Giving Back: Lamar Supports Efforts to Help Find Missing Children in a Big Way

Baton Rouge, Louisiana based out-of-home advertising company Lamar Avertising Co. joins forces with representatives from the music, media, entertainment and technology communities in support of the “Runaway Train 25” campaign.

The campaign was developed by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, M/H VCCP Advertising Agency, Grand Visual and the Out-of-Home Advertising Association of America. Its purpose is to search for and find missing children across the country. National Missing Children’s Day was Saturday, May 25.

On more than 350 digital billboards in 39 states, Lamar is displaying photos of missing children from NCMEC’s database. Using geo-targeting technology, the billboard automatically updates to show the names and faces of children missing from areas near the location of the digital billboards. Viewers are encouraged to visit the campaign website and share the video on their social media channels to help publicize unsolved cases of missing children.

“Lamar has a long history of using our national network to support great causes, and we are honored to be part of such an important campaign to find and reunite missing children with their families,” says Allie McAlpin, communications director for Lamar Advertising. “The dynamic, real-time nature of our digital network is ideally suited for this campaign. With the ability to immediately update the names and faces of missing children based on the billboard location, we are hopeful that we can do our part to help NCMEC end the heartbreak for the thousands of families of missing children across the country.”

The original “Runaway Train” video featured images of 36 missing children. When it aired on MTV in the 1990s, 21 of those children were recovered.

The campaign will run through July 22.