Be a Community Hero with Spider-Man: Sony Pictures & Goodwill
For several years, Sony Pictures Entertainment has relied on partnerships to bolster advertising campaigns for big-budget movies such as their 2017 release of Spider-Man: Homecoming. This campaign took that method a step further.
Just like Peter Parker did in Spider-Man: Homecoming, Sony and Goodwill teamed up to have aspiring heroes create their own DIY Spidey suits. Entrants were encouraged to shop at their local Goodwill or at shopgoodwill.com to find materials for their suits. The grand-prize winner received tickets to the Hollywood premiere of Spider-Man: Homecoming, with the DIY suit featured on the red carpet.
To promote the #SpidermanDIY contest, five YouTube creators were invited to a Spidey Lab at the YouTube Space to assemble their own suits. The creators shared videos on their own social media channels about the creation of their Spidey suits. The final reveal video featured Tom Holland, and the campaign garnered nearly 2 million views.
Ten semi-finalists were selected from the entries and members of the public were invited to vote on their favorite Spidey suits to determine the five finalists. Judges then selected the grand-prize winner, whose video prominently detailed her process of shopping at her local Goodwill store to create her winning costume.
The campaign encouraged people to “Be a Community Hero” by shopping at Goodwill and supporting job placement and training services. Working with Goodwill brought movie franchises into contact with Goodwill’s millions of shoppers and donors, providing a unique opportunity to attach their characters to social good.
As a result, sales in Goodwill stores increased by 4.5 percent in both June and July of 2017 over same-month sales for 2016 and Spider-Man: Homecoming garnered $334 million in domestic revenue, making it the fifth-highest grossing movie of 2017.