Latham Leverages Tragedy to Promote Safety Features, Boost Cover Sales
Event summary
- Latham Pool Products is partnering with Bode and Morgan Miller, who lost a daughter to drowning, to promote pool safety during National Water Safety Month.
- The campaign focuses on highlighting Latham's automatic safety pool covers, emphasizing their weight-bearing capabilities and keyed safety switches.
- According to the CDC, drowning is the leading cause of death for children ages 1-4, with over 4,000 deaths annually in the U.S.
- Latham, a $700M+ revenue company (estimated), manufactures in-ground pools and accessories across North America, Australia, and New Zealand.
- The Millers' personal tragedy is being leveraged to drive awareness and sales of Latham's Coverstar automatic pool covers.
The big picture
Latham's strategy represents a shift towards emotionally-driven marketing within the home improvement sector. The partnership with the Millers underscores a growing trend for companies to align with social causes, particularly those related to safety and family well-being. While the tactic carries inherent risks, it also presents an opportunity to differentiate Latham's brand and drive sales of a higher-margin product – automatic safety covers – in a competitive market.
What we're watching
- Brand Perception
- The long-term impact of associating a product with a tragic event remains to be seen; Latham will need to carefully manage messaging to avoid backlash and ensure authenticity.
- Sales Impact
- The effectiveness of this marketing campaign in driving Coverstar sales will be a key indicator of Latham’s ability to leverage emotional storytelling for commercial gain.
- Regulatory Scrutiny
- Increased public awareness of pool safety risks could lead to stricter regulations and liability concerns for pool manufacturers, requiring proactive adaptation from Latham.
