BBDO New York teamed up with the NYPD Missing Persons Department to try a new approach in helping to locate a missing person, namely a boy from Brooklyn named Patrick who has been missing since 2010: putting a face on a faceless mannequin and repurposing it in an attempt to locate the individual.
BBDO New York and the NYPD worked with local studio and portrait sculptor Michael Evert, who used a rendering of how Patrick would appear today to sculpt the face. The resulting mannequin is displayed in the retail window of heritage raincoat brand K-Way, with a caption explaining its very unfortunate context.
An iPad in the store also provides customers with more information while a dedicated microsite and #BringPatrickHome hashtag drive further awareness. The display will run through mid-May.
It’s an inventive repurposing of both mannequins and the retail window, and K-Way executives can sleep a little better knowing they’ve contributed to/aligned their brand with a worthy cause.
The important thing, though, is the potential good that could come out of the project: not just for Patrick, but as an added approach to find other missing people as well. Here’s hoping he’s reunited with his family and this is just the first of many successful applications of the approach.
“We are absolutely committed to reminding the public that their help is needed if we are to ever find him,” said Lt. Christopher Zimmerman in a statement. “Any information, no matter how seemingly inconsequential, is appreciated. The ‘Invisible Faces’ program is an ingenious way to gather new leads. We thank BBDO, K-Way New York and everyone involved for bringing this idea to our attention.”
“BBDO New York is a New York institution, and we are proud to lend our support to the NYPD,” added BBDO New York president and CEO John Osborn. “This is our ‘moon shot’ at taking a more innovative approach to partnership and tackling the toughest of problems. After all, that’s when marketing works best, when it helps solve the seemingly unsolvable.”
Credits:
Client: NYPD
Agency: BBDO New York
Title: Invisible Faces
Chief Creative Officer, Worldwide: David Lubars
Chief Creative Officer, BBDO NY: Greg Hahn
Executive Creative Director: Tom Markham
Associate Creative Director / Art Director: Bianca Guimaraes
Senior Copywriter: Rodrigo Linhares
Senior Art Director: Florian Marquardt
Director of Integrated Production: David Rolfe
Executive Producer: Neely Lisk
Lead Integrated Producer: Courtney Fallow
Director: Andrew Osborne & Koji Yahagi
Account Manager: Cara Roberts
Production: Standard Transmission
Portrait Sculpture: Michael Evert
Logo Design: Bhanu Arbuaratna and Kimberly Blasnik