A Trip Out to Sea - Health Campaign

             The innovative TEDMED seminar inspired us to look at a campaign that effectively uses innovation to promote safety awareness. We chose the campaign launched by CLM BBDO and Guy Cotton that focused on emphasizing the importance of wearing a life jacket while at sea. They manufactured a mobile app that simulated first person drowning. In order to prevent your character from drowning one must swipe or click repeatedly. The app shows that any repetitive action whether it be clicking or swimming creates exhaustion.

            The app is a prime example of the extended parallel process model. This model uses a level of fear to engrain the product/message in the viewers’ mind. The campaign is also an example of the reactants theory. Instead of simply telling viewers to wear a life jacket, people experienced why they should wear one. This app finally exemplifies narrative theory because it personally involves the user in a story, making them feel as if they were a part of the narrative. With the underlying message being “if one does not wear a life jack one will drown” the app is a loss frame.

            This app received a Gold Lion in the User Experience Category.  There were one million unique visitors to the website in the first 48 hours across 220 countries. Traffic to the Guy Cotton Facebook page increased 2,150%. “Best of all thousands of users said that they would never neglect wearing their life jacket anymore,” proving the overall effectiveness of the campaign.