Nobody's Faster
than Disaster

Safer boating Social Media Campaign

– Campaign

CHALLENGE – An increasing number of young people are using small boats and paddle craft, with nearly one in three New Zealanders aged 18 and over now involved in recreational boating. The unfortunate consequence is that there are now more fatalities on the water involving younger people. Maritime New Zealand needed to reach out to this new young audience to educate them on the importance of wearing life jackets, taking appropriate forms of communication and ensure they take heed of the same safer boating practices as boaties with larger vessels.

IDEA – To engage a younger audience, we wanted to use social media in a humorous way. To maximise reach and cut-through, we created shareable videos, using “out there” content that would engage and inspire a young audience.The videos highlighted how quickly things can go wrong if you are not prepared, using the hosts of Big Angry Fish – Nathan and Milan – to act out the characters against stock film animation.

Result – More than 300,000 people week were reached through the Saferboating and Big Angry Fish facbook page, with a huge response from the boating community around their interpretation of communications, lifejackets and speeding.