Have you ever thought about contacting celebrities and gifting your products to them as a way to increase your brand awareness and sales? I’ve personally tried a few celebrity gifting methods and in today's post, I'd love to share with you my personal experience, as well as the experiences of other entrepreneurs whose products were featured on celebrities.
Ways to get your products into the hands of celebrities
- Gifting suites at events attended by celebrities – these gifting suites are often organized by PR or gifting companies and you have a ‘booth’ at the event or place your products in attendee gift bags. These often require hefty fees (thousands of dollars) to participate and anyone who walks into the gifting suite can pick up a free sample of your product. The advantage is that you can often get a photo of a celebrity holding or using your product, but the disadvantage is that you don’t have control over who that celebrity is.
- Hiring a PR company that specializes in celebrity gifting– these companies prepare and send gift baskets (usually organized around a central theme such as Green Products, Baby Products, Breast Cancer Awareness Products, etc.) and send them directly to the celebrities or their assistants and managers. The advantage is that many of these companies have personal relationships with the assistants/managers and the fee for this service is much smaller than that for gifting suites (anywhere from $30 to a few hundred for a gift basket), but the disadvantage is that your product is one of many that the celebrity receives in that gift basket.
- Working with a PR firm that includes celebrity gifting as part of your overall PR plan – this is more targeted towards your “dream” celebrities and these companies often have personal relationships with celebrities, their stylists or their agents. The cost is usually included in your monthly PR retainer fee.
- Contacting celebrities or celebrities’ agents directly – using a directory such as ContactAnyCelebrity.com to send your products directly to the celebrities or their agents. The advantage is that the cost for this service is usually low ($10-$20 per month) and you have access to any celebrity you want, but the disadvantage is that you’re sending an unsolicited product to someone you probably have never worked with before.
The goal, of course, is to either get a photo of the celebrity using/wearing your product or to get a written testimonial that you can post on your website and use in your marketing materials. Each of these methods has its own advantages or disadvantages, so it’s best to decide which avenue to pursue based on your budget, the type of product you have and your PR goals.
My experience with contacting celebrities
When I hired a PR agency to help me get buzz for my t-shirt brand, one of their PR strategies was through celebrity gifting. A few times a week they had celebrity stylists stop by their PR office to look for new products for their clients. While the PR agency gifted about 25-30 of our products to various celebrities, including the cast of Dancing with the Starts, Girls Next Door, Mena Suvari and others, the results were not successful. I’ve yet to see a photo of any of these celebrities wearing the t-shirts.
I then decided to try a different strategy and partnered with a celebrity gifting company for my Stay Strong organic cotton tees. The tee was part of a gift basket that included other Breast Cancer Awareness products. I received a press release and photo of the gift basket out of it, but no endorsement from any of the celebrities who received the gift basket. A few months later I also partnered with a celebrity gifting company that specialized in baby and children’s products. No results from that one either.
I also sent about 60 shirts on my own directly to celebrities (by using Contact Any Celebrity – affiliate link) and received thank you notes from quite a few of them (Denise Richards, Sarah Jessica Parker, Sarah Michelle Gellar). In addition, I organized Savor The Success's Celebrity Gift Basket campaign and received thank you notes from Courtney Cox, Denise Richards, Tori Spelling and Ed Begley!
Contacting celebrities on my own seemed to have the best results!
However, it's not the fact that I received these thank you notes that have increased sales.
It's what I did with the actual thank you notes that helped to drive sales.
After I received the thank you notes, I contacted all my customers (including all our retail partners) to let them know that a certain celebrity loved our tees. In addition, I emailed all of the celebrity magazines to let them know as well. As a result, I received mentions in glamour.com, ellegirl.com and a few other major magazines' websites, which definitely helped to increase sales.
Will your sales increase if you contact celebrities?
I’ve spoken with other entrepreneurs who tried to contact celebrities, as well as with PR and gifting firms, and here’s what they said:
- Tiny Revolutionary has used celebrity gifting with great success. Here’s what the owner, BreeAnne Clowdus told us: “When we started our company we did a slew of celeb gifting (about a dozen celebs at $125 a pop) with a PR company. For over one year, nothing and then, when Obama’s campaign was in full swing, Sheryl Crow was photographed on the streets of New York with Wyatt wearing our “Save Some Green for Me! Drive a Hybrid” tee. Then, a few weeks later, she was at the Democratic Convention on Access Hollywood and guess what he was wearing? Yep! Our tee. This was the only reason our publicist was able to secure placement in Us Weekly for TR and it’s been the subject line on many a blog post about our company. It was gold.”
