Lowe Roche Puts Hope For Missing Children In The Mail

For the past year, a growing number of Canadians have been using real postage stamps to raise awareness of – and honour – the unfortunate number of children who go missing or are exploited in Canada each year. The impact of this effort was demonstrated to dramatic effect this month, as The Missing Children’s Network launched Year 2 of its ‘Hope With Every Letter’ initiative.

Using stamps as the centrepiece of this initiative is an idea conceived by Canadian ad agency Lowe Roche; who also designed and developed the accompanying website and activation pieces for the Network. At MissingKidsStamps.ca, stamp personalization technology is seamlessly integrated to let Canadians create individual postage stamps featuring missing children; in turn affording each visitor to the site the opportunity to help put their photographs in homes and offices, across Canada, and around the world; and hopefully, into the hands of someone who might recognize them.

Launched in 2013 as a grassroots movement to put the faces of missing children where they have never been before – real postage stamps. The aim: to drive action on behalf of the children who go missing in Canada each year; educating Canadians on how their order of these stamps can help in bringing attention to the cause, and hopefully, reuniting families.

“The concept really is ingenious, and inline with our mission. We’ve made a commitment to the families that we work with to use every channel available to us to help them find their loved ones,” said Pina Arcamone, Director General of The Missing Children’s Network. “The postage stamp is so universal, and passes through so many hands each day – it offers a way of paying homage to these children so they will never be forgotten. We were surprised no one had thought to use them in this way before, but more than happy to be the first to innovate in this way.”

The event – hosted at The Beverley Hotel in downtown Toronto - saw more than 1000 of these stamps used to create a unique installation piece honouring the lost. As stamps featuring the faces of Mélina Martin (missing, 2005), Maisy Odjick (missing, 2008), Tommy Clement-Pepin (missing, 2006), Karar Al-Meiky (missing, 2006) were taken by participants and passers-by for use on their next piece of mail, revealing a larger portrait Cédrika Provencher; a solemn tribute, as well as a reminder of the greater impact that a single stamp will have. 

And there has been good news. This year alone, two children, on whose behalf the Network has advocated, and who were also featured as part of this effort, were reunited with their families.

“Lowe Roche is an Agency focused on delivering innovative solutions that deliver results and it is wonderful when we can put this to work on such a worthwhile cause." said Monica Ruffo, CEO of Lowe Roche.

The project has been garnering increasing attention as of late, most recently being nominated as a ‘People’s Voice’ finalist for the 2014 Webby Awards. As of writing, the effort sits in the number 2 position, with voting open till April 29th.