When Pokemon Go launched in the UK, 5 million people went out to search streets and public spaces for virtual creatures. 250,000 people go missing every year and the police rely on the public to report sightings. We partnered with the Missing People charity to target young people playing Pokemon Go with location specific OOH and ambient posters featuring pictures and information about young people like them, that were last spotted nearby. The posters urged them to look for real people while they searched for virtual animals and to contact the charity with any relevant information.

Vinyl posters of missing people borrowed the look and feel of Pokeballs featured in the game, to target young people playing Pokemon Go near the location a person went missing. The vinyls were placed on the floor to be most visible to Pokemon gamers looking down at their phones. Posters also ran in high visibility sights in popular Pokemon hotspots as well as transport hubs, including London Waterloo station.

To determine the most relevant places in which to activate the campaign, we cross-referenced locations where high-risk missing people were last spotted, with popular Pokémon GO hotspots. The first of these took place at a Pokemon GO walk in Trafalgar square - a mass quest to catch Pokémon, battle and trade with others around central London - which attracted over four thousand attendees.

A high risk missing person featured in the campaign, was found safe and well directly after the campaign.