- BabyLegs has also had a great response to celebrity gifting. “We currently subscribe to a celebrity gifting company. We have had great success with gifting celebrities and have seen our product on many celebrities’ children. We have been gifting celebrities for over two years, and are finally getting the shots that make it all worth it. There are certain products that make sense for celebrity gifting, they need to be products that the celebrity would take out of their house and use/wear in public. Celebrity gifting does not lead to an immediate increase in sales but it does build brand awareness and instill consumer trust.”
- LA Plates: “We have had a lot of people drawn to our product because of our profile with celebrities. We have worked with the women who run The Silver Spoon out of LA. I can’t say that celebrities buy more because of placement in gift bags. However, having a celebrity seen with your product gives it more credibility.”
- Fezelry Jewelry Designs: “I am a small indie designer; due to the extreme cost involved I have not used a gifting company though I have contacted a few and determined such a thing would not be beneficial to my company or my bottom line. I have instead mailed my items directly to the celebrity or stylist and as a result (of a lot of hard work and persistence) I have been successful. I have landed a few pieces on major television and then used this exposure to cross-market the item and sales have increased.”
- Smart Mom Jewelry: “There is no question in my mind that having a celebrity photo gallery on our website and using celeb photos in our marketing efforts have had a huge increase in sales. It’s hard to say exactly how much of an impact, but sales have increased over 500% since we added the celeb gallery to our site…I don’t think the gift baskets are as worthwhile as events. With baskets, there’s a CHANCE the celeb will like your product and later be photographed with it but there’s certainly no guarantee that will happen. And celebs receive LOTS of baskets from many sources so who knows if your product will stand out? At an event, however, you come away with actual photographs, “proof” that celebs did, in fact, see/use your product. It’s a much better investment, in my opinion. It does cost more to do the events but for good events, it’s worth it. The downside to events? You’re not going to get the A-Listers. J-Lo and Halle Berry are not attending these types of things. You will come away with lots of photos of “unknowns” – but even lower-tier celeb photos can have a positive impact on sales.
Other entrepreneurs have had mixed results or haven’t yet been able to measure their results with celebrity gifting:
- Hand Picked Pumpkin: “I do not see a spike in sales when I contact celebrities, just a surge of traffic that day from a post-celebrity baby blog did BUT I do think it added a lot of validity to my product and new company – and gave me a big confidence boost – all of which are priceless at launch time.”
- Zoobies.com: “We’ve done a few gifting suites. I don’t think a company can expect a spike in sales just by having their product in the hands of celebrities. We were lucky enough to have a picture of Tori Spelling holding a Zoobie turn up in US Weekly magazine as a result of a gifting suite. We also have a nice celebrity gallery. I would only recommend a gifting suite to a company that knows how to drive PR; a pic of a celeb with your product doesn’t do you any good if you don’t get that picture into the hands of press people.”
- Nancy Draper of Nancy D. Jewelry: “I sent 200 pairs of my earrings to a gift bag promotional company. They were included in the goodie bags at the premiere of a movie at a theatre in New York City. Unfortunately, I saw no business from it.”
- Rojeti.com: “I have been involved in several programs to date, and quite honestly the only thing that has come from it is an increased request from others for ‘free’ products for their events. On the upside, I was able to generate a press release that mentioned the event with a list of celebrities that would be receiving my product. On the downside, after paying for the ‘inclusion’ fee, the cost of the product, the shipping, and the marketing materials, I spent several thousand dollars – and still haven’t seen a single sale from the event.”
- ZGirlz Cosmeticz: “We did not find an increase in sales with gift-giving to celebrities. We gave directly to celebrities as well as hiring a company. And we hired two celebrity gift bag companies to give our products in swag bags at multiple celebrity events. It made absolutely no difference for us and cost us quite a bit to do it.”
What products are most suited for celebrity gifting?
From speaking with many business owners, I’ve found that items like apparel, accessories, toys, baby products (strollers, baby carriers, etc.) and the like work best when you contact celebrities. If you have an organic soap, for example, a celebrity will most likely never be photographed using your soap (although they can write a testimonial or mention your soap in an interview).
In order for a celebrity gifting campaign to be effective, the following must happen:
- The recipient has to wear it.
- They have to be in public wearing it.
- They have to be photographed wearing it.
- The photograph has to show the item clearly enough to be identified.
- Someone has to buy the photograph.
- Someone at the publication has to mention the product/brand in the magazine.
Does your product fit the above? If so, you might want to contact celebrities on your own by signing up for a subscription to Contact Any Celebrity (affiliate link). It’s not a guarantee of increased sales, but if all the right pieces fall into place, it can definitely build buzz about your products and company.
