48 Proceedings | Vol. 83, No. 1 execute its Sober Skipper video projects. The result was a trio of gorgeously produced mini documentaries featur- ing well-known boating personalities speaking out against boating under the influence. The segment from Key West-based influencers Clay and Stephanie Cowart registered more than 400,000 views on the couple’s Life by the Bow social channels. Videos featuring professional wake boarder Thomas Herman and angler Mike Iaconelli also drew strong audi- ences. Each video was tailored to the targeted audience segment using language and imagery specific to the activity. “It was important to us that they use their own words. We didn’t want it to sound scripted,” Sea Tow Foundation Executive Director Gail Kulp, who oversaw the productions, said. Just as impor- tantly, the video footage catered to the target audiences, with Herman’s wakeboarding clip opening with a high- amplitude front flip, and Iaconelli’s video closing with him holding a fat bass to the camera. Water Sports Foundation The WSF’s campaigns have placed a premium on authenticity, employing a guerilla-marketing strategy in which influencers are empowered to script and create their own content, within parameters set by WSF project manag- ers. The first guideline is to model and promote safe boating, but it is equally important that influencers share the message in the style of their chan- nel. This strategy has the benefit of low production costs and consistent results. While it’s not possible for influenc- ers to guarantee impressions, because the social media platforms ultimately control traffic volume, their posts deliver a predictable level of engage- ment and range of views. For exam- ple, the WSF partnered in 2024 and 2025 with The Qualified Captain, Instagram’s leading boating influencer with 1.66 million current subscribers. As part of its New Media Outreach for Boating Safety project, the influencer posted eight safety-focused reels during the summer 2025 boating season. The posts delivered a median of 609,000 views, for an extraordinarily low cost-per-thousand (CPM) of $1.64. For comparison, television CPM ranges from $15 to $50 for broadcast and from $10 to $25 for cable.2 While the best-performing video collected more than 1.3 mil- lion views, it’s notable that the lowest- performing reel still garnered 184,000 views. Even if all the videos had per- formed at the lower end of the range, the project would have achieved a highly competitive CPM of $5.43. This predictable range of views allows project managers to establish a likely traffic “floor” that ensures good value for the project. Organic influencers wield the most traction in the social media envi- ronment. These individuals exert tre- mendous cultural influence on their followers, who in some cases number in the millions. And, by carefully choosing which influ- encers to work with, boating safety advocates gain access to narrowly defined audience segments. Think about the people in your dentist’s waiting room. If anybody is going to pick up that old copy of Boating it’s going to be the middle-aged gent in the Parrothead shirt, not the young man hunched over his phone. The young male demographic is becoming increasingly hard to reach through traditional marketing and has proven particularly resistant to public service announcements like the old “This is Your Brain on Drugs” cam- paigns featuring an egg bubbling in a hot skillet. Two of the biggest risk- factors in boating are being young and being male. Boating influencers whose followers skew young and male are an excellent conduit to this critical at-risk audience. Cross-referencing incident data with specific user groups allows RBS nonprofits to identify the people they want to connect with and the influenc- ers most likely to facilitate that con- nection. Bass anglers, for example, are more likely than other boaters to fall overboard while underway. For rec- reational kayakers, the risk factors are inexperience and kayaks that lack internal flotation. Guided by these data, the WSF built its 2025 paddling safety outreach campaign around beginner-focused tips videos. When Kulp began planning Sea Tow Foundation’s In 39.8% of kayaking fatalities in 2022, the kayaker had less than 10 hours experience. Adults ages 18-36 represented 30% of U.S. boating fatalities in 2024, while men accounted for 79% of those deaths.
