The Biggest Lifeguard

On the wide expanse of Haeundae Beach, lifeguards can't watch every situation at once, and warning announcements can get lost amid the waves and crowds. 'The Biggest Lifeguard' connected real-time ocean data to the beach's giant digital billboard, so that whenever danger arose, an oversized lifeguard on screen would warn people using hand signals anyone could understand. It turned a billboard that once just showed ads into safety infrastructure protecting the beach, reaching more people beyond the limits of sound and language.

At Haeundae Beach — where 10 million visitors a year share a 1.5km shoreline watched by just 10 lifeguards — a giant commercial billboard was turned into a live safety system. A 31-meter 3D anamorphic lifeguard, wired to national maritime data, greets swimmers when the water is calm and switches to urgent hand signals and warning flags the moment rip currents rise. No text, no language barrier — just a towering figure everyone on the beach can read at a glance. During the campaign the beach recorded zero drownings, and the district government made the system a permanent part of its summer safety protocol.

Haeundae Beach in Busan is Korea's most famous beach, and its enormous curved LED billboard is a real local landmark. The danger it addresses — rip currents, fast offshore channels that pull even strong swimmers out to sea — is a well-known hazard here, which is why a wordless, instantly readable warning matters for the many foreign tourists who cannot understand Korean announcements.