Canadian Non-Profit NPower Canada Helps People Take 'CTRL' of Their Futures

For many, 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, leaving many people feeling stuck in a loop, discouraged and anxious about the future. NPower Canada, launched in 2014, provides an alternate path with free job training programs specifically targeted at careers in tech, helping people move forward with their lives.

“NPower Canada meets job seekers where they’re at and becomes a new starting point, a place to grow from,” says Vanessa Herrick, vice-president, strategic communications and engagement at NPower Canada. “We provide training in the hard skills needed for the job but also focus on improving soft skills, building confidence, and guiding job-seekers into launching a successful new career in tech. NPower Canada graduates are ready to go to work as soon as they graduate and 80% of them are successful in finding employment after.”

To reach a new generation of 18+ job seekers, NPower Canada has launched a new campaign under the platform 'CTRL your future,' tapping into the power of their alumni success stories, led by Brand Transformation agency Humanity.

“Using Humanity’s Wellbeing Framework, we leaned into Esteem Wellbeing to help 'Life Stragglers' regain control over their lives by elevating their self-esteem,” said Ryan Hughes, chief strategy officer at Humanity.

“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 Humanity. “NPower Canada truly is transforming lives, and they have so many inspiring alumni success stories, we wanted to capture the authenticity and relatability of these humans in an honest, candid way, creating a bit of ‘slice of life’ to show how these real people were struggling, but then took control of their life path – they took ‘CTRL of their future’. We worked closely with the production team at Tier Zero, and they got the vision right away and formed close bonds with all four of the alumni, which really comes through on camera.”

The campaign also kicks off NPower Canada’s 10th anniversary year, launching more formally in September. “We are so proud of the 10,000 NPower Canada graduates of the last 10 years. That's 10,000 individuals who went through our programs and changed the course of their lives, and we're thrilled to celebrate this major milestone,” says Vanessa.

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

Campaign creative was led by Humanity, video production was led by Tier Zero, and media was handled internally by NPower Canada.