TradeWorx: Real Change

The Home Depot Canada Foundation launched a new campaign to promote TradeWorx, a targeted investment to combat youth homelessness by creating opportunities for career education and skilled trades training. Through its initial $1 million investment, 100 Canadian youth who have experienced homelessness or barriers to employment will receive the training and social support necessary to work in the skilled trades. TradeWorx is a program about empowering youth to create their own future with support that considers the complexity of youth homelessness – that it isn’t just about housing or jobs, but about wrap-around support and 360 solutions. The campaign launched on September 27th, with an animated, spoken word spot, entitled Real Change. FCB partnered with Linetest, an award-winning animation studio that was equally passionate about the project and the tangible change that TradeWorx will create. Animation provided the team with the freedom to explore storytelling in a manner that wouldn’t have been possible through film. It also allowed for a story that speaks to the universal desire to overcome homelessness challenges facing youth and look to the future. Animation also helped match key visuals to the word play and energy of the spoken word piece.