By Katie Deighton
Los Angeles-based influencer agency RQ Media Group LLC is used
to producing elaborate live events and parties for companies such
as Alphabet Inc.'s Google and Yum Brands Inc.'s Pizza Hut,
gathering Hollywood talent, journalists and influencers to promote
the latest product or show.
But with social-distancing regulations forbidding many such
large gatherings, the company's producers have found themselves
perfecting the art of the gift box instead.
That is because large corporations are taking a slice of the
money they would have spent on elaborate events and diverting it
into the humble mailer -- a package that gets sent to influential
people to court favor online and offline. The 2020 gift box goes
beyond pre-pandemic corporate swag and attempts to shrink what
would have been a multimillion-dollar live experience into an
easily delivered package -- one that will ideally elicit an
"unboxing" performance on social media.
"It's a safe and friendly way to really give someone an
experience that they wouldn't be able to have in person right now,"
said Alex Diamond, director of consumer marketing at HBO, part of
AT&T Inc.'s WarnerMedia division.
Just before the pandemic put a lid on big launch events, HBO
promoted the third season of "Westworld" with a March 5 Hollywood
screening at Hollywood's TCL Chinese Theatre and a party at the Ray
Dolby Ballroom. Nearly 1,000 people attended.
Later HBO debuts in the spring and summer turned to gift
boxes.
To get people tuning into the reboot of "Perry Mason," HBO in
June hired RQ to design and ship mailers to cast members,
influencers and fans of the show. The result was designed as a nod
to the show's 1930s prohibition setting, with alcohol and mixers
for cocktails delivered in milk cartons packed inside a crate.
A total of 130 boxes were shipped; 50 recipients living in L.A.
also received a three-course Italian takeout from Hollywood
restaurant Musso & Frank. HBO declined to comment on the costs
of elaborate mailers.
RQ senior account director Katy Wellhousen said more time and
strategic thinking goes into making them than the influencer kits
she would mail before the pandemic.
"[Covid-19] has made me change the way I look at sending gifts,"
she said. "Before, I didn't find it quite as sexy as doing a live
event. But now, seeing it as an experience at home rather than just
a box in the mail has made it a lot more exciting for me."
On average it takes less time to design and produce a gift-box
mailer than it does to organize a live event, said Max Fellows, a
consultant who works with creative agencies. While some luxury
boxes can cost upwards of $150 a unit to create, a flagship event
can cost four-to-five times more per person for a company to
produce, he said.
"You're talking about things like venues, insurance, catering,
logistics and hotels, not just the creative production," Mr.
Fellows said. "Live events undoubtedly cost more."
Many event producers are training themselves in the scaled-down
craft of building a box to stand out among the mailer
maelstrom.
A good gift box is expected to lead the recipient through an
intuitive unboxing sequence that is achieved through packaging in
layers, said Jerry Deeney, chief client officer at event agency
Invnt Group.
He and his team had to educate themselves in box-making and
design for the mailers that were delivered before the virtual
reveal of the Cadillac Lyriq car in August.
"There are so many decisions you have to make around things like
materials, weight, the use of magnets to keep the lid closed, and
the way in which the objects are inserted and removed from the box
in a way that tells a story," Mr. Deeney said.
"With a live event you're always building up to the buzz," said
Zoe Lewis, head of live at London-based agency Louder Productions
Ltd., which goes by the name Amplify, "but with a box the
excitement of the big idea comes at the beginning and you go from
there."
"Events-in-a-box" remained popular even as companies began
holding live launch events in virtual form.
Wireless provider Virgin Media in July sent a group of its
customers "Big Night In" boxes when the British Academy Television
Awards' in-person ceremony was canceled and a virtual event was
held.
Software company Adobe Inc. sent the finalists of its Experience
Maker Awards a package filled with confetti, Champagne, flutes and
balloons after the real-life ceremony was canceled.
"What worked about it was the quality put into it," said Katie
Martell, a marketing consultant who received the Adobe box. "It
came with great Champagne, high-quality stemware...it clearly
wasn't a cheap endeavor."
Event planners such as RQ say pivoting to gift-box curation has
helped them sustain their businesses through the pandemic, though
not on the same scale as in-person events, Mr. Salzmann said.
"We wouldn't consider this a replacement for brand experiences,
but during the current crisis it certainly is doing its job," he
said.
Write to Katie Deighton at katie.deighton@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 16, 2020 12:12 ET (16:12 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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