The Campaign

We partnered with Surf Life Saving Australia to develop Samsung Pocket Patrol, a app designed to help beachgoers see the hidden dangers that lifesavers see. It utilises mobile technology that everybody already takes to the beach, and turns it into a life saving tool. Lifesavers use Pocket Patrol’s unique AR algorithm to input real time data of rip currents, stingers, shallow sandbanks, sudden drop offs and submerged rocks. This is then instantly communicated to every person on the beach, saving lifesavers’ valuable time and enabling them to stay focused on monitoring the beach. Pocket Patrol empowers beach goers to be able to identify dangers for themselves and learn more about how to avoid them. We designed the AR user experience be as seamless as possible as to not interrupt the process of the lifesaver’s job, and to be brutally simple for beachgoers to make part of their regular beach behaviour.

Creative Execution

The smartphone app was launched on October 22nd on a stretch of coastline marked as one of Australia’s deadliest – The Sunshine Coast. Fulltime lifeguards and volunteer lifesavers were trained on integrating Pocket Patrol as part of their daily routine while walking up and down patrolling the beaches, creating a one-on-one interaction between beachgoers and lifesavers to educate them about beach safety and how to download the app. Live event activations also promoted the app to beachgoers as well as a 360 VR experience to feel what it’s like to drown in a rip and learn how to swim out of one. Our social media educational posts challenged viewers to try and spot the rips. An online content film demonstrated just how quickly anyone can get dragged out to sea in a rip, by running for the same length of time it could take you to be pulled into deep water.

Results

The real impact of Pocket Patrol has been in changing beach behaviour for all Australians. It’s a completely new way to teach beach safety – training people to recognise the dangers and empower them to make safer swimming decisions. It’s been so well received by lifesavers that it’s now part of the official kit for the SLSA national education program. 3600 people downloaded Pocket Patrol and identified beach dangers during the launch month. A further 13.2 million beachgoers learned about beach safety though live events, social media, a VR 360 film and online film. From a PR perspective, the story was covered by 144 tech websites, family blogs, as well as local and international news helping reach a total audience of 20 million. Data and metrics in the post campaign analysis returned an 81.5% increase in positive sentiment for Samsung and brand engagement results are 15% above the norm.

This work is relevant because a successful direct response from both lifesavers and beachgoers is key to adding value to their ongoing relationship. By lifesavers inputting live beach dangers through the Pocket Patrol app, beach goers are now able to instantly view the dangers. In turn, this empowers the public to recognise the dangers themselves and change their own unsafe swimming behaviours, which makes the lifesavers job easier and frees them up to stay focused on patrolling the beach.

Our strategy was informed by the current situation on Australian beaches that shows 70% of Australians can’t identify one of the biggest hidden dangers. Rip currents. The common myth is that it’s just tourists who can’t swim that get caught in rips. However, the reality is that the biggest fatality group is over-confident males aged 25-50. The Australian lifestyle spent making the most of our beautiful ocean has create a false sense of bravado in many aussie males. Additionally, there are many other deadly dangers on our beaches to watch out for and every day lifesavers face the near impossible task of keeping an entire beach safe. Something needed to be done to get the right beach safety information in the hands of those who need it most and in a way that they would actually engage with and use as part of their daily beach routine.