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.