We made 1 million 2 Euro coins with the face of a missing child, instead of that of our king.

The campaign asked to spread hope by spending the coins. Next to print, radio and social media we used targeted TV commercials that referred to the product in the previous commercial, encouraging people to pay for it with the coins. Specific ambient media was used in places where people use currency: ATMs, supermarkets, local shops.

We turned 1 million coins into countless virtual ones: people participated by sharing a picture, using #CoinsofHope. Or by doing a ‘coin swap’ with any other coin on the campaign website. Pictures with the hashtag were placed on an interactive map, where the spreading of the coins can be followed.

Every part of the campaign (including the coins) drove people to the website and encouraged to look at all missing children’s bulletins.

First we needed the King’s approval to replace his portrait, but also that of the Royal Mint, the Secretary of Finance and the 19 governments of the Eurozone. We then commissioned the designer of the common side of the Euro, Luc Luyckx, to turn Liam’s missing poster into a 3D design for a coin.

Finally, on International Missing Children’s Day, Child Focus launched the Coins of Hope during a press conference with the secretary of Finance.

To insure a fast spread across the country, the 1 million coins were randomly divided across banks in Belgium.

The supporting campaign on tv, radio, print ads, posters, social media, website and ambient media was launched at the same time. Encouraging people to quickly spend the coins after sharing a picture with #CoinsofHope. A number of coins were sent to celebrities in advance to get the ball rolling.

The media attention for all missing children resulted in one journalist who even managed to locate one of the children in our campaign: Mansour Safi, who had been missing for almost a year.

€22 million earned media

180 million media impressions

+70 million social reach

+56% share rate of Child Focus posts

+203% engagement on Facebook page

1 permanent new medium with infinite impressions

We created a permanent medium that’s continuously being spread from hand to hand.

Next to the face of a missing child the coin also shows our website. We used a live database: depending on which country you’re in, the most relevant cases are shown first.

In a supporting campaign we asked people to spend the coins and share a picture of the coin with #coinsofhope. No Coin of Hope yet? Just do a ‘coin swap’: turning any other coin into a Coin of Hope. An interactive map shows where pictures of the coins were shared in Europe and the world.

Data showed that attention for older missing children’s cases had dropped significantly.

We wanted to create a permanent reminder for all missing children. Get people to look at the missing children reports in their region and share the campaign.

Although we had little budget, we wanted to reach all Belgians, and preferably people across borders too as any tip can lead to a breakthrough.

We created 1 million 2 euro coins with the face of a missing child: Liam Vanden Branden, who has been missing for 20 years.

Each coin also shows the website with all missing children, that encourages to share the missing person’s bulletins. The supporting campaign asked people to spread hope by spending the coins. With Coins of Hope we created a new medium with infinite impressions as they’re continually spread from hand to hand across Europe.

In Europe, every two minutes a child is reported missing. Some of them are found quickly, but others remain missing for years. Data showed that attention for older missing children’s cases had dropped significantly. The missing posters and social posts have become old news. Unjustly so, because previous cases have proven that even after years the right information can still provide a breakthrough. Child Focus, the Belgian Center for Missing Children, never gives up hope. They do everything it takes to help the families in their search and to get others involved. The objectives of the campaign were to express Child Focus’ hope for all missing children and to get everyone talking about them again. We wanted to give these children the attention they deserve.