
  
  - Defining a clear strategy and translating it to everyone’s daily work
  
  - Making sure people know who’s the point of contact for specific topics or requests
  
  - Paying more attention to employer branding on LinkedIn
  

  Keep your eye on the goal

  Creating the rings had a big impact on Dopper in 2017. Giving 100,000 people access to clean drinking water… where do you even start? We knew what we were working towards, but how do you translate these high-over goals into tasks for your specific function? As our CEO likes to say: losers have excuses, winners have plans. So all employees sat down with their managers to create a personal OPP - One Page Plan. In these plans we wrote down our personal goals for the year, based on the rings, but divided in smaller steps. We were on our marks. And a course in Project Management for every employee made sure we were ready to hit the ground running!

  A crew you can conquer the world with

  The Dopper ship had a clear destination. Which crew members do you need for our journey? The rings defined our course as a team, what type of company we want to be. This renewed focus resulted in the hiring of many new colleagues with undeniable Dopper DNA, but some colleagues also jumped ship because there was no longer a match. The main goal in 2017? Building a stable team. To do so, you have to: a. Hire the right people, and b. Make sure these people want to stay. So we gave them good coffee, a nice salary and countless karma points. For a start. Another key factor at Dopper is personal development. Everybody gets an educational budget and is challenged to spend it all. A training with a link to your work at Dopper is nice, but this budget is first and foremost here to stimulate personal growth.

  Dopper facts

  At the end of 2017, 36 people were working at Dopper.

  Work life balance

  There’s more to a person than work. Friends, family, hobbies, me-time and more, all in one person! And even though working at Dopper is like one big party (most of the time), we believe there should be enough room for every aspect of your life. When the pepernoten were in store and everyone was busy working on their Dopper-Sinterklaasmedley 2017, the big bosses went shopping for the ultimate gift for all Dopper employees. They came back with a video of them, standing in a store, holding all sorts of well - crap. We were overjoyed when we actually left empty handed. They gave us the three days between Christmas and New Year’s Eve off! Quality time to spend with our (non Dopper) families.

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  OUR PRODUCT
  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  ‘I dream of a closed Dopper loop: to reuse everything we produce. Perfection doesn’t happen overnight, but we made real progress in 2017. For example: we got awarded the silver Cradle-to-Cradle Certificate for our Dopper Originals.’ - Paul Krab, Manager Operations & Supply Chain

  We love our pretty bottles, the design, the colors, the prints… we could talk about them for hours. But we’re not introducing new bottles every year just because we want to complement our fashionable outfits or follow the latest trend. We need to evolve, come up with refreshing ideas and launch innovative products. If we keep on improving our kickass water bottle, people won’t have any excuse for using single-use water bottles!

  The bottle is the message

  Last year, we launched not one, but two new lines of Doppers. As a tribute to the love of our lives, we presented our Ocean Collection in March which contained every shade of Sea! And in August we added a dash of color with our Perfect Paradise Collection. And maybe it was the tropical vibes of the latter collection that made us long for another beach party, because we decided to have a big launch event. Retailers from far and wide came to raise their Dopper to clean oceans and admire the four new, fashionable and fresh colors: Hakuna Mintata, Sunshine Splash, Sea Green and Pink Paradise.

  Dopper facts

  Most popular colors of the Perfect Paradise Collection:
  
  Sea Green
  Pink Paradise

  Have you ever seen a yoga class without a Dopper? You may have, but that’s not the point. Fact is, that many of our Doppers are being used while practicing the downward facing dog, doing push ups or running cross country. No wonder the Dopper Sport Cap is popular. So we decided to add an Atlantic Blue version to our collection. This way, you can feel flushed and sweaty, but you’ll be still rocking a matching outfit. And to make sure you can bring your badass bottle when you go bouldering, we also launched our very own Dopper Carrier!

