The Breast Cancer Awareness installation inside advertising agency Havas Chicago's lobby was designed to do more than drive awareness—it was designed to get a reaction. The goal was to start a conversation and, more importantly, inspire action.
The idea for the Peep Show came from women within Havas, all of whom have deep ties to this issue. Each of the agency's employees involved saw this as an opportunity to be bold and use their creativity in a powerful way—not just in the name of the cause, but in the name of the women they know who have survived this disease, and the ones they have lost from it.
Those who looked in the #HavasPeepShow windows were met with sobering statistics about breast cancer. The window display was purposefully designed to stop people in their tracks and force them to think about the seriousness of this disease—a disease that has affected us all in one way or another, a disease that desperately needs money for a cure.
For the three weeks the #HavasPeepShow was showcased, people posted and shared the hashtag raising over $18,000 for the cause. Aside from the monetary aspect, if the installation reminded one woman to schedule her annual doctor's appointment or conduct a self-exam, then the agency was successful in creating meaningful disruption.
When the passion is there and the stakes are high, being passive is not an acceptable response. It was Havas' responsibility to be bold and provocative, doing whatever necessary to create awareness and raise money for an issue that's so close to our hearts.