Do you find it valuable to contact celebrities? If you've had experience with celebrity gifting, leave a comment below and tell us about your experience.
When contacting a celebrity through their agent do you address the agent or the celebrity directly in your letter/e-mail
Hello, this article is timless and absolute spot on ! I am representative of London based costume jewellery company and I am about to use your suggestions . I have liked some websites providing contact details for celebs and their publicists /agents /stylists . I was thinking on how to approach them directly? I know that there are PR agencies for that but I was thinking- if I know the contact details why not get the things in my hands.. ?? I noticed similar answer given already: ”What I would recommend is that you contact the celebrity’s publicist, tell them that you’d like to send them a gold piece of jewelry but that you want to make sure that it’s something that the celebrity would actually wear and ask them to pick which item they’d like. That way you will send it solicited and the celebrity is more likely to wear it because they picked it out themselves. As far as their manager, most celebrities don’t open their own mail even when it’s addressed to them, so chances are pretty high that someone else will be opening it for them.” However I was thinking are there any formal requirements I should follow in writing a letter or something?
I’ve enjoyed reading every bit of this. As I’m trying to reach out and get my products out there. I work with a mixture of materials all of which I enjoy working with. As a result I have been able to create magnificent products. If you don’t believe check out my items for yourself. Other than contacting gifting suites. What have you found useful to you?
Iggy Azalea just purchased 5 pieces of jewelry from my line. Her stylist picked them up for the black widow video and she decided to keep them all and give one to her mom. I have received texts from her stylists and phone calls from them on how much they love the jewels. That said, I don’t know if I will ever get a photo of them wearing these pieces- how do I tactfully market this information to my benefit. I am extremely thrilled and want to use this info in the most productive and appropriate way. Any suggestions? Much thanks for your wisdom!
Anita, that is so great! Congratulations… I’m not sure if you can take a screenshot of the texts and post them on your site? That might be an option (but you should text them back and let them know that you’ll be using that for your site and ask their permission).
Thanks so much for all the valuable info. I think I will try the “contactanycelebrity” site and send someone a dress. These other options are just too costly for me at this time. cheers.
Sadly Jennifer…I too was a victim to this fraudster
Sorry this is more of a questions than an opinion to your question. Do you suggest using contactanycelebrity.com?
I do! I’ve used it in the past with great results!
Could you give me advice on what to write on a letter I’d enclose in a gift basket for celebrities? THANK YOU!!
What are your thoughts on Bookingagentinfo.com and IMDB.com for contacting celebrity agents?
How much does it cost to gift at the Emmys? And who do you contact?
This is a wonderful article highlighting the dos and don’ts of celebrity product gifting. I love how you recognized how sending a product to a celebrity absolutely does not guarantee anything, however, if the celebrity wears it, thats amazing, and if they thank you for it that can be equally as beneficial. It’s what the company does with the photos of the product in use, of the thank you cards that really counts. I often wonder, however, if gifting is the right thing to do. It seems so unoriginal, but I suppose if it increases sales it doesn’t matter much to the company.
I love this article very inspiring & helpful. Thanks
I feel like unfortunately I know who you are talking about… Are the initials JM? If so, this is a verrrrrrrrrrry common story and it breaks my heart. I’m so sorry!
wow, there some many similar stories with this JM, we are one of them, it’s so stupid!
I believe I too personally know of this ‘JM’ you speak. She took sooo much of my money. I have paid the ‘stupid’ tax as well. I thought she would have been out of the ‘business’ by now. I go back to 2012 dealing with her.
I live in Poland and I approached several celebrities personally or through some contacts (my products were jewelry) and interesting, they all said Thank you and.. that’s it. However I had a meeting with a clothing designer I really love – Gosia Baczynska – and she gave me some interesting tips on my jewelry finishing. She also took some pieces to her studio -but, no sale. However 1.I was not so well prepared (contract, packaging, price – were not ready), 2.I didnt follow up with her and I should have. I keep this souvenir as a learnt lesson and moved on, yet what she said still rings a bell to me. So, nothing lost 🙂
Is it possible to gift food items to celebrities? I have a food item that is great for picky eaters and I would love to have a few celebrity testimonials (or thank you notes!). It seems most people send wearables to celebs and I’m just wondering how to go about sending our seasonings out?
I signed up and then couldn’t find the sample letter it said it would take me to. How can I access your sample letter?
