Gifting Black Celebs

As a publicist, and someone who has used celebrity gifting services, I've noticed that Black celebrities are often ignored. For those who aren't familiar, gifting is when a product placement company sends a celeb a "gift basket", usually to congratulate a birth or wedding, in the hopes that they'll get endorsement from the celeb, or that the products in the basket will be photographed being used by the celeb. Here are two well-known gifting companies, if you need an example of what this marketing technique does: http://babyswags.com and http://jewelsandpinstripes.com Anyway, I was thinking- there are so many black musicians, actors, actresses, athletes, etc that are not being gifted, when it's really a good thing to do- since they're typically left out of the gifting scene, they're not so overwhelmed with gift baskets, and are likely to be more appreciative and responsive of the effort. So, this weekend I'm going to work on making a list of gift baskets that can be sent out to black celebs who are either getting married, newly married, pregnant, or new parents, and set up some opportunities for companies to get involved in gifting them. My firm already produces celebrity gift bags for events, so it's not that big of a leap to do this too. If anyone knows of any celebs that fit this bill, please tell me here or send me a message. I'd also appreciate your thoughts on the idea of focusing on gifting Black celebs.

Definitely understand Cee Cee, and that's where a product placement company comes in; we have contacts with celeb publicists (those are the people who you usually send gift baskets like this too), and work to get as much publicity out of the gifting as possible.

You also have to make sure you're not just sending things without follow-up- when we do gift baskets, we usually make a duplicate basket to auction off to benefit a charitable organization (which gives us a reason to gain publicity). We send a personal note, package everything well, and send a guide detailing what vendors are in the basket. There's always a press release sent out, the companies who participate get photos of the finished basket for promotional use, and sometimes we collaborate with a high-traffic site/blog or well-known magazine to hold a giveaway, where the winner gets the same basket given to the celeb.

It took hours of searching last night, but I've come up with a good starter list of Black celebs that can be gifted- but I still need more. I'll be sending you a message LaShanda!

Replies

Rhonda August 9, 2008 at 6:24pm

Here's the list I've come up with so far...I have a lot more research to do, but if you ladies have any confirmed tips on marriages or pregnancies, let me know. We also like to gift celeb babies turning one:

Ruben Studdard - newly married
Timbaland - newly married
Sarah Jakes (daughter of T.D. Jakes) - newly married
Joy Bryant - newly married
Antonio Piece - married recently. it was in late May, but still...
Laila Ali - expecting
Babyface - expecting
Lil' Mo - expecting & engaged
Monica - expecting
Alexis Fields - expecting
Elton Brand - expecting
Paula Jai Parker-Martin - expecting
Reign (Timbaland's daughter) turns one in November
Usher's son turns one in November
Garcelle Nilon - twins turn one in about 3 months
Jill Scott- engaged
Rhonda August 9, 2008 at 5:11pm

Definitely understand Cee Cee, and that's where a product placement company comes in; we have contacts with celeb publicists (those are the people who you usually send gift baskets like this too), and work to get as much publicity out of the gifting as possible.

You also have to make sure you're not just sending things without follow-up- when we do gift baskets, we usually make a duplicate basket to auction off to benefit a charitable organization (which gives us a reason to gain publicity). We send a personal note, package everything well, and send a guide detailing what vendors are in the basket. There's always a press release sent out, the companies who participate get photos of the finished basket for promotional use, and sometimes we collaborate with a high-traffic site/blog or well-known magazine to hold a giveaway, where the winner gets the same basket given to the celeb.

It took hours of searching last night, but I've come up with a good starter list of Black celebs that can be gifted- but I still need more. I'll be sending you a message LaShanda!
LaShanda Henry August 9, 2008 at 4:12pm

This is a great idea. You mentioned that you already do this, can you send me an message with more details. This might be something that many BBWO members could benefit from. I'd love to know how much the fees are, and some of your previous gifting projects. If this is something you specialize in, already having a listing of celebs, perhaps we do something together supporting bbwo small businesses and gifting celebs.

lhenry
Christine August 9, 2008 at 12:50pm

I think this is excellent idea. However, I think many small businesses just don't know where to send these items where they won't get lost in the shuffle.

CeeCee Woolard
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