Every 18 minutes, someone is reported missing. And for every missing person, at least 12 are impacted directly either emotionally, psychologically, or financially. BioPak was approached by MPAN to provide a medium with which to run its Missing Persons Week campaign. MPAN figured the best way to draw people’s attention to the issue was to use something they have in their hands every day: a coffee cup.
Missing Persons Advocacy Network is a charity that humanises and creates awareness for missing people, as well as providing practical support to their family and friends.
While the idea of printing missing people's images on everyday products isn't new, this MPAN campaign gives it an artistic bent that engages coffee consumers with the stories behind the missing people, highlighting the 38,000 Australians who go missing each year. Executed by creative agency, whiteGREY, on BioPak's biodegradable cups, these cups act as handheld missing person posters.
The campaign "replaces stark, grainy missing person photos with human reflections and stories," explains MPAN CEO, Loren O'Keefe.
During National Missing Person’s Week, which ran from August 5 to 11, Melbourne cafes served coffee in cups featuring an illustration and story about one of six long-term missing persons: three from Melbourne; two from Tasmania; and one from Sydney. The Unmissables print 100,000 cups in total, with BioPak donating half the cups.
The campaign has driven high awareness for MPAN and the issue of the long-term missing, gaining widespread exposure on TV news channels, The Age, Broadsheet and across social platforms.
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