NPower Canada is celebrating alumni vocational training achievements through first-person storytelling.

The non-profit, which launched in 2014, offers free job training programs specifically targeted at careers in tech, for the purpose of helping people move forward in their lives. NPower Canada’s new hero spot focuses on alumni stories, and how the organization helps people “take CTRL of their futures.”

“Creatively, what we set out to do was turn the traditional concept of a testimonial video on its head,” says Carolyn Shaw, president and CCO at agency partner Humanity, which won the account as its first ever RFP, a project-based win three years ago that’s continued until now.

Shaw says the organization boasts many inspiring alumni success stories, and that it wanted to capture the authenticity and relatability of grads in an honest, candid way, “creating a bit of a slice of life to show how these real people were struggling, but then took control of their life path.”

NPower Canada has graduated 10,000 individuals in 10 years, and what started as solely an Ontario-based organization, has expanded to other provinces.

For many job seekers, it’s expected that life follows an upward linear trajectory focused on post-secondary education, establishing a stable career and becoming financially secure. This is not a once-size-fits-all path though, however, Shaw points out, leaving many people feeling stuck in a vocational loop and discouraged about their prospects.

“We’ve done a lot of strategy work with them to help them define who their audience is,” Shaw says, telling strategy its stakeholders are both Canadian-born citizens struggling after university and college, but also new Canadians who need to overcome barriers.

When it comes to the campaign timing, the work coincides with a celebration of the organization’s 10-year anniversary, which will be celebrated more formally in September.

Also, unlike a traditional college program, NPower Canada’s training programs do not follow a typical September-to-spring schedule, so the awareness work was done to coincide with upcoming programming intakes.

The NPower Canada campaign and platform launches with four different alumni videos on social media, as well as OOH across the country.

Humanity worked closely with the production team at Tier Zero. Media was handled internally by NPower Canada.