In almost every kitchen cupboard in Belgium you’ll find the same familiar face. That of a little boy printed on a packet of Cassonade Graeffe sugar. The child on the packaging became a real icon because it has been on the Cassonade packaging for the last 65 years. It’s so iconic that Belgians don’t even know it as Cassonade Graeffe but call it “Kindjessuiker” or “Little kid sugar”.

For their 20th anniversary, Child Focus, the Belgian centre for missing children, teamed up with the sugar brand Tiense Suiker and launched this limited edition of the Cassonade packaging. Nation wide the entire in shelf stock was changed and 250,000 new packets were introduced in every store all over Belgium. But this time the little boy was missing, leaving nothing but an empty chair.

As a non-profit, Child Focus, the Belgian centre for missing children, is always looking for ideas that are picked up by social media and press. Therefor they have to find new ways to get their messages across. The most valuable campaigns are those that intervene in people’s lives and touch them in a personal way. This idea was able to get the message: “keep sharing missing children’s posts on Facebook and never give up hope.” straight to the breakfast table in thousands of Belgian households.

250,000 childless packets were first secretly introduced in stores all over Belgium without any campaign. This immediately caused a lot of surprised reactions on social media.

A week later we sent special direct mails to the press and launched the campaign on social media with a video. At first, the video looked like a typical sugar commercial but then, instead of an actor, it starred Edouard, a young man who had once been missing himself.

The story was picked up by all major newspapers, TV and radio stations. This resulted in renewed attention for all missing children and spread one message across households all over Belgium: Never give up hope.

The campaign caught the desired attention on social media and all major media channels. This brought the message back on the table resulting in an increase of missing children posts on Facebook and an increase of Facebook followers. And in the end, that’s the most valuable result: having more eyes on the lookout for missing children.

24 million media impressions

€503.000 earned media

+68% share rate of missing children posts

+9% social reach

+8% Facebook followers