VML and Child Focus run Miles for the Missing

The more people keep an eye out for missing children, the greater the chance of finding them. That’s why VML Belgium once again launched a striking campaign for Child Focus, on the occasion of International Missing Children’s Day: Miles for the Missing. This campaign activates the vast and ever-growing running community on Strava to help search for missing children. To further increase the likelihood of receiving useful tips, the agency also developed an ingenious route generator that uses the Strava heatmap to guide runners along as many varied and strategically relevant locations as possible.

Number of disappearances continues to rise

In 2024, Child Focus opened 22% more disappearance cases than the year before. That’s why the organisation is always looking for new ways to spread its search notices to as large an audience as possible. Now, VML is launching a new initiative with Miles for the Missing. Members of this Strava club will receive a notification on their smartphone when a child goes missing. By viewing the search notice, they can help in the search simply by doing what they love: running.

“Belgians collectively run millions of miles every year. And they pass through the very places where Child Focus needs extra eyes when a child goes missing. By turning Strava into a new medium to activate them, we can significantly accelerate the search for missing children,” says Kasper Janssens, Creative Director at VML.

Child Focus already shares search notices on Instagram, Facebook, and X, asking people to spread them as widely as possible. But with Strava, the organization has gained a permanent new medium to share these messages with an even broader audience.

New routes for new clues
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​With Strava, VML taps into the more than 1.3 million active Belgian users to help search for missing children. But to ensure they search in as many different places as possible, VML developed a smart route planner. On the Miles for the Missing platform, runners can generate alternative, less conventional routes. These are based on the Strava heatmap, as well as data such as the location and time of the disappearance and the runner’s own location. In addition, AI guides runners past ‘custom waypoints’ like bus stops, train stations, or gas stations—places where the chance of finding missing children is greatest.

“Runners pass through countless places, but they often stick to the same routes. By encouraging them to run different paths, we increase the chance of eyewitness accounts,” Janssens continues.

Kickoff at the 20 km of Brussels

The campaign was launched on May 25th, which is not only International Missing Children’s Day but also the day of Belgium’s biggest sports event: the 20 km of Brussels. Child Focus and the police shared a stand there, symbolizing their crucial cooperation. But Child Focus also aims to inform as many runners as possible about the initiative. This includes placing signs opposite the course’s photo cameras, so all runners who later check their own race photos will be invited to join Miles for the Missing. Even the father of Théo Hayez, the young man who went missing in 2019, stood along the route with a call for runners to help search for missing children.

A campaign with no end date

To reach as many other runners across the country as possible, a national campaign is now running on digital out-of-home screens and social media. Influencers and well-known runners are also working to persuade as many people as possible to join Miles for the Missing. Some big names are already members of the club at the campaign’s launch, including Bazart singer Mathieu Terryn, media personality Linde Merckpoel, and Hilde Dosogne, the woman who ran 366 marathons last year to raise money for cancer research. But the campaign will continue indefinitely—because the Strava club is a permanent channel that Child Focus can actively use in its ongoing search for missing children.

Anyone who wants to run Miles for the Missing can join the Strava club.

CREDITS

Client: Child Focus
​Client Contact: Stephan Smets, Stéphanie Leyn, Selyna Ayuso Ferrandiz
​Agency: VML Belgium
​Executive Creative Directors: Kasper Janssens & Arjen Tarras
​Creation: Kasper Janssens & Arjen Tarras
​Copywriters: Tomas Van Loon, Hannah Candries, Jelle Raats, Yves Donceel, Gavin Watt
​Art Directors: Patrick Vermeylen, Rik Hermans
​Strategy: Jef Pelkmans, Gaëlle Maes
​Account team: Pieter Van Schil, Jessica Jacobs, Molly Waeytens
​Design: Samuel Allemand
​Motion Design: Lucas Van Orshaegen
​DTP: Jan-Bart Debruyne, Theo Hagtingius
​Development: Bram Verdyck, Sam Serrien
​PR partner: Ogilvy Social.Lab
​Sound design: Menno Van Riet