In 2014, more people drowned in Sweden than during any other year in the last decade. In fact, in the month of July, Swedish water-related accidents took more lives than road traffic accidents. Most of the drowning victims were men and the majority had consumed alcohol – coincidentally the group least receptive to advice. So we decided to prove that point.

To showcase alcohol impairment, we asked a world-famous synchronized swimming team to perform their routine. Drunk. The team also represents those most likely to drink and dive in Sweden - middle-aged men. They were filmed for the short documentary Don’t Drink and Dive (DD&D) under the supervision of the Swedish National Swimming Team’s doctor, two lifeguards from the Swedish Life Saving Society and a certified rescue diver.

With the objectives to save lives and raise awareness, DD&D was launched a week prior to midsummer, a holiday closely connected to both drinking and swimming. During Swedish summer, and especially during the traditional midsummer night’s eve, many people jump into a lake for the dip they have been waiting for during a long winter.

Our aim was to specifically target middle-aged men, their families and relatives. However, we also had a bigger perspective where we aimed to reach the general population to change attitudes towards swimming drunk. We produced stickers and partnered up with beer and wine producers who put the “DD&D-label” on their bottles, restaurants joined and more stakeholders followed.

The overall goal for the campaign was to save lives.

The topic became of global interest. Swimming drunk might be a Swedish midsummer tradition but it’s also a global problem. Globally, alcohol consumption is involved in up to 70% of deaths associated with water recreation and nearly 80 % of people who die from drowning are male, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

In a follow-up survey, 1 in 5 Swedes stated they’d seen or heard about DD&D and among those it was more common to state that no alcohol is ok to consume before a summer swim .

The initiative resulted in over 300 articles in more than 25 countries, resulting in a total reach of 250 million . The General Secretary of the Swedish Life Saving Society declared that the initiative could save lives – and it most probably did. During the campaign period the number of drowned men decreased by 39%.