Depaul UK, a youth homeless charity with limited marketing budget, asked us to help raise funds that they desperately needed.
The traditional charity marketing model relies on getting people to care enough about the cause to donate. But in an increasingly crowded market, the traditional model wasn’t working.
So we set out to find a new fundraising model.
Rather than relying on sympathy, we started being useful.
Cardboard boxes are associated with people sleeping rough, and every year millions of people use boxes to move house. What if we could change that association and help thousands of people in the process?
We launched The Depaul Box Company, a business selling cardboard boxes to home movers, with all the profit helping the homeless move off the street.
Our audience doesn’t have to spend a penny more than they otherwise would do. But when they buy our boxes, they help save lives.
This wasn’t simply the launch of an ad campaign, this was the launch of a business.
ATL advertising shot the Depaul Box Company off the starting blocks.
Press packs (well, press boxes) were created for influential journalists, with PR and social media activity driving consumers to www.depaulbox.co.uk – an e-commerce site selling packs of boxes.
By partnering with leading estate agents and student accommodation providers, we reached house movers at the point they really needed us to.
Orders came in, and we delivered.
The boxes themselves act as a canvas to spread the word of Depaul’s great work, featuring illustrations and stories of real homeless people they’ve helped. They act as a highly visible reminder of the issue at a highly relevant time. Even better – it gives people a reason to feel good about the choice they’ve made.
The first batch of 6,000 boxes sold out in just a few weeks, and a second order for 10,000 has been placed. And we’ve already begun to expand into archive boxes, with two large pre-orders already placed.
Not only have people been supportive with their wallets, but they’ve also been keen to pass the message on too.
We’ve been overwhelmed with messages of support and some people have even sent in photographs of the boxes in use.
There are countless uses for cardboard boxes – packaging, self-storage, even Amazon could use our boxes. The Depaul Box Company will continue to expand and fund the fight against youth homelessness.
We’ve provided Depaul UK with a sustainable model on which to build their future, and perhaps a model for other charities to help plan their futures too.
We turned the humble cardboard box into a lifesaver.