  A successful sequel

  Unlike the fifth Pirates of the Caribbean movie that premiered last year (or was it the sixth?), the sequel of our tough Dopper Steel sure got a lot of attention. We announced the birth of its little brother: the Dopper Solid Steel! The size of a Dopper Original, but with a steel body that makes the Terminator’s six pack look mediocre. This knight in shining armor with its steel bottle and white cap - minus the white horse - is always ready to rescue damsels (and gallants) in need of immediate rehydration.

  After 2017, our Doppers will never be the same.To crank up production, we needed new molds for a different machine. We won’t bore you with the technical details, but we made some adjustments and the Dopper Original 2.0 was born! It looks the same as your Dopper at home, but a sip from this new school Dopper Original is only a wrist twist away!

  The whole shebang!

  Our bottles aren’t the only thing we changed this year. If you visit one of our retailers’ stores, You can’t miss our new Dopper display. This sustainable wooden frame shares our mission and feels more in line with our brand, doesn’t it? We also replaced the tags on elastic bands around the bottles by banderols, naturally made from recycled paper.

  Step it up!

  At Dopper, we have (and receive) the craziest ideas for new products. Maybe you’ve seen our April Fool’s video? To make sure we keep focus and launch kickass bottles year after year, we decided to get a professional on board: our very own Product Manager, the brains behind the bottle, Niels!

  A kickass water bottle isn’t enough. What if you buy a Dopper and it breaks? We hope our quality standards prevent this, but if the proverbial shit hits the fan, we want to deliver award winning service! We’re creating instruction videos, FAQ’s and we’re training our team to turn any customer into a Dopper fan for life!

  The road to perfection

  Niels might be the brains behind the bottle, but if want you go looking for the body and soul, you can now get directions from our Product Roadmap (when you work at Dopper that is, we’re not sharing our secrets yet). This map magically appeared after the creation of this ring and is being watched over by the fantastic five: Marketing, Sales, Supply Chain, Finance and of course Product Development. This collaboration is making sure we are launching our coolest product yet in 2018!

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  THE FOUNDATION
  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  ‘Last year, we really laid the groundwork for this goal. The numbers don’t show it yet, but we are ready to make a huge splash. We intensified our collaboration with Simavi and we’re exploring additional partnerships, initiatives and solutions to increase our impact tenfold!’ - Anneke Hendriks, Project Manager Dopper Foundation.

  At Dopper we LOVE water. The beautiful blue in our oceans, but we’re just as crazy about tap water. And what’s not to love? It’s delicious, healthy and by drinking tap water you’re actually preventing plastic from getting into our oceans! That’s why we’re promoting tap water wherever we can. Unfortunately, not everybody has access to this heavenly liquid. But we’re trying to change that. Imagine the Amsterdam Arena, sold out. Twice. Or all the inhabitants of the Seychelles. That’s the number of people we want to give access to clean drinking water to. And to make it extra challenging: these hundred thousand people we’re talking about are not living in Amsterdam or any location with access to clean tap water for that matter. Challenge accepted!

  WASH!

  No, we can’t smell you through the screen. Though it’s always good to check your armpits every now and then. WASH refers to the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene program. Ever since Dopper was founded, we have been supporting Simavi, a foundation with which we give people in Nepal access to clean drinking water and sanitation facilities. In 2017 Dopper became Simavi’s partner in the WASH alliance. What does this mean? We are now part of a bigger network of changemakers, so our efforts have a bigger impact. Together with Simavi we are working on raising awareness in Nepal about safe drinking water, creating a local WASH community and improving facilities in the earthquake areas.

  Dopper facts

  In 2017 we started a renewed collaboration with Simavi, which will help us give 10,000 people access to clean drinking water & sanitation.

  Tap. Dance.

  When you’re at a festival, you can dance, drink and dive. Mostly into the piles of plastic cups and bottles lying around. Last year, we decided to join forces with festival ‘Into The Great Wide Open’, Studio Rooie Jas and Lab Vlieland to promote tap water, help create a more circular festival and have a great party! There were reusable cups, Doppers for all artists and a BRAK bar (‘Wasted’ bar) which turned salt water into sweet water in a huge tank over your head. Together with our fellow changemakers, we even organized the first ever Tap Water Summit at the festival. Artists, journalists, entrepreneurs and more spoke passionately about water, discussed issues and really put tap water back up on its rightful pedestal.

