How to get your brand into an Oscars gift bag

The miracle of “swag bag” means that award nominees don’t need to take home a small gold trophy in order to feel like winners. Celebrities are eager to receive gift bags containing thousands of dollars worth of product at lavish events like the Grammys and Oscars. All of these items, including premium pet food, plastic surgery, a trip for one to Sweden, a year’s Audi, and charitable giving opportunities, were all included in the gift bags that were given out at award shows. The bags given to nominees for the 2022 Academy Awards contained items totaling $137,000 each. One bag was worth more than $200,000 from last year!

Not only big-name luxury brands make it into the award show bags. Many products are made by smaller, independent brands like The ChaiBox, a tea business that was included in this year’s Oscar bag.

Monica Sunny, founder and CEO of The Chai Box, says that “we felt this was a very rare opportunity to spread love of chai among such an influential group Oscar nominees.”

Find out how Monica’s businesses make it into these highly sought-after gift collections. And if your marketing budget and time are worth getting your product in front of Hollywood’s A-listers.

What brands were chosen to make celebrity gift bags

The Chai Box’s journey to the Oscars started in November 2021 when it was approached by Ditinctive Assets. This LA-based marketing agency also handled the swag bags for the 2022 Grammys.

Gift bags are not meant to be consolation prizes for celebs. In fact, they are assembled independently of the ceremonies. Distinctive Assets, a firm that specializes in swag bags, does so to attract attention and press –and possibly the celeb-ass-influencer endorsement for their clients. To do this, they need to create a selection of gifts that are worth talking about.

Distinctive Assets founder Lash Fary says that putting together bags is a year-round process.

Lash states, “We are looking for fun, fabulous and indulgent products and services.”

“We don’t care about the price tag. We just want to create a gift bag that busy celebrities can use to find new beauty products, exotic trips, and items to share with their pets and children.

The Oscar bag this year, entitled “Everyone Wins”, contained items such as pre-paid travel, skin care products, candles, gourmet food and board games. It also included a coaching session.

Also, gifts with a philanthropic bent are a big hit. Halo Pets gave 10,000 meals to recipients one year. Lash claims that these gifts were accepted by Julia Roberts and Julianne Moore as well as Meryl Strep and other A-listers.

After being named Oprah’s Favorite Things, the Chai Box was placed on Distinctive Assets’ radar.

Monica’s mission is to share the art of making traditional chai with sustainable ingredients. She saw the Oscar bag to be a way to carry out that mission.

Monica was given guidelines on the product she should include. However, her final selections were entirely up to them. Each Oscar nominee was given a bag and Monica was invited to write a note.

You can either be approached by the company that makes these bags, like Monica, or you make an offer to them. Distinctive Assets makes one of the most talked about bags. However, you can do some research to find other niche or local gifts that will work for your products. , the GLAAD Media Awards that honor members of LGBTQ+ communities, creates its own gift bags.

Prepare a pitch and sample for any contact you make. It is important to present the reasons why your product is valuable and unique, as well as the price you are willing to pay.

The price tag and what you get in return

The bags come as a gift to the celebs who receive them. However, there are often costs associated with swag bags.

Although Monica didn’t pay any fees, Lash said that participation fees for the bags could range from $500 up to $50,000. This is determined on an individual basis. This is because your product will not only be included in the bag but will also be heavily promoted by the planning company.

Participating brands also donate product samples. This can be a significant amount of product, especially for something like the Grammys where there were 130 bags. Add the cost of participation to the fees, and you can easily blow your marketing budget.

Participation is a decision that brands have to make. You need to consider the cost and the benefits. Monica decided that the potential media exposure for The Chai Box was worth it.

She says, “Based on our past experience, we always see an increase in sales whenever we receive mentions in media or publications.” “Given the Oscars’ high visibility, we knew the brand awareness would make it worthwhile.

The bags are promoted by the companies that make them. This year’s Oscars bag was covered in media outlets such as Cosmopolitan and Forbes and The Hollywood Reporter. There are no guarantees that product mentions will occur, but it’s a gamble. The Chai Box received some shoutouts on Instagram.

This post is on InstagramA post by The Chai Box (@thechaibox).

Another possibility is that celebrities will share your products on their social media or be seen using them. This would be similar to working with the biggest influencers. There is no guarantee.

Monica from The Chai Box says that there has been an increase in sales.

She says that customers can write gift notes to her. In some cases, she has seen them mention that they gave our chai because it was in the Oscar gift bags.

“We are still hoping that one of the nominees will share about our chai via social media. One can only dream!

source https://www.shopify.com/blog/oscars-gift-bags-brands