Explore St. Louis wanted to pull more visitors from the Chicago market. But their budget was tight. So instead of running another ad campaign inviting Chicagoans to visit, we resorted to something a little more untraditional:   

We kidnapped one of them.

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This award-winning campaign used OOH/transit posters in and on buses and at key bus stops and stations along the “L” to playfully announce that one of Chicago’s own has vanished and to provide clues as to his whereabouts by driving people to visit KidnappedChicagoan.com.

 

The campaign generated a ton of local news coverage, 23,000 unique website visitors, and nearly 2,000 voicemails from concerned Chicagoans offering well-wishes for a safe return to Chicago.

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More importantly, no one got arrested.

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• Online Video

• Social Media/PR

• Website

• OOH/Transit

• Broadcast/Cable TV

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My Role:  Creative Director / Writer