With Covid-19 causing a drastic increase in the use of parcel delivery services, domestic delivery volume (number of boxes) rose by 31.7% year-on-year in February 2020 (Korea National Statistical Office, 2020.12.11). So we come up with a creative way to communicate; using packaging tapes as a medium to spread information across the nation very fast.

There are 661 prolonged missing children in South Korea. In order to find them, we need people’s attention. However, people gradually become indifferent as the missing days aggregate. Desperate parents hand out flyers of their children’s information all day, but they only amount to a few hundred. Even worse, the number of people receiving flyers has substantially decreased as the heighted Covid-19 crisis has limited all physical contacts.

So, we thought of possible strategies to keep people from forgetting about the missing children. We not only sought for ways to reach more people more efficiently than using flyers, but also to induce exposure of the unpaid media. This way, the campaign receives public attention and encourages companies’ and individuals’ participation.

With Covid-19 causing a drastic increase in the use of parcel delivery services, we find the possibility that packages can work as a medium that can spread across the nation very fast.

So we created the ‘Hope Tape’ - a packaging tape with missing children’s information printed on. When sealing a package with this tape, it serves as a medium for delivering the children’s information directly to people’s doorsteps all across the nation. The Hope Tape features old and age-progressed photos of the children, their last seen place and physical features.

As of May 25th, 2020 - International Missing Children’s Day -, we utilized post office hubs and distribution networks of the delivery companies to inform people about ‘Hope Tape’ across the country.

We placed ‘Hope Tape’ in 22 post offices in Seoul so that anyone can use it, and we also applied ‘Hope Tape’ to the products of online purchases of Hanjin Courier, the nation's second-largest delivery company, to deliver information on missing children.

We produced campaign videos and uploaded them on National Police Agency’s social media accounts, post offices, and outdoor electronic boards at police stations nationwide under the National Police Agency. We distributed press releases about the campaign and reported them on various media outlets (TV, newspapers, and the Internet).

After the campaign, we designed an open license of ‘Hope Tape’ and uploaded it on the blog for the companies and individuals who want to join the campaign.

‘Hope Tape’ features old and age-progressed photos of the children: their last seen place and physical features, as well as a QR code that links to the Korea National Police Agency’s database for missing children. Parents can also register their children’s fingerprints for preventative measures.

As of May 25th, 2020 - International Missing Children’s Day -, anyone sending a package via one of the 22 central Korea Post offices can use the tape. In collaboration with South Korea’s 2nd largest parcel delivery service, the tape is used on goods purchased online and delivers missing children’s information to every household.

Also, by producing a campaign video, and uploading it on National Police Agency’s SNS, and distributing it on press releases and various mass media (TV, newspapers, and the Internet), public interest in the prolonged missing children has risen.

- 14 million media impressions

- 2.06 billion won in earned media value with zero media budget

- 630,000 packages sealed with the ‘Hope Tape’ delivered nationwide within a month

- Equal to 100,000 flyers per missing child distributed

- Design rights are open for anyone to participate in this campaign

- “A highly effective way to spread Information about missing children”- Branding in Asia