The Pool Party

Our film is shown from the perspective of Sam, a child who should have been supervised near a pool. Sam’s parents bring their family to a pool party, but Sam wanders off while they are catching up with friends. Party goers greet Sam but everyone makes the same mistake: assuming someone else is watching. Sam moves through the house and out towards the pool, unnoticed, and finds a bright orange ball. Sam reaches for the ball and falls into the pool, sinking down, showing the terrifying viewpoint of drowning. The audience is left with a question they’re not sure they can bear: will Sam be okay? A horrible question they can only be free of by visiting our online destination.

Creative Pool Award 2018: Bronze in digital category

Agency: ICF Olson |  Director: Andrew Chiu |  Creative Director: Dylan Gerard | Art Director: Bowie Shum |  Producer:  Jesse Grossman |  Account Director: Laura Guilia

You will notice that we never show Sam. We did this so the audience would not know if Sam was male or female, nor of any particular race. That way, the viewer never gets the comfort of dissociating their own child or a child they knew from the possibility of such tragedy. Sam could be anyone’s child. Sam could be your child. Though water safety applies to everyone, our main target was parents. To take that one step further, we ensured that our TV was heavily focused on ethnic channels because data shows that many newcomers often come to Canada without basic swimming instruction, making them particularly vulnerable to the dangers of drowning. To reach a wide target audience, the spot aired 4-5 times per day on over 50 national channels.