The National Missing Persons Helpline launches its first TV
commercial through Walsh Trott Chick Smith this week.
The ad aims to raise awareness of the charity amid the growing number of
organisations chasing private funding.
The 30-second execution shows a hand repeatedly shaking a polaroid
portrait of a man smiling for the camera. Peculiar background noises
indicate that the film is running backwards as the picture begins to
fade with each shaking. As the image eventually goes blank, the endline
appears: "Hope fades fast. Funding helps restore it."
The writer, Rob DeCleyn, and the art director, Simon Micheli, approached
the helpline with the concept of the commercial after developing the
idea themselves. "We thought it was a really impactful way of
highlighting the charity," DeCleyn said. "They just dovetail together
really nicely."
The timing of the campaign is designed to build on what is traditionally
a time of high awareness for the helpline, when TV stations tend to run
programmes about the missing persons issue. "They find that most people
find out about them at this time of the year," DeCleyn said.
The commercial was produced by DeCleyn and Micheli and edited by
Frontline Television.
The ad breaks on 16 November across the Carlton TV network and on the
Yorkshire Community Channel as well as on the ambient petrol station
service, Forecourt TV. Donations of media time were organised by the
charity.