Please forward me the sample letter
Hi Simona, thanks for the tips. We’ve done the traditional PR company route, but never heard of pr companies that specialize in celebrity gifting. Going to try that next. We’ve also had some luck reaching out to celebrity reps via Contact Any Celebrities or finding their home address on website like StarMap.com and mailing our samples directly. That seemed to work, although i’m sure some people will find that to be unethical. The way I see it, you gotta do what you gotta do.
I started contacting celebrities before I read this article. The celebrities I have been contacting however are lower level celebrities and happen to be friends with me on Facebook. My favorite stand up comedian has agreed to try our products and write a review for us. I’m pretty excited about this. I’m not only a fan of her work but I also like her character which is important to me. I would recommend not discounting lower level celebrities. Lesser known celebrities often have friends and/or have worked with people who are more well known then they are. If they really like your products then they may mention your products to their friends. Thank you for the great information. We are just starting and I hadn’t heard of gift suites and wouldn’t have had any idea on how to participate in them without your website.
Y’all talkin about your fraud just saved this 25 year old Etsy entrepreneur from a HUGE mistake. Thanks guys! It’s the little things #hopeandstrings
Hi! Great article… Would this work for an award-winning historical romance novel? I’d like to try sending it to celebrities who like to read, but I’m not sure where to find them – or if it would work. Thanks so much!
You can always try!
Great article. Very nice.
Interesting article, Thank you! I am a sculptor and don’t want to give my work away. Do you think postcards or emails of my work from me or me galleries through ContactAnyCelebrity.com is the way to go?
thanks!
Your product might not be a good fit for celebrity gifting…
Hello , I have a question. When contacting celebrity is it better to send letter/ products to manager or publicist ?
Hi Margaret, Publicist is usually your best bet!
Although soaps and lotions are hard for celebs to be pictured with do you still think they are okay for gifting? Do you know of anyone who is the cosmetic/beauty industry that has had success with gifting to celebs?
We are a private drug testing company and have 10 free lifetime memberships to give to the first 10 celebrities. However, we know this is an area they want to keep private. Does this site maintain confidentiality?
Yes, they don’t know who you contact – it’s totally up to you!
I have an organic non-GMO CBD (no HTC), that is working wonders for people. We just started selling it in Wales, England, Scotland, Sweden and Ireland (besides the U.S.). We signed up a woman in Scotland who said that it’s more powerful than anything she’s tried in her country. We are looking for a celebrity to partner with. Would using the same concept you spoke about work with a healthcare product (or a product like mine)? If so, would I market to celebrities with specific ailments, i.e., back pain, insomnia, depression, etc.?
Hi and thank you for your great information.
Question: Our product is a one of a kind certified organic functional health beverage, we have made great strides in marketing our product and have got on the shelves of several well known grocery stores, we have even had 2 offers from Pepsi and 1 from Coke to purchase our formula, so we know we have a product that is on the cutting edge. With the founder and creator of our products being and ex NFL player for the Los Angeles Rams, and the affect it’s having on the health of other Ex NFL players, we believe we have a great story and are now endorsed by the NFL Alumni Association and Pro Legends. The testimonies from people from all walks of life not only are a true confirmation of what we have our hands on but also brings us a huge confident smile of satisfaction to our faces and hearts. My question is obvious, does this gifting program work with our types of products and if not what would you suggest.
Thank you for your time,
Steve Boyle
Regional Sales Manager
Foods for Athletes
Is this a viable method for social movement type causes?
P.R. agencies are best for promoting a product of your brand from any celebrity influencers as they are for a long time in the market and have built connections. They can quickly help the client get the work done.
I reached out to 3 celebrities directly to promote my company, Bimini Beachwear (www.biminibeachwear.com)…Hulk Hogan, Joey Fatone (NSYNC) and Antonio Sabato, Jr. I sent each of them a gift box with various items from our product line and a personalized letter asking if they would be interested in becoming a business partner…with no financial investment. We wanted to create a line of clothing around them and would give them a percentage of the company in exchange. Hulk Hogan never responded. Joey Fatone asked for 6-figures in advance and Antonio Sabato, Jr responded the day after he got the box.
Antonio personally called me and we hit it off almost immediately. He and I have been working together for about 3 months now and have created a sportwear line and more for him. We created Bimini Beachwear Performance and because he also races cars, we created Sabato Racing Team and a series of shirts, hats and more for that company. Antonio is on TV doing interviews at least weekly and he always wears his Bimini Beachwear polo shirts and other gear. We are about to release his line of clothing, performance gear and we are even working on a movie that has an ensemble cast of 1980's and 1990's stars.
We are always looking for entertainers that want to own a piece of a clothing and skin care company to work with us. We are launching NautiSkin in early June 2023 and are looking for one or two famous (current or past) entertainers who want to join us.