Services for the UnderServed (SUS) has been helping individuals and families faced with a wide range of challenges—mental illness, developmental disability, physical disability, AIDS, homelessness, poverty—since 1978.

For its 2010 Holiday campaign, SUS needed something impactful that would introduce itself to the public, tell its story and inspire donations. SUS’ core mission is to transform the lives of the people it serves. To play on this, we transformed the most stereotypical symbol of American homelessness, the cardboard box, into something beautiful. During November, the installation traveled across New York, hitting popular locations like Times Square, the Veterans Day Parade, Bowling Green Park and City Hall Park.

In order to highlight the transformation and encourage the public to visit the installation, we developed teaser videos tailored to the installation’s current location. We built miniature cardboard models of the different states of deformation. After shooting the 30 different parts separately, we used replacement animation and composited the images in order to show the transformation from simple boxes to a piece of furniture.

With the help of a local artist and current SUS residents, we used the cardboard to create a life-sized replica of the housing SUS provides to its members, down to the last detail. From drawers to kitchen appliances to clothing on hangers, each item was carefully handcrafted to bring this important cause to life in a beautiful way. The Cardboard Apartment drew crowds and inspired people to pull out their camera phones. And, thanks to “text-to-donate” tags, we were able to monetise the moment visitors pulled out their smartphones to snap the picture.

During November, the installation travelled across New York, hitting popular locations like Times Square, the Veterans Day Parade, Bowling Green Park and City Hall Park. Hundreds of thousands of people saw the exhibit, including local politicians and other influencers. The local press (including The Gothamist, which reaches 250,000 readers), marketing traders and bloggers covered the project, resulting in hundreds of thousands of media impressions.The impact was immediate. During the one-month push, traffic to SUS websites increased 1,600% and donations rose 437%, allowing SUS - for the first time ever - to provide a holiday gift to every one of the 3,500+ people it serves.