Safer Boating NZ: Spokes-Buoy

For summer water safety, Maritime NZ needed to reach boaties at the exact moment decisions matter. Most fatalities in Aotearoa happen not offshore, but within a few hundred metres of land, the near-shore danger zone where people feel safe, and therefore complacent.

The campaign’s ambition was simple, shift behaviour in real time, right where risk peaks.

So we introduced Buoy-Boy, a floating spokes-buoy placed in high-risk harbours, bays and boat ramps across the country. Not a poster, not a slogan, but a real-world safety marker with personality and purpose. His job is to interrupt the “she’ll be right” mindset and nudge three life-saving actions - wear a lifejacket, check the forecast, take two forms of communication.

In radio, Buoy-Boy becomes the voice of the wider intervention. Instead of an announcer, listeners hear directly from the buoy himself. A funny, relatable Kiwi character who can talk about risk without talking down.

Dynamic Creative Optimization lets him shift his chat with the weather, joking about a ‘classic NZ summer’ in the rain or reminding boaties that calm mornings can turn rough by afternoon.

Buoy-Boy is more than a mascot, he’s a low-cost, high-impact safety innovation meeting boaties where danger truly is.

On radio, he carries Maritime NZ’s bigger ambition to reduce near-shore fatalities through smart, real-time behavioural nudging. A true spokes-buoy for a safer Aotearoa, who is already doing an amazing job.