  Dopper facts

  We potentially inspired over 6,500 party animals and 2,000 volunteers during ‘Into the Great Wide Open’ at Vlieland.

  Nepal Stories

  Within its rugged mountain peaks, Nepal harbours the second largest freshwater resource in the world. But more than half of the population lacks access to safe drinking water. That seems off, doesn’t it? Dopper foundation wanted to provide information on the challenges and solutions regarding clean drinking water. That’s why in 2017 a motley crew of storytellers travelled to Nepal. A videographer, writer, singer and photographer followed the river upstream along the Himalayan mountain ridges. We shared their stories along the way and in 2018 you’ll be able to follow their incredible journey in the documentary ‘Nepal Stories’.

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  THE MISSION
  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  ‘To prevent single-use plastic from getting into our oceans, you have to change the way people are using these throwaway items in the first place. Surprise them, reacquaint them with tap water and who knows what this will inspire them to do.’ - Lenny Houwaart, International Marketing Manager Dopper.

  When you realize one garbage truck of plastic waste enters our oceans every minute - besides fainting or screaming in horror - you choose to do something. We chose to save 125 million kg’s of single-use plastic. But how? Maybe this annual report results in virtual mass hypnosis and everyone who reads this will stop using single-use water bottles. Are you feeling more sustainable yet? Worth the try. But all kidding aside. To make a lasting impact, we are trying to change people’s behavior. One bottle at a time.

  Worth the weight

  How did we set this goal? Well, 125,000,000 is the amount of surfboards in the whole world. Really? No. That just sounded more fun than doing the math. All you have to know is that every person using a Dopper saves about 40 single-use water bottles a year, which equals 5 kilos of plastic waste in 5 years time. So we need to sell A LOT of Doppers to save 125 million kilos of plastic. But that’s not all we’re doing to reach our goal.

  Bold business!

  Hawaiian shirt on casual Friday? Hardly a bold move. A ping pong table at the office? That’s so cheesy, it’s Roquefort. Dopper has lead the way for frontrunning companies who want to take a stand, step out of their comfort zone and really do something ballsy. Last year, we introduced the P.E.T. FREE movement! BAM! No more single-use water bottles in your office. Delicious tap water, in glasses, mugs or pretty Doppers in company colors. Over 160 inspirational organizations, like Spotify or Bever, decided to join our movement and make waves. And we’re just getting started.

  Dopper facts

  Over 160 companies are already part of our P.E.T. FREE movement since 2017, for example:
  
  HelloFresh
  Brabantia
  Studio Brussel
  LUSH
  

  Groundbreaking and planet saving

  We can’t all be a Boyan Slat or Elon Musk. But at Dopper, we believe there are more brilliant minds out there. We just need to push them into having that planet-saving revelation. But how? We decided to start a competition to get those brain cells working: the Changemaker Challenge! We invited all students in the Netherlands and Belgium to send in research proposals related to clean drinking water and/or plastic waste. There were over 50 entries, 20 semi-finalists and three lucky winners who received 3000,- euros to make their research groundbreaking! And the results? For example, a super-mushroom which is able to remove medicinal waste from water. Weeee are the champignons, my friend!

  Let’s save the planet, shall we?

  Maybe you’ve seen the result of our spring fling with Boyan Slat? The limited edition Ocean Cleanup Dopper was there to celebrate the fact that his prototypes would surf the seas well before 2020 (already in 2018!). At Dopper, we believe saving the planet is fun, but doing it together is a party! Especially when you’re teaming up with a festival like the Paradise City Festival in Antwerp. They became the first P.E.T. FREE festival in Belgium, banning single-use water bottles from the grounds and inviting the Dopper crew to provide the much needed ‘wasted water’ (katerwater) for dehydrated party animals.