The Academy Awards were on Sunday and while not everyone took home the coveted Oscar statuette, all of the top acting and directing nominees and the host received a gift bag full of swag.
Lash Fary, co-founder of LA-based marketing company Distinctive Assets, is in his 21st year of delivering the over-the-top "Everyone Wins" gift bags.
The gift bags themselves are not affiliated with the Academy Awards but are instead a private marketing endeavor.
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"This is not because Kate Blanchett has fallen on hard times and needs free product," Fary says. "This is because these brands are hoping to benefit from her fame."
Long before the Oscars take place, most of the nominees will have already received their gift bags. Fary and his team work tirelessly behind the scenes to get these delivered to the nominees ahead of their big night.
"So while they're stressed out, they'll have some fun things to go through at home," Fary says. "Win or lose, it may be a consolation, a distraction for them, or it may just be icing on the cake of an amazing weekend."
The most expensive item in the "Everyone Wins" gift bag is a trip to a 10-acre estate just outside Ottawa, Canada. The trip is valued at $40,000 and even includes the use of fancy cars like the 1965 Shelby AC Cobra, 427 Roadster and 2023 McLaren Artura while they're there.
As for where the name "Everyone Wins" came from? Fary shared a comment from his friend Bette Midler about the time she was nominated for an Emmy but lost to Kirstie Alley.
Fary says she complained, "I got dressed up. I performed and I walked away empty-handed."
"That sort of stuck with me all those years later," Fary says. "And so as we were putting this together, We're like, how about if everyone wins?"
This year, 26 people will receive two suitcases filled with unique gifts, vouchers and experiences from 62 participating companies.
Here are a few highlights of what's included:
- A $9,000, three-night stay at the Faro Punta Imperatore Lighthouse in Ischia, Italy for the nominee and up to 7 friends.
- 10 square meters of land in Australia through the Pieces of Australia conservation project.
- A $12,000 voucher for "Celebrity Arms" Arm Liposuction with Dr. Thomas Su (ArtLipo Plastic Surgery)
- Shinery Radiance Wash, a hand soap that cleans your jewelry while you wash your hands.
- A $7,000 voucher for a private hair restoration consultation with leading hair transplant surgeon Dr. Alan J. Bauman
- Up to $10,000 worth of procedures from Dr. Konstantin Vasyukevich, including chemical peels, laser skin resurfacing and Botox.
What won't you find in a gift bag? Sex toys. Fary says he used to include them as a "lovely, discreet way for very high profile people to get access to them" but negative press coverage derailed it. This year's bag will instead include sweetums intimate cleansing wipes and C60 sexy edible massage oil.
What can Oscar nominees hope to see in a future swag bag? Fary hopes to include an electric car next year.
