World Drowning Prevention Day: Seeing the Risk Before It Happens

THE BRIEF

Drowning takes a life in seconds, and it happens in the places families love most:

poolside, at the beach, by the river on a summer afternoon. It’s one of the leading causes of unintentional death worldwide, and almost entirely preventable. Yet it rarely commands the public attention its scale demands, partly because prevention campaigns have too often led with fear rather than understanding.

For World Drowning Prevention Day 2024, WHO came to Rooftop wanting something different: a campaign rooted in empathy, not alarm, that could reach families in ordinary moments and give them the confidence to act.

THE CREATIVE

We focused on the tension of everyday moments near water rather than their worst outcomes. The campaign’s centrepiece was a hero Instagram Reel built around a visual loop: five familiar scenes, from poolside play to seaside afternoons, moving seamlessly between the surface and what lies beneath. Each clip ended unresolved, drawing viewers to the caption where the life-saving information waited.

We worked alongside a carefully chosen group of content creators whose authenticity gave the campaign its emotional range.

Interactive quizzes, polls and shareable assets extended the conversation beyond passive viewing, making it easy for audiences to share the message into their own communities.

Nicole Hughes shared the story of losing her young son to drowning, turning her grief into advocacy with a courage the campaign could never have created alone.

Olympic swimmer and coach James Gibson brought practical, accessible water safety guidance grounded in real expertise.

The WaterbabyFamily offered gentle, instructive content for parents navigating early water safety with toddlers, meeting families exactly where they were.

THE FILMS

THE IMPACT

Between 22 July and 1 August 2024, #DrowningPrevention was mentioned nearly 3,300 times across 40 languages. The hero Reel reached 947,000 views on Instagram alone, with 7,675 likes and 781 shares, while content creators generated a further 949,000 views, turning the campaign into a community-driven conversation rather than a broadcast.

By focusing on empathy rather than alarm, the campaign helped reposition drowning prevention as something communities own together: knowledge shared between neighbours, parents and friends that begins long before anyone is in danger.

THE DETAILS