The Canadian Safe Boating Council is in the business of promoting boating safety and our current outreach and marketing campaign, BoSS (Boating Safety that Speaks) is designed to promote and encourage lifejacket wear on Lake Simcoe.

BoSS is a 2-year initiative to educate the public on the importance of lifejacket wear and through a regional campaign (in your area), understand if promotion and communication can increase lifejacket wear on the target waterways.

We are concentrating our work in central and southern Ontario, on targeted waterways in an area roughly between North Bay, Newmarket, and Peterborough. The program started in the summer of 2021 with an observational study in four target areas: east and central Kawarthas, Lake Simcoe and attached bays, the Muskoka Region and Lake Nipissing area. During the summer of 2021, the observational studies reviewed the lifejacket wear rates of approximately 13,000 boaters / passengers sorted into gender and approximate age, type, style and size of boats and observed on-water activities (e.g., fishing, cruising, skiing, etc.). From this data, a base line wear rate was created.

In the fall / winter of 2021/2022 a number of lifejacket wear campaigns were developed and researched with boaters representing our target market and currently the decisions are being made for the finished campaign. The campaign, starting with poster-based outreach will depend on companies, organizations, retailers, media, etc. in the target areas assisting with getting the message ‘up and out’. The posters will be interactive using augmented reality and be complemented with media support, information brochures and a strong social media component.