Year-Long ‘Be Here for Kids’ Campaign Timed with National Missing Children’s Day
Gail Chiasson, North American Editor
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, Clear Channel Outdoor Americas and Clear Channel Airports, a division of CCOA and subsidiary of iHeartMedia Inc., have launched ‘Be Here for Kids’, a national child safety awareness campaign across the US coinciding with National Missing Children’s Day, May 25.
This digital out-of-home campaign features a series of powerful images and messages to educate people across the country about the most important issues related to missing and exploited children, and direct them to NCMEC’s free safety resources. The DOOH launch creative reminds people they don’t have to wait 24 hours to report a missing child and directs the public to Behereforkids.org for more information.
CCOA and CCA’s media donation allows NCMEC to reach millions of people in cities across the country using digital billboards in 28 of its 38 U.S. markets including Washington, D.C., Chicago and New York and on airport displays in major U.S. international airports including Chicago O’Hare, Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, Denver International Airport, Hartsfield- Jackson Atlanta International Airport and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
“The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children has made tremendous strides over its 31 year history working to ensure the safety of our children,” says Toby Sturek, executive vice-president, specialty businesses, CCOA. “Our partnership gives their messages great visibility in local communities around the country and in major U.S. airports and will help protect and save the lives of children across the U.S.”
For years, CCOA has tapped the real-time capabilities of its out-of-home media network to help recover abducted children through the posting of AMBER Alerts on its digital billboards. This new campaign extends that effort and underscores the company’s ongoing commitment to child safety.
“We are grateful to Clear Channel Outdoor Americas and Clear Channel Airports for their generosity in supporting the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children on National Missing Children’s Day through the ‘Be Here For Kids’ campaign,” says Linda Krieg, NCMEC’s acting CEO. “There has been amazing progress in child safety but there are still too many children at risk. Our commitment to their safety demands that we work harder than ever before, and now everyone who sees the campaign will have the chance to join us in the fight to protect children.”
Child safety continues to be a critical issue nationwide. In 2014, there were more than 460,000 reports of missing children made to law enforcement in the US. In addition, law enforcement agencies have seen a dramatic increase in cases of child sexual exploitation in recent years. Last year there were more than 1 million reports of suspected child sexual exploitation made to NCMEC’s CyberTipline, a reporting mechanism for these crimes.
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