In Martin Place in Sydney’s CBD on July 12, 1,743 simple cardboard boxes were used to create a series of walls and structures.

Each box represented a death from gynaecological cancer that had occurred in the last year. Every box carried a key fact.

Large billboards were placed nearby, explaining that the ‘box memorial’ was designed to get Australians to open up about the subject that most women don’t like to talk about. Leaflets were distributed by women wearing cardboard boxes, with their carefully positioned triangular logo leaving viewers in no doubt as to the subject matter.

The leaflets did what women are not doing. They talked about gynaecological cancer. They also asked for donations and showed people how to do that.

The installation, by Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness for client, ANZGOG (Australia and New Zealand Gynaecological Oncology Group), attracted more than the attention of city workers.

Within hours of launch, #savethebox was running through social media, especially Facebook and Instagram.

The campaign video, an original song and film clip, had been launched online and viewed by thousands. In the film, a large number of women, many of them cancer survivors, marched and drummed while wearing the boxes. The film finishes with the cast solemnly bowing their heads in memory of those lost to the disease.

The cause was also taken up through selfies and social posts by high-profile women like Ita Buttrose, Johanna Griggs, Jane Azzopardi, Lavinia Nixon, Jessica Rowe and Annalise Braakensiek.

Media outlets also picked up the story – including the ABC:

Channel 10, Channel 9, The Daily Telegraph and various radio stations.