Distinctive Assets reveals the items in this year’s “Everyone Wins” Academy Award nominee gift bag, worth an estimated $126,000.
Key Details
- This year’s Oscar gift bag is estimated to be worth $126,000, down 10% from last year’s bag, worth nearly $140,000, and almost half off the all-time high of $225,000 in 2020.
- The gift bag is worth more than 300 times the value of Oscar himself—the 24-karat gold-plated statuette costs about $400 to make, according to Forbes.
- The 2023 bag includes everything from plastic surgery to skincare and water brands. The gifts are so big that the “gift bag” is delivered to the homes of A-listers such as Austin Butler, Cate Blanchett, Michelle Yeoh, and Steven Spielberg in multiple high-dollar suitcases.
Why it’s news
The Academy Awards, the biggest award show of the year, is this weekend and will feature A-list celebrities going home with the golden Oscar and six figures worth of high-dollar goodies.
Since 2002 marketing agency Distinctive Assets sends Oscar nominees home with the lavish unofficial nominee gift bag worth thousands of dollars. This year the bag is titled “Everyone Wins,” so even actors who don’t win will go home with an extravagant gift. Although the gift bag says “Everyone Wins” only around 29 celebrities will be taking it home. The bag is given to the top five nominees in the top five categories (one category has two directors) and the three event hosts.
Distinctive Assets founder Lash Fary says the gift is not affiliated with the Academy, but the company gives the top nominees the luxurious items as an extra perk for winners and so that celebrities going home with no Oscar will not leave completely empty-handed. The items are too large to put in a singular bag, so they are delivered in High Roller, expensive luggage cases to the celebrity’s houses.
The gift bag is known for being high-dollar and containing extreme gifts, and this year is no different. The top gift included in the bag is a $40,000 getaway to a 10-acre Canadian estate called The Lifestyle and a three-night stay in a restored Italian lighthouse, valued at $9,000, according to Forbes.
Inside the bag, according to Forbes…
- A $40,000 vacation to a 10-acre Canadian estate called The Lifestyle
- $25,000 worth of project management fees from Maison Construction
- Art lipo plastic surgery $12,000
- Oxygenetix oxygen-enriched foundation and concealer $12,000
- Anti-aging treatments $10,000
- Three-night stay in a restored Italian lighthouse $9,000
- Hair-loss treatments $7,000
- KnowingLabs home health rejuvenation $1,800
- Rareté Studios Jewelry $1,200
- Training session with spiritual coach Jo Bowlby, author of A Book For Life $630
The items for this year’s bag are centered around inclusivity. Distinctive Assets says the gifts were chosen from diverse and small businesses that will benefit from the buzz surrounding the celebrity bags.
“Brands pay between $4,000 and $35,000 to be included in the gift bag—quite the investment with many being small, minority-owned businesses,” reports Forbes. But it has paid off for some.
Amy Adams has been photographed in a gifted t-shirt, and both Mark Ruffalo and Viola Davis have shared snapshots on Instagram of their free vacations. Director Ron Howard hosted his son’s wedding at the Winvian Farm in Connecticut after visiting it through his Oscars gift bag.
“We are excited and proud to once again be creating what is known worldwide as the ultimate swag bag,” says Fary. “While our gifts may be famous for being fun, fabulous, useful, and unique, they also serve a grander purpose. Most of the brands we include are from a diverse and inclusive array of small businesses who meaningfully benefit from the global exposure that being associated with Hollywood’s Biggest Night affords them. This is celebrity marketing with a mission.”