On 18th December 2006 Goodwork welcomed 60 guests from the charity, business, education and public sectors to its official launch at Shakespeare's Globe theatre in central London.  Founder Patrick Padget began by asking the audience some challenging questions when he invited them to guess in which country 3.6 million children are growing up in poverty, where standards of diet and nutrition are amongst the worst in the developed world and where over 20% of the population cannot read or write properly.

Although the questions were challenging to consider, the riddle was actually very easy for everyone to solve.  The answer was England.

In a short film, members of the Goodwork team introduced their approach to connecting with the people who are ignored or misunderstood by conventional communications agencies, and supporting them to make positive changes to their lives.

From getting teenagers to produce their own anti-smoking campaigns to finding ways to get long-term unemployed people back into work, the team explained how Goodwork works at grassroots level to find out what its audiences really think about the challenging questions that affect them and acting on what they have to say.

Dr John Low, CEO of the RNID, described how Goodwork's Breaking the Sound Barrier campaign persuaded 320,000 people to take a telephone hearing check by using TV, press, radio and live events, and the commissioning of a piece of "hearing check" music.

BT's Ian Baines explained how the team had "achieved the impossible" by converting people who swore they would "never use the internet" to advocates for the benefits of broadband by demonstrating the positive impact it could have on their lives.

Following the event, Goodwork is talking to several of the guests about how it can help to solve their own challenging questions.  If you would like to pose a question of your own, or to request a copy of the film or a brochure, please contact us using the form on the left of the page.

To read more about the RNID campaign click here

To read more about the BT campaign click here