The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is launching the charity’s national drowning prevention campaign, Respect the Water, to communicate one key survival skill that could save lives on the UK’s coastline this summer.
Around 190 people die at the UK and Irish coasts each year, with about half of those being people who didn’t intend to enter the water.
The campaign, with advertising created by krow, encourages people to fight their instincts to swim when they unexpectedly find themselves in cold water. Instead, it is calling on the public to remember one simple skill – floating – that could save lives from drowning.
krow has created a 60-second film, and a 30-second version, that will run in cinemas and on video-on-demand services throughout the summer.
Directed by Olly Goodrum of Nice Shirt, the film brings to life the experience of cold water shock with people swimming hard in an attempt to survive. It ends with an image of a sea of people floating to survive, alongside the lines “Fight your instinct, float to live.”
