DISAPPEARING PERSON ALERTS

Short List
TitleDISAPPEARING PERSON ALERTS
BrandQUEENSLAND POLICE SERVICE
Product / ServiceDISAPPEARING PERSON ALERTS
CategoryC02. Use of Mobile
EntrantBWM DENTSU Melbourne, AUSTRALIA
Idea Creation BWM DENTSU Melbourne, AUSTRALIA
Media Placement VIZEUM Sydney, AUSTRALIA
PR COX INALL CHANGE Melbourne, AUSTRALIA
Production GUILTY CONTENT Melbourne, AUSTRALIA

Credits

Name Company Position
Rob Belgiovane BWM Dentsu Group Chief Creative Officer
Amy Hollier BWM Dentsu Executive Creative Director
Phil Van Bruchem BWM Dentsu Associate Executive Creative Director
Chris Andrews BWM Dentsu Creative Director
Chris Andrews BWM Dentsu Creative Director
Tom Opie BWM Dentsu Copy Writer
Chris Plummer BWM Dentsu Art Director
Sonia Mclaverty BWM Dentsu Executive Producer
Mac Wright BWM Dentsu Digital Planner
Justine Sywak Cox Inall Change General Manager
Eleanor McLeod Cox Inall Change Senior Account Manager
Ellen Donald Cox Inall Change Account Executive
Patrick Bell Vizeum Communications Planning Executive
Christopher Tovo Guilty Content Director

The Campaign

Using Snapchat, the fastest growing social media amongst Australian teenagers, we created a new tool to assist Queensland Police with missing person investigations. Sent through Snapchat, Disappearing Person Alerts are real-time, geo-targeted messages that help find missing teenagers. Using the native functionality of Snapchat, the alert (disappearing after 10 seconds) features a recent photo, name and location last seen, while communicating a highly emotive message, ‘Help find John Citizen before he disappears.’ Now every person with a mobile phone can be notified as soon as someone is reported missing in a location near them.

Creative Execution

We created a new tool to assist Queensland Police with missing person investigations. Sent directly through Snapchat, Disappearing Person Alerts are real-time, geo-targeted messages that help find missing teenagers. Using the native functionality of Snapchat, the alert (disappearing after 10 seconds) communicates a highly emotive message, ‘Help find John Citizen before he disappears.’ With each alert featuring a recent photo, name, and location last seen, the police can directly inform all Snapchat users, as soon as someone is reported missing in a location near them. In conjunction with National Missing Persons Week, the initiative was launched with an integrated campaign (press, OOH, TVC, cinema and online) activating Australia’s biggest teenage search party. Now everyone with a mobile phone can help be the eyes and ears in assisting with missing person investigations.

Results

The alerts gained national recognition with a reach of over 8 million from a $0 budget, activating the platform that engages 90% of the group most at risk of going missing - teenagers. The first alert was sent the day the campaign went live - the teenage girl was found within 24 hours. The Queensland Police continue to use the alerts, enabling them to reach a previously disengaged demographic in the search for missing teenagers. In the past 12 months the incidence of persons being reported missing has grown by almost 30%, with a significant increase in the reporting of persons under the age of 18 years. With the help of Disappearing Person Alerts, Queensland Police continues to maintain a recovery rate of 99.7% for missing persons. The ongoing results continue to surpass Queensland Police’s expectations, generating interest to expand the initiative interstate and overseas.

In the search for missing persons, time is of the essence, and the more people that know of someone’s disappearance, the more likely they are to be found. Disappearing Person Alerts were developed for the Queensland Police to innovate the search for missing persons by creating a more direct, more efficient and more targeted form of alert, through the adoption of social mobile technology. Harnessing the native functionality of Snapchat not only provided an immediate, real-time, and targeted tool for police, but the disappearing nature of the medium helped build an immediate emotional connection by demonstrating what is at stake.

In Australia, a teenager is reported missing every 20 minutes. In the search for these missing persons, police can only do so much - they heavily rely on information from the public. Our strategy was based on mass, immediacy and targeting. The more people, in the right area, who know of a person’s disappearance - the greater chance of them being found. Utilising Snapchat - the fastest growing social media platform among young Australians – gave access to the demographic most at risk of going missing - teenagers. Knowing that 77% of Australian teens use Snapchat daily (42 times on average per week), Disappearing Person Alerts aimed to reach a previously disengaged demographic, activating them to become the eyes and ears in assisting the police with vital information. With the first 24 hours being the most vital, we sought to find a way to make every second count.

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