Surf Life Saving Queensland and Romeo Digital launch world-first beach safety technology Life-Fi

| | 31 Comments

Life-Fi_Hero (1).jpgSurf Life Saving Queensland and Romeo Digital are introducing a world-first in beach safety technology with the launch of Life-Fi.

Digital innovation Life-Fi is set to save lives this summer by breaking down the communication barriers between surf lifesavers and international tourists.

The new technology provides access to unlimited free wi-fi between the flags and enables beachgoers of different nationalities to receive live surf patrol instructions in their own language, without requiring app download.

Says Oscar Nicholson, head of innovation, Romeo Digital: “Life-Fi connects people’s mobiles to an interface that detects their language settings and automatically serves them culturally specific information.”

In the past 10 years there have been 75 drownings recorded on Queensland beaches and, of these, 31 fatalities (41%) were international tourists or recent migrants.

Says Marco Eychenne, creative director, Romeo Digital: “Life-Fi has a powerful purpose. To communicate briefly and effectively to different cultures, we designed prevention messages with a universal visual approach. In a matter of seconds, people are informed of what to do to stay safe.”

Backed by Queensland’s Department of Innovation and Tourism Industry Development, the first stage of Life-Fi roll out will be across ten tourism hotspots, in time for the school holidays.

Says John Brennan, CEO, SLSQ” “For us, the benefits are two-fold; it’s a great way to encourage all swimmers to stay between the flags and, importantly, with the steep increase in overseas visitation, Life-Fi is going to help us save more lives.”

Life-Fi is the first application of Romeo’s breakthrough Actify Live technology, which enables a direct dialogue between a brand and a person, without having to download an app. Romeo is the digital sibling of Rumble Creative and part of the Rumbletown group of agencies.

Client: Surf Life Saving Queensland

Kym Richardson: Media & Public Affairs Manager

Kelsie Boucher: State Marketing Manager

Agency: Romeo Digital

Head of Innovation: Oscar Nicholson

Managing Director: Amanda Schultz

Creative Director: Marco Eychenne

Art Director: Marco Eychenne

Lead Designer: Jade Stephens

Illustrator: Madeleine Perrin

Copywriter: Mike Kennedy

Head of Strategy: Scott Esdaile

Technical Director: Joel Garvey

Developer: Jonny Lu

Developer: Michael Schmidt

Developer: Chris Nowlan

Account Manager: Caitlin Lilley

ACTIFY LIVE:

Managing Director: Damian Coren