Royal Life Saving WA has launched a new water safety campaign in collaboration with 303 MullenLowe and Mediahub, titled 'Be a Mermate'.

The campaign is a continuation of the 'Mermates' platform first introduced in 2019, also developed by 303 MullenLowe. The new campaign targets a new generation of water-goers and aims to curb risky water behaviour.

The 'Be a Mermate' campaign has evolved from the original campaign's focus on alcohol and water safety to address a broader range of water safety issues. This shift in focus was in response to changing factors associated with fatal drownings, including environmental factors, location, inexperience, prior injury, and swimming ability.

"Top factors now associated with fatal drownings range from environmental, location, inexperience, prior injury, and swimming ability, with drug/alcohol use lower than previous years. A new safety awareness message was needed to focus on these risky behaviours. This evolved approach will send a clear message to young people, and their mates, that keeping each other safe is the best way to avoid water related tragedy this summer," said Royal Life Saving WA's Blanche Marchant.

The campaign uses humour to resonate with its target audience, primarily young males aged 18-24. It is live across Meta, YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat, Programmatic Video, and GumGum.

"Using several 'Mermates' basking on the rocks was a deliberate creative choice to bring the Mermates to life in a new and relevant way, while encouraging the young and largely male target audience to think about their own friends in these situations," said 303 MullenLowe Perth Copywriter, Ellysia Burton.

The media strategy for the campaign focuses on reaching the audience in contextually relevant placements, using mostly short format video.

"We’ve loved working with Royal Life Saving WA and 303 MullenLowe on the Mermates campaign over the past six years. This demographic can be tricky to pin down with paid media, however, it’s a challenge we’ve relished tackling each year. The media strategy of this campaign has focused on reaching the audience in contextually relevant placements, using mostly short format video to capture attention. This new iteration of the Mermates creative lends itself beautifully to this strategy," said Mediahub Perth Media Manager, Meg Handley.

Royal Life Saving WA has been partnering with 303 MullenLowe for over 15 years. The 'Be a Mermate' campaign is the latest in a series of initiatives aimed at promoting water safety and reducing the incidence of water-related tragedies.