Goodwill Industries International Named A 2018 Halo Award Winner

ROCKVILLE, Md., May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Goodwill® is thrilled to be named the 2018 Silver Halo Award winner in the Best Social Media Activation Initiative category for its social impact initiative with Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Just like Peter Parker did in the Spider-Man: Homecoming movie, Goodwill encouraged aspiring community heroes to create their own DIY Spider-Man suits. Contest participants had a chance to put their Spidey senses to the test by developing costumes with materials sourced from their local Goodwill stores or from shopgoodwill.com®, Goodwill's online auction site. Their purchases benefited Goodwill's employment placement and job training programs.

To promote the contest, five social media creators were invited to a Spidey Lab to assemble their suits. The contest winner, Tiffany Mink, received tickets to the Hollywood premiere of the movie, and her suit was displayed on the red carpet.

A few highlights from the campaign:

• Reached more than 9 million people on social media (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram)
• PR impressions of more than 108 million
• Reached more than 658,000 people through blogger engagement
• YouTube video promotion received more than 828,000 views
• Campaign's banner ad, which appeared on shopgoodwill.com®, garnered 1.1 million impressions and nearly 2,000 clicks

"I'm so impressed with the team and the results of their hard work on this campaign," said Jim Gibbons, president and CEO of Goodwill Industries International. "They really thought outside of the box, creatively connected with pop culture in a way that made sense for our brand, and yielded great results in doing so."

The Halo Awards are North America's highest honor for corporate social initiatives and cause marketing and are presented by Engage for Good (formerly Cause Marketing Forum). 2018 marks the 16^th year that Engage for Good will honor businesses and nonprofits with Halo Awards for doing well by doing good.

"The Halo Awards were created to acknowledge best in class corporate social impact programs," said David Hessekiel, president of Engage for Good. "This year's winners are a fantastic representation of the effective and innovative ways companies and causes can work together to create meaningful business and social returns."

A total of 28 category awards were given out to programs judged the best cause marketing campaigns of 2017 at the 16^th Annual Engage for Good conference in Chicago on Thursday, May 24, 2018.

Visit www.engageforgood.com/halo-awards for a list of the Cause Marketing Halo Award finalists and their case studies.

ABOUT GOODWILL INDUSTRIES INTERNATIONAL

Goodwill Industries International (GII) is a network of 162 community-based, autonomous organizations in the United States and Canada with a presence in 13 other countries. GII is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that is recognized by GuideStar with its Platinum Seal of Approval, the organization's highest rating for charities. GII was also ranked by Enso as the #1 brand doing the most good in the world for two consecutive years, and was the only nonprofit brand rated in Forbes' 20 most inspiring companies for three consecutive years. Local Goodwill organizations are innovative and sustainable social enterprises that create employment placement, job training programs and other community-based programs by selling donated clothing and household items in more than 3,300 stores collectively and online at shopgoodwill.com®. Local Goodwill organizations build revenues and create jobs by contracting with commercial, state, government and non-government organizations to provide a wide range of business services, including manufacturing, warehousing and distribution, packaging, assembly, food preparation, document management, groundskeeping and  administrative. Last year, local Goodwill organizations collectively placed more than 288,000 people in employment in the United States and Canada. In addition, more than 36 million people used computers and mobile devices to access Goodwill education, training, mentoring and online learning services to strengthen their skills, and more than 2.1 million people received in person services.

For more information or to find a Goodwill location near you, use the online locator at Goodwill.org or call (800) GOODWILL. Follow us on Twitter: @GoodwillIntl and @GoodwillCapHill, and find us on Facebook and Instagram: GoodwillIntl. To learn more, visit goodwill.org.

ABOUT ENGAGE FOR GOOD
Engage for Good, producer of the Engage for Good conference and Halo Awards, helps business and nonprofit executives succeed together by providing practical information and inspiration, opportunities to build valuable relationships and recognition for outstanding work engaging employees and consumers around social good and cause-related marketing efforts.

A wealth of information on cause marketing, corporate social impact programs and Engage for Good's offerings can be found at http://www.engageforgood.com.

SOURCE Goodwill Industries International