Captcha is the standard spam block tool used by thousands of websites. Normally, distorted words and numbers are displayed for users to copy to prove they are not robots and gain access to websites.
Leo Burnett Tailor Made thought that the tool to could gain a social purpose. So it created the Missing Captcha for the NGO, Mothers of Sé – The Brazilian Association for the Defense of Missing Children. The agency replaced the random words and numbers with the names and dates of disappearance of missing persons and added the missing person’s photo.
“We also created a shortcut for internet users to send messages to the NGO should they have seen or have any information on that person in the picture,” explained Marcio Juniot, creative director for LBTM.
Any website can join in. The owners just need to visit the Missing Captcha website and incorporate the code into their html, at no cost. The more who do, the greater the chances the missing people will be found.
According to Mothers of Sé, it is very difficult to give a precise figure on the number of people who go missing in Brazil every year, but estimates place the number close to 40,000 cases every year.
Creative credits:
Client: Agency: Leo Burnett Tailor Made
Co-president and general creative director: Marcelo Reis
Creative directors: Marcio Juniot, Pedro Utzeri & Marcelo Bruzzesi
Creatives: Vitor Menezes, Pedro Furtado & Fred Corazza
Planning: Ana Luiza Santos and Jad Fayad