Hasta La Ideas

Cardboard boxes have long been associated with homelessness. However, agency Publicis London, working with charity Depaul UK, has come up with a clever way of flipping the association from a negative one to a positive one…

The idea is as simple as this: Publicis and Depaul UK have set up a new company called The Depaul Box Company which sells cardboard boxes to those moving home – with all proceeds going towards helping those with no home at all.

“In a crowded charity marketplace it’s difficult to raise funds by simply asking for donations any more,” says Publicis London’s Andy Bird of the project. “So we created a product that helps to raise awareness for Depaul and of youth homelessness, create a sustainable income for the charity and actually be of real tangible use to people, whether moving home or as everyday storage.”

The company has an online shop (screengrab below) at depaulbox.co.uk which offers very reasonably priced packs of cardboard boxes. £30 buys you a pack of 10 boxes, £40 buys you 20, and £60 will get you a pack of 30 boxes:

Here’s a look at the boxes themselves which are all adorned with llustrations (drawn by the campaign’s creative team) of homeless people along with moving stories about how Depaul has helped them of the streets.

Publicis has also created a set of 48 sheetst to advertise the new company:

Hopefully the market for cardboard boxes is big enough to give Depaul UK’s new box company a chance to generate a worthwhile and steady income for the charity. And with a bit of luck these particular boxes won’t have to be used by those who Depaul UK looks to help.

depaulbox.co.uk

Credits:

Agency Publicis London
Executive creative director Andy Bird
MD / account lead Will Arnold-Baker
Creatives Leo Bellis-Jones, Josh Norbury
Illustration Leo Bellis-Jones, Josh Norbury, and Bryan Riddle
Producer Debbie Burke
Planner Ben Worden
Project lead Anthony Harris
Photographer Mark Wesley
Head of tech David Clarke
Design director (online) Paul Sparrow
Head of digital project management Ken Blake

The April print issue of CR presents the work of three young animators and animation teams to watch. Plus, we go in search of illustrator John Hanna, test out the claims of a new app to have uncovered the secrets of viral ad success and see how visual communications can both help keep us safe and help us recover in hospital

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