| Philosophy | Engine Creative has reinvented the missing person poster – re-thinking the standard design and introducing a high-impact live portrait – for UK charity Missing People to coincide with International Missing Children’s Day. The striking, high-tech digital posters show a ‘live’ image of the missing person appearing to move their eyes, smile and make facial expressions. They feature three people, Leah Croucher, Finn Layland-Stratfield and Alexander Sloley, who are currently missing in the UK. The innovative posters, which feature photography enhanced and animated by AI and machine learning, go live on Ocean Outdoor digital outdoor screens in London on May 25th, International Missing Children’s Day. A QR code is also incorporated into the poster, allowing people to share the poster quickly and easily on their social channels, to amplify the impact. The creation of the posters was informed by behavioural science which shows that people’s engagement with and memory of an image is enhanced by a larger and better resolution photo, a live image (instead of a static one), a smiling face (instead of a non-smiling one), and less accompanying information. Raising empathy among viewers of the missing person poster boosts their engagement with that poster and, in turn, the likelihood of them taking positive action to help, behavioural science shows. To enhance the impact of the messaging, Engine also worked with behavioural science experts at Influence Work, a team led by CEO Steve Martin and Anita Braga. This led to enhancements, including replacing the standard ‘Missing Person’ headline with the more action-oriented ‘Help Find’. Engine Creative has created a simple online tool that Missing People can now use to automatically create a live portrait poster when someone goes missing, with just a few clicks. The photos used on the posters were initially enhanced by Engine Creative in collaboration with Untold Studios using machine learning software, then animated using pioneering AI technology developed by D-ID, a world leader in AI-driven creative media, to bring the still images to life. A combination of GFPGAN Face Restoration and Gigapixel AI allowed the teams to greatly improve the sharpness of the photos. The posters will appear on Ocean Outdoor’s high-tech DOOH screens at Westfield London, Canary Wharf and Westfield Stratford City, with media donated as part of the Digital Creative competition. |