Goodwill Industries
In January of 2020 (before any of us knew what was coming) Sliced Tomato Productions began work on a project for Goodwill Industries of Upstate/Midlands South Carolina. Goodwill was looking to capture a few personal stories of individuals whose lives had been positively impacted by their organization. The videos were meant to be shown at their annual fundraising event in October.
We breezed through the pre-production process, helping select which stories and individuals would work best for video. Three families were chosen for three separate videos that would highlight these stories. Our project manager worked with both Goodwill and the selected individuals, and before long, the first interview was scheduled for early March 2020. Upon arriving at the shoot, we saw what would soon become a permanent fixture in most businesses…a large jug of hand sanitizer. You know what’s coming next.
Lockdown. All productions halted. Most non-essential businesses halted. And even worse for an organization like Goodwill, a yearly fundraiser they rely on was now in jeopardy of cancellation.
After several weeks of re-examining well, pretty much everything in life, we connected with Goodwill and got the ball rolling again, albeit a brand new ball. Goodwill, like nearly every other organization of its kind, soon realized that an in-person event during 2020 would not be possible. And with that began a series of brainstorming sessions between Sliced Tomato Productions and Goodwill. In 2022, livestreamed events feel like a normal thing. However, in 2020, it was still a relatively foreign idea to most industries.
Once we figured the tech of it all out, the big question to answer was how to emotionally connect people to what Goodwill is doing in the community while not being in the same room with them? It may have been a new train of thought for Goodwill, but we knew right where to take them: personal stories through video.
Through several meetings together, we all decided on doubling down essentially on what we were already doing—telling personal stories through video. With more precautions being established throughout the community, things began to open back up, and we started scheduling even more shoots with individuals to help tell their stories of how Goodwill changed their lives for the better.
Additionally, we were able to film segments from various Goodwill representatives who gave updates on their organization, things they were able to accomplish in 2020, and things they were looking forward to in 2021. The night of the event went off without a hitch. People from all over the world had the opportunity to view the event, including many individuals and donors who may not have been able to attend otherwise. Goodwill even had an online giving opportunity viewers could access all throughout the live event.
A final exciting element of this pivot was that after the event was over, we were able to take a 30 minute live presentation and break it into multiple smaller videos (see one example above) that could then be used for on-going social media presence and awareness. The whole project was an example of encountering unforeseen setbacks but quickly pivoting into something that proved very successful for Goodwill.