Missing People enlist Kate McCann as brand ambassador, to launch digital billboard campaign

By on Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Charity, Missing People, will launch digital billboards nationwide, in cities including London, Birmingham, and Manchester, at rail and underground networks, as well as high streets and shopping centres, through £1 million of donated advertising space. The launch will be an attempt to reach 10 million adults throughout the course of 12 weeks, and will be Kate McCann’s first official role as the charity’s ambassador.

This summer is going to be one of the busiest in British history, so is the perfect time for outdoor media space owners to pull together like this and launch such a large scale digital campaign. The billboards will feature photos of the missing people, mainly children, their descriptions, and that all important phone number ‘116 000’, which was launched earlier this year. (We covered the launch here).

Using ‘OpenLoop’ technology, staff and volunteers will be able to instantly update the billboards to display information about the latest high risk missing persons.

Kate stresses the importance of publicity, and public awareness in missing people cases, she says “When your child, or someone you know, goes missing, you want the whole world to stop and start looking for them. You feel completely helpless. There’s an initial flurry of activity then it dies down. You feel like the world has gone away and forgotten about your missing child. That’s when you really feel lost. As time goes on you feel as if people have started to give up on them. It’s very hard to keep the momentum going. But for the families, having these billboards up gives them real hope.”

“More than 250,000 people are reported missing each year in the UK – worryingly they could fill the Olympic Stadium three times over. Thankfully, campaigns like this can play a vital part in the search. In May, two youngsters featured in the charity’s ‘Big Tweet for Missing Children’ were found safely.”

Kate’s role is said to involve lobbying Parliament for better funding, speaking at events, and supporting the families of missing people. She is said to have wanted to help the charity to raise awareness of the issue of missing people as a whole, as well as individuals, and to help the charity as a thank you gesture for their support during their own appeals for missing daughter, Madeleine.

Who better to endorse this charity, than a parent who has experienced having a missing child first hand? Madeleine McCann’s case was possibly the most high profile we’ve seen, Kate is likely the best woman for the job to make a conspicuous success of this charity’s appeal.

Involved agencies: Outdoor Media Centre, Grand Visual

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