2019 Winners & Shortlists

Why is this work relevant for PR Lynx?

In order to raise awareness of missing children, we utilized a media tool that connected directly with the intended audience: trucks that traveled into parts of the country where regular media did not.

Background

Every year, more than 3000 children go missing in Pakistan. A large number of these children are kidnapped and trafficked quickly to various parts of the country, with countless cases of abuse and mutilation. There are few mechanisms to aid in the recovery of children, including the fact that traditional media to raise awareness does not penetrate into remote regions. Roshni Helpline is an NGO that is dedicated to recovering missing children and reuniting them with their families. As a non-profit, Roshni needed a unique communication tactic which would help them with their mission. Berger Paints also has a vision to contribute to social good through a relevant use of their products. Our brief was to come up with an exceptional idea that would not only connect directly with audiences in raising awareness about missing children, but would also work on a practical level of solving the problem.

Describe the creative idea.

"Truck Art" is a unique form of art found in Pakistan: transport and goods trucks traveling across the country are customarily painted and decorated with elaborate floral patterns, animals, icons, portraits and calligraphy. These brilliantly painted works of art often include portraits of famous personalities - actors, sportspersons, military chiefs, and politicians. Truck owners and drivers routinely compete with each other to build the most ornate truck possible, as it drives business. It is a distinctively Pakistani cultural icon: much loved and well followed. This was the unique media platform we used: in place of famous personalities, we painted portraits of missing children on these trucks in the style of truck art, with a helpline number. We collaborated with conceptual artist Samar Minallah Khan and regional trucking companies to ensure that not only would the art look authentic, but would be properly disseminated.

Describe the strategy.

Filing a report for a missing child is a complicated process where usually no legal action is taken until it’s too late and the child’s been transported from the original location, making them almost impossible to find in a large country where there’s very little infrastructure to locate missing persons. To address this, we needed a highly-mobile, non-stationary device; a poster of a missing child in one location would not help as much as one that travels through the country, with an accessible number to call on. This was a campaign in which each execution connected with thousands of people all over the country at a minimum budget, while not only raising awareness of child abductions to a greater audience, but also providing an apparatus to locate missing children. On business strategy level, the activation fit perfectly with the brand vision of using paint to bring about a positive change.

Describe the execution.

We collaborated with a renowned artist who in turn worked with local "truck artists" - painters who specialize in the unique skill of drawing on trucks. Using paints supplied by Berger Paints, the artists replicated the last photograph of the missing child and painted the backs of these trucks with not only the portrait, but a helpline number and information about the child. Trucks were selected to ensure the routes would be covered in every direction possible, starting from the original location where the child went missing and radiating outwards. The vehicles drove through both urban and rural areas.

List the results.

Within only the first 4 weeks of 20 painted trucks released, 3 children have been recovered and reunited with their parents due to callers noticing the trucks (and mentioning so on the call). 1,015 calls were received on the helpline in these 4 weeks from 39 different cities in all parts of Pakistan, of which 104 were leads for the children on the trucks. The trucks have covered almost all parts of Pakistan, making hundreds of thousands aware of the campaign and Roshni Helpline: a beacon of hope for parents who search for their missing children but have nowhere to turn to when the police ignore them. The campaign plans to paint a total of 500 trucks this year. For the Berger brand itself, visits to their Facebook page rose by 395% in the first week alone.