At first glance, the calm surface of a lake occupies almost the entire ad. Only upon closer inspection does it become clear that its contours belong to a body bag. This transition between a familiar scene and a warning forms the basis of the new campaign The Last Swim, launched by the Quebec Lifesaving Society and the agency LG2 as summer draws to a close, while the season for water activities is still underway.
The campaign is currently active across several channels, including the SÉPAQ network, local OOH placements and radio. It is running in French and English and targets swimmers and boaters who may underestimate the risks on the water as the colder days approach.
The visual idea was not created by digitally transforming water into a prop. Photographer Raphaël Ouellet photographed real models lying in body bags, while the textures of different bodies of water were captured by drone. By combining them, the water became part of the warning itself, without any need to further explain the consequence to which the campaign points.
Raynald Hawkins, executive director of the Lifesaving Society, says that the approach of autumn often brings a drop in vigilance, as if the risks were disappearing together with the summer heat.
“With The Last Swim, we wanted to create a visual wake-up call to remind people that a single moment of carelessness at the end of the season can be irreversible, and that a lifejacket remains the only true protection,” says Hawkins.
For LG2, which has worked with the Society for more than a decade, the communication challenge has remained the same: how to make the safety message sufficiently visible to people who believe an accident will not happen to them. Frédéric Tremblay, creative director at the agency, explains that the body bags shaped by the surface of the water convey its dual nature, both magnificent and unforgiving.
Instead of offering another depiction of risky behaviour, The Last Swim finds its warning in the landscape itself. The campaign therefore presents a lifejacket not as an accessory, but as a decision that determines whether the last swim of the season will simply be the last one this year.
