60 Second Hero
THE CHALLENGE
More than 120 people drown outside the flags at Australian beaches each year. Surf Life Saving Australia needed to change beachgoers’ behaviour, especially younger Australians. After years of fear-led messaging, we needed a fresh way to make the flags matter.
THE IDEA
Australians care about plenty of things at the beach. Friends. Fitness. Footy. But the flags don’t always make the list. So we created Give An F About The Flags, a campaign that used our favourite beach pastimes to make a life-saving point. From frolicking to freestyling, we celebrated all the Fs worth giving, then landed the most important: swimming between the flags.
HOW PEOPLE ENGAGED
The campaign reached beachgoers through TV, cinema, online video and outdoor advertising. Familiar beach moments and a cheeky turn of phrase gave people a reason to pay attention, putting a serious safety message into language they’d actually remember.
WHAT IT BUILT
In a 1,200-person Omnipoll study, 90% of viewers said the ad made them more likely to swim between the flags. Awareness of beach hazards increased 2.5 times, while the proportion recognising the coast as hazardous rose from 35% to 62%. A little cheek helped a life-saving message hit home.
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