Toronto Pearson Airport is launching a new employee brand campaign that showcases workplace pride and serves as a recruitment tool.

The “I Am Toronto Pearson” creative features a typeface reminiscent of arrivals and departures boards over on-location stills by a documentary photographer that capture 130 different employees at work, including baggage handlers, security, flight attendants, pilots and other personnel.

The campaign is appearing on large displays in the airport, online and on nearby billboards and bus shelters.

The work is from Toronto-based strategic design studio Made by Emblem, with which the Greater Toronto Airport Authority formed a relationship this January. Karen Mazurkewich, VP of stakeholder relations and communications for the Greater Toronto Airport Authority, says this is the first of two summer campaigns it has commissioned from the agency.

Mazurkewich tells strategy the impetus for the campaign was to honor the staff that keeps the airport running, especially coming out of the pandemic, when it went from 20% to 80% capacity in a matter of weeks last summer.

As Mazurkewich explains, the organization wanted its employee-focused campaign to be externally facing to build a sense of pride among employees, but also as a recruitment campaign of sorts.

As part of this campaign, the GTAA also launched a new job portal, in addition to refreshing the “I Am Toronto Pearson” microsite and newsletter with new content.

The campaign not only celebrates Pearson’s 1,700 employees, but also the 48,000 people who work for the more than 400 companies at Pearson. The campaign images, therefore, also feature workers from airlines such as Air Canada and the many other service providers that contribute to supporting travelers.

Mazurkewich tells strategy it’s anticipating a total of 65.5 million out of home impressions to be generated over the course of the execution. The targeted digital execution includes a blend of Google Display Network, mobile programmatic and social listening.

According to J.D. Power’s annual customer satisfaction survey, Pearson ranked 16th out of 20 mega-sized airports after travelers faced long delays and frequent flight cancellations last summer. Yesterday, the GTTA released its own study to counter the report, finding that 75% of travelers who flew through the airport in the past year “are satisfied with their experience.”