The traditional charity marketing model relies on getting people to care enough about your cause to want to donate.

But for Depaul UK, a small youth homeless charity, getting people to care was an insurmountable task. They had a tiny budget to spend in a ferociously competitive sector. Furthermore, the general public were resistant to the homelessness cause.

In 2012 we set out to find a new model for raising funds.

By recognising that the temporary "homelessness" of house-movers makes them more empathetic with homeless people, we saw an opportunity to create a new marketing model in which Depaul UK could make money selling something that house-movers really needed: cardboard boxes.

We founded the Depaul Box Company.

This was a huge leap for a small homeless charity – to go from just asking for donations (like most charities), to evolving into a proper commercially geared enterprise, with a profit centre.

A business.

The Depaul Box Company has now been running for one year.

In that time, it’s returned £1.77 for every £1 spent, and boosted the charity’s income enough to provide 319 bed nights for young homeless people.

But this is only the beginning.

By selling boxes, the Depaul Box Company will provide an income stream for Depaul UK that doesn’t require voluntary donations.

Instead, they have a growing business that will provide healthy profit for years to come.

Many of the best effectiveness papers rightly emphasise the power of creative execution when producing advertising.

We hope this paper illustrates that creativity can add value at all stages of marketing, including commercial strategy.