Raising the Roof is a charity aimed at helping increase the understanding of the plight of homelessness in Canada. For 16 years, Raising the Roof has been selling knitted hats (toques) as a primary revenue generator.

While people know about the toques campaign, the biggest issue stopping them from buying one is that they are unsure of exactly where the money goes, or whom it helps. The organization needed to deal with these concerns and create a direct relationship between buying a hat and helping someone in need. The goal was to sell out the 40,000 unit inventory for the year. (The previous year did not sell out).

The concept was to reposition what buying a hat meant, turning "Please buy a hat" into "Please buy a shower or meal or job interview." Very concrete outcomes were created that each hat would generate so that people knew exactly where their money was going and how it helped. In the process, it would help people better understand the problems that the homeless face every day.

Formerly sold in bulk, packaging for each hat was created, and the packaging became the media. Hats now had messages such as, "This hat buys a meal" or "This hat helps a scared homeless girl off the street." Attire became action. Then outdoor pop-up stores were created so people could see all the hats and pick the hat and message that resonated with them the most. The outdoor store allowed the organization to be on the street, a context creating higher relevancy since the street is where people generally encounter homeless people.

By repackaging hats and injecting new meaning into what a toque purchase could do, Raising the Roof reached their yearly goal of selling 40,000 hats – in fact the entire year's inventory sold out in three months – nine months early.