Jane Lynch Turns Goodwill Donations Into Micro-Musicals

Somewhere in Indiana, a porch goose is helping someone finish school. A bean bag chair is helping someone land a job. And an enthusiastic Goodwill employee keeps bursting into song to explain how.

That’s the premise of “The Stuff Your Stuff Can Do,” a new campaign from Young & Laramore in Indianapolis. Directed by Emmy winner Jane Lynch, it’s a set of three micro-musicals about the things people give away as life changes, and where the money goes once Goodwill resells them: jobs, housing, education and healthcare.

The trouble with being a great store

Goodwill has an unusual problem. Its stores are so good at being stores that plenty of people forget there’s a nonprofit behind them.

The gap is widest among women ages 24 to 35, the group that donates more items than any other age range and is also among the most likely to assume Goodwill is a for-profit company. So the campaign targets female donors 18 to 55, with that younger slice front and center.

“While everyone is familiar with Goodwill and the amazing shopping experience that has been built over the years, some still don’t understand what happens after they donate,” said Tom Denari, president and CEO of Young & Laramore.

A director who stayed for the choreography

Lynch signed on to direct, then kept going. She helped shape the performances, the choreography and the heightened theatrical tone, including the moment each spot tips out of everyday reality into a brighter, more musical world.

“And what better way to tell that story than through a bouncy little tune,” said Lynch.

She brought the band

Lynch also brought in Tony Guerrero, her musical director and collaborator of more than a decade, to write the original music. Guerrero’s credits run from Paul McCartney, Billy Idol and Slash to Brian Wilson, Dick Van Dyke and Disney’s “High School Musical,” and he serves as musical director for Lynch’s touring cabaret show, “See Jane Sing.”

That pedigree matters here, because the songs are the strategy.

A jingle that sticks does the remembering for you.

Kent Kramer, president and CEO of Goodwill Legacy Group, is counting on it: “These songs will get stuck in your head, reminding folks of how much good they can do by dropping off household items they no longer need.”

Goose-tested, family-sourced

The oddest items in the spots weren’t invented in a conference room. Several were inspired by real Goodwill finds purchased by the creative team and their families, which explains the porch goose.

Thirty years and counting

The campaign extends a 30-year relationship between Young & Laramore and Goodwill, during which the agency helped build the organization’s retail presence across Indiana. Few client relationships last long enough to sing about.

This one finally did.

Produced by Story, the work runs first in central and southern Indiana and central Illinois across broadcast and cable TV, CTV, YouTube, Meta, TikTok, display and print. Other Goodwill regions may pick it up later, subject to talent usage agreements.