StEtan Patz, milk cartons became as a major media vehicle to raise awareness and involve the public in the search for a missing child. Some 30 years later, missing kids on milk cartons are no more, yet the Missing Children’s Society still handles over 50,000 children reported cases in Canada every year with limited financial resources for expansive search efforts.

Instead of a traditional ad campaign we created Milk Carton 2.0 – a series of web and mobile tools using platforms like Facebook, Google and Foursquare that raised awareness for the organization, all while actively engaging the Canadian public in the search for missing children.

Milk Carton 2.0 could serve two very important purposes at once:

1. An innovative new missing child alert system that would support the ongoing search & rescue efforts of the organization and its investigator team at no additional staffing costs.

2. An impactful media vehicle that would also raise awareness about the organization and its work every time a missing child alert message was sent out, at no paid media cost

Milk Carton 2.0 was a new way the public could do something and make a “donation” of something of value – other than money.

- Milk Carton 2.0 gave the Missing Children Society a national profile and presence, generating over 23 million unique earned media impressions during the first month.

- Milk Carton 2.0 improved the financial health of the organization, with a 15% increase in public donations and a 27% increase in corporate sponsorship.

- Milk Carton 2.0 helped the search & rescue efforts of the organization at no additional cost, creating an online search party that reached 70% of all Canadians.

- Milk Carton 2.0 saved children’s lives, directly responsible (as verified by post-recovery interviews and police reports) for assisting in the rescue of 6 missing children in the first 5 months alone.