Missing People unveils campaign with BBH to promote its phone service

The 90 second film was launched at a Downing Street reception hosted by the Home Secretary Theresa May yesterday, Wednesday 23 May. A 60 second version will run in cinemas and on MTV from Friday.

Missing People’s ad shows a boy attempts to make a phone call to a woman, who seems to be his mother. The boy manages to make the call, and the film freezes after a woman’s voice answers.

The audience is invited to dial a number to hear the conversation, which is between the boy and the charity, as he asks them to let his mum know he is okay. Those who do not phone the number will view the rest of the ad in silence.

It ends with the voiceover “Our free, confidential phone service helps those who go missing safely reconnect. We are Missing People”.

The phone call element of the campaign has been further supported with interactive posters, donated by washroom contractor partner Admedia, which will be placed in leisure and travel destinations nationwide, allowing consumers to hear the call made by the boy on the poster, simply by scanning their NFC phone over the NFC logo.

Print and digital out-of-home media, handled by Outdoor Media Centre and Grand Visual, will also form part of the campaign.

Martin Houghton-Brown, chief executive of the charity Missing People, said: “Our brief to BBH was challenging: can you raise awareness of a vital new number for a charity whose work is not well known or understood? They have managed to create a campaign which communicates in space of 30 seconds, why the charity exists, and who we are here to help. What’s more it communicates the number in the most effective way possible.

“Thanks to BBH and our partners Grand Visual, the Outdoor Media Centre and its members including Admedia, we now have a campaign that will help to ensure that everyone who needs it knows where to turn if the worst should happen.”