Save Jane

Background 
Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center (DCAC) serves the most severely abused children in Dallas County. We set out to raise awareness in the community about the scale of the problem and the important role DCAC serves. 

Challenge 
Because the victims are under 18 and many are involved in ongoing legal cases, identities and stories must be concealed. Turning this challenge into inspiration, we created a movement called “Save Jane.” Children are shown with a black bar across their eyes with the statement, “I am Jane Doe.” They are no longer nameless kids but instead become the kid in your daughter’s class, the boy on your son’s soccer team, or the girl walking by you at the mall. 

 On May 2, 2019, volunteers from around North Texas read the “names” – “Jane Doe” and “John Doe” – and ages of all 27,456 children who were victims of child abuse in Dallas County last year. The reading went on for 27 hours straight, proving that DCAC will never stop fighting for these children who have suffered unspeakable abuse. 

That same day, we ran six consecutive pages of abused children’s “names” in The Dallas Morning News. It was so impactful that the newspaper pages were shown on the evening news. The multifaceted campaign included out-of-home, magazine ads, digital video, paid social media, and online display ads. 

Results 
Through generous donations of time and media placements, the campaign felt much bigger than its small budget would have allowed. The event alone generated 38 pieces of earned coverage across top Dallas broadcast, online, and traditional media outlets. This generated 6.64 million online readers and reached 1.33 million broadcast viewers. 

Although not a primary objective for the campaign, increased visibility of DCAC motivated people to get involved. The number of donations and volunteer sign-ups doubled. The campaign was also designed to be shared with children’s advocacy centers in other markets and 30+ have used the campaign all across the country.