The Academy Awards are on Sunday and while not everyone will take home a coveted Oscar statuette, all of the top acting and directing nominees and the host will receive a gift bag full of swag.
Lash Fary, co-founder of L.A.-based marketing company Distinctive Assets, is in his 22nd year of delivering the over-the-top "Everyone Wins" gift bags.
"Every year we only gift the top acting and directing nominees, which is 25 people, and then we always throw in one for the host, so cutie pie Jimmy Kimmel's getting one too," Fary said.
The gift bags are not affiliated with the Academy Awards but are instead a private marketing endeavor. Marketing is at the core of what these gift bags are all about.
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This year's gift bag is valued at roughly $178,000 according to Fary, and is filled with over 50 gifts. The most expensive gift is an invitation to enjoy a $50,000 vacation at a ski chalet in the Swiss Alps for the Oscar nominee and up to nine friends.
"For someone who says it's overindulgent to give these nominees a six-figure gift bag, I would simply tell them to enroll in a marketing class at their local community college," Fary tells NBC. "It's so straightforward what this is."
"These are folks who get paid millions of dollars, if not tens of millions of dollars to be in films, not because they need the money, but because they are the biggest names in the world and they can sprinkle stardust on whether it's opening night of a film or whether it's something like overnight travel bags and they are seen using this bag when they're at the airport and it changes the trajectory for that business," Fary says. "So it's a really, really powerful win-win."
Long before the Oscars, 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 the big night. But sometimes U.S. Customs and Border Protection gets in the way of something making it into the gift bags on time.
That something is a sweet treat called the sagar experience. It's a specially derived sugar from maple water made in Quebec, Canada, and is the most expensive sugar in the world. It's already missing from some of the bags but Fary is still hoping to add it to the ones that haven't been delivered yet. For now, it's stuck in customs.
While everyone more or less receives the same gift bag, things like shoes require personalization.
"Creepily enough, you can look up celebrity shoe sizes online," Fary admits. HEYDUDE shoes looked up the shoe sizes to ensure the correct shoe size was in each bag.
The planning process for the "Everyone Wins" gift bag starts months in advance before the nominations are even announced. Fary and his team had hoped Greta Gerwig would be nominated for Best Director for "Barbie." A pillow by Cate Brown was specially created for her.
While gift bags are only given to nominees, Fary will still be sending Gerwig a Barbie pillow.
Historically, at least one nominee has declined an "Everyone Wins" gift bag. This year, Fary said there have been no declines so far. "But if there is a decline, Greta is our first alternate," Fary says.
For now, Bradley Cooper, Emma Stone, Colman Domingo, Lily Gladstone, Annette Bening and more will receive best-in-class beauty items, luxurious vacations, health & wellness tools and even opportunities to give back.
Here are a few highlights of what's included:
- In honor of the Rubik's Cube's 50th anniversary, a retro-themed version featuring the puzzle’s original logo and color scheme. Valued at $15
- A five-piece luxury gift set from Miage skincare valued at $515.
- A $10,000 micro-needling treatment from Cynosure “designed to tighten and revitalize” skin and “minimize the common signs of aging or reduce blemishes.”
- A seven-day retreat at the Golden Door California, promising a transformative and rejuvenating experience amidst the picturesque landscapes of Southern California. Valued at $24,000
- A $25,000 live show from mentalist Carl Christman which “combines magic, mind reading, hypnosis and comedy.”
What's one of Fary's favorite items in this year's bag? A wine fridge by Thor Kitchen.
"It's the perfect way to keep your expensive wine collection preserved," Fary says. "So I think these Oscar nominees are going to love that as well."
