The Atkinson Foundation has teamed up with agency partner Target for the “Good Fight Prize for Decent Work,” a core initiative of the non-profit that recognizes people and groups that fight for improved working conditions. At the heart of the campaign is a series of full-page ads in the Toronto Star, shining a light on the workers, advocates and organizers leading the fight for fairness on the job – and on the broader issue of decent work itself.

“The Good Fight Prize” – an annual juried award wrapped in an ad campaign – recognizes and celebrates the work of grassroots efforts, which push for systemic change. The multimedia campaign will run through the end of the year, leveraging digital, online and social media, a “Decent Work Manifesto” video speaking through the voices and aspirations of school-aged children and a purpose-designed website.

Patricia Thompson, executive officer of strategy and learning for the Atkinson Foundation, says that with this emotional, high-profile campaign, the work brings national attention to an issue that affects current and future generations – a critical issue that is often overlooked in mainstream media and marketing.

“Right now, one in three Canadian workers don’t have decent work: jobs that provide secure hours, fair wages, benefits or protections to enforce their workplace rights,” Thompson tells strategy. “The fight for decent work is about this unacceptable reality. We think it’s also about what Canadians value and the kind of country all of us want to live in.”

“The Good Fight Prize” is the centrepiece of Atkinson’s renewed 10-year organizational strategy, Thompson says, adding that the strategy is all about decent work as the foundation of a good life and a healthy society.

“When we launched the prize in 2017, the idea was that it would be given out quietly by Atkinson’s board of directors every five years,” she explains. “But everyone knows now that the fight for decent work doesn’t take a day off, never mind a year. So, we’re upping our contribution and inviting a much bigger audience to join us.”

The campaign targets community organizers and activists, public-policy advocates, influencers, and government decision-makers. “This year, we’ve amplified it through our partnership with the Toronto Star and on Atkinson-owned media,” Thompson says.

According to Noel O’Dea, founder of Target, the campaign marks another example of the Newfoundland-based agency’s commitment to using creativity as a force for good, building on its long-standing reputation for baking emotion into meaningful, culturally resonant work.

“For Atkinson’s campaign for decent work, we wanted to avoid the declarative approach of presenting a laundry list of facts and arguments,” O’Dea said a press release. “In the campaign’s manifesto video, for example, we cast real schoolchildren to hold up a mirror to society, one that reflects the hard truths about work in today’s world. Advertising has long used children’s voices to reveal bigger truths – from Monster’s 1999 Super Bowl classic to the stark 2020 message from the Sandy Hook Promise. We took that storytelling approach in a new and unexpected direction – one that speaks to the goodness and humanity in all of us. Because that’s what the fight for decent work is all about.”