The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children & MUH-TAY-ZIK / HOF-FER Enhance Runaway Train 25 with Customization Technology on National Missing Children's Day

Verizon Supports Effort with Donated Digital Media

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The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children

May 25, 2020, 09:00 ET

ALEXANDRIA, Va., May 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and ad agency MUH-TAY-ZIK / HOF-FER announced a second phase of the successful, ongoing Runaway Train 25 initiative that will empower local communities to find missing children in their neighborhoods. The added personalization tool will now enable the user to select the exact child they would like to see in their music video. By creating a dynamic, customized video, the search efforts for a missing child will be more hyper-local than ever before.

Since its launch on National Missing Children's Day 2019, Runaway Train 25 has assisted in the recovery of more than 20 missing children. NCMEC has also reported an increase of 60% in leads in the fight to bring missing children home since the video was released. Runaway Train 25, which reinterprets the award-winning Soul Asylum song "Runaway Train" with musical artists Jamie N Commons and Skylar Grey featuring Gallant, showcased the profiles of missing children from the NCMEC database based on a viewer's location.

"When we launched last year, it was about getting local. This year we're getting to a more personal level, where people can search for loved ones or someone they know," said Adam Ledbury, Creative Director at MUH-TAY-ZIK / HOF-FER.

The new technology allows people to easily search the NCMEC database and create a customized video featuring a specific child or children. Users can add up to six missing children from the database into their own version of the Runaway Train 25 music video. The system generates links for Facebook and Twitter so the video can be shared on social media with one click.

"61% of kids recovered are found in the state in which they went missing," said John Matejczyk, Chief Creative Officer/Co-Founder, at MUH-TAY-ZIK / HOF-FER. "The ability to customize a music video about a kid in your neighborhood means that an entire community can rally their support behind the family and help increase the chances that more people will see that child's face. We are giving them the tools they need and the power they feel they so often lack in these difficult situations. Using technology and music, we are able to go far beyond the poster and the milk carton to improve our recovery rates, to empower communities to advocate for their kids."

To increase awareness of the new Runaway Train 25 video, and to recognize National Missing Children's Day, Verizon has donated the advertising space on its Yahoo and AOL mail sign in pages to NCMEC. These pages will display the Runaway Train video to millions of Yahoo and AOL users on National Missing Children's Day.

"In our efforts, we've seen that a small tip can have a big impact on a missing child's life," said John Clark, NCMEC President and CEO. "Every day people can become heroes by providing a tip that leads to the recovery of a missing child. We are grateful to all of our partners who have used their voice to help bring home missing children."

NCMEC has again partnered with GSTV, the national video network reaching targeted audiences at scale across tens of thousands of fuel retailers, which includes a two-phase media donation. In Phase 1, GSTV will air NCMEC creative across 48 states. Phase 2 will incorporate targeted, regional campaigns featuring missing children by state and specifically tailored campaigns for Hispanic and African American communities. Since partnering with GSTV in the initial launch of Runaway Train 25, NCMEC reported that 8 of the 16 total missing children featured in ads that ran exclusively on GSTV's video platform were successfully recovered.

About The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC)
Since 1984, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children® has served as the leading private, nonprofit organization helping to find missing children, reduce child sexual exploitation and prevent future victimization. As part of its work as the clearinghouse and resource center on issues relating to missing and exploited children, NCMEC operates a hot-line, 1-800-THE-LOST® (1-800-843-5678), and has assisted in the recovery of more than 319,000 missing children. NCMEC also operates the CyberTipline®, a mechanism for reporting suspected child sexual exploitation, which has received more than 65 million reports. https://www.missingkids.org

About MUH-TAY-ZIK / HOF-FER
MUH-TAY-ZIK / HOF-FER is a creatively driven, strategically focused agency with offices in San Francisco and NYC. As a part of London-based VCCP, we are a formidable combination helping the world's most ambitious brands to get chased. With over 1,000 employees in 8 locations, we are a global full-service alternative to small independent agencies and holding companies. https://mtzhf.com/

About Runaway Train 25
Founded on May 22, 2019, Runaway Train 25 is a cross-industry initiative led by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and MUH-TAY-ZIK / HOF-FER to reinvent the search for missing children. The music video reinterprets the award-winning Soul Asylum song "Runaway Train" with musical artists Jamie N Commons and Skylar Grey featuring Gallant. Since its release, Runaway Train 25 has assisted in the recovery of more than 20 missing children and increased search leads by 60 percent, according to NCMEC. www.runawaytrain25.com

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