Child Focus, also known as the European Center for Missing and Sexually Exploited Children, needed a smart and dramatic way to confront people about missing children and compel them to share every missing person’s notice and raise awareness of its tragic consequences.
The Missing Class
An ad about missing children no parent could ignore
Client
- Child Focus
Office
- Belgium
Challenge
Inspiration
8.30 am in Belgium is the exact time when the school bell rings for the first time on the first day of school. Moments after, parents drop off their kids – making it the perfect time to air the ad and make it as impactful as possible.
Idea
Child Focus introduced ‘The Missing Class’ – a radio commercial that was just aired once but that no parent could ignore.
On September 1st, the first day of school, at 8.30 am, the exact moment the school bell rings for the first time, people heard a voice taking absences – just like teachers do in their child’s classroom. But every name that’s called out is absent because they are the names of missing children that should have been in school that day. The voice then asks listeners to keep sharing missing person notices on social media because the more people see them, the more likely they are to be found again.
On this day, no fewer than 10 chairs were empty because those children are missing, a harsh reality that deserves our attention
Growth
The spot drove awareness of the importance of keeping up the search for missing children and inspired people to keep sharing the missing persons notices of Child Focus. The spot was also converted into an online video and shared on social media.
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