Swag Is Good Arrives Just in Time as the Swag Industry Changes

A tremor was felt in the Los Angeles area this past month, but it wasn’t fault line related - it was the breaking news that celebrities would now be taxed on all gift bags received at award shows. The industry is changing, but some say it’s for the best. Exit Oscar gift bags. Enter Swag Is Good.

Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) September 13, 2006

Swagging can be a great thing, not only for celebs, but even more so for the merchants involved whom arguably have quite a bit to gain from the transaction. Having a celebrity associated with your product, gives your brand name instant credibility with consumers and in turn boosts sales.

But does the fact that the IRS has turned a once blind eye onto the “gifting industry” have merchants and celebrities quaking? Not really, although the days of over-the-top gift baskets and swag free-for-all lounges may soon become a thing of the past.    

Swag Is Good is the latest creation of entrepreneur, Cathy Stanley and is the only company that provides a direct matchmaking service between merchandise and Hollywood’s most elite trendsetters. Simply sending product to a celebrity in care of their publicist or business representative is not sufficient, as there is no accountability for where that product will end up. Swag is Good will only send product directly to celebrity members.

In addition to guarding the private contact information of celebrity members, Swag is Good takes the unusual stance of providing discretion so that celebrities can feel free to accept Swag without being pounced on or criticized by the media. You won’t find our celebrities being asked for pictures with our product, nor will the paparazzi get a photograph of us delivering bags of Swag to a celebrity’s front door (our exterior packaging is unmarked for this specific reason).

Cathy’s pro-celebrity philosophy is a direct result of years of experience as a celebrity personal assistant to many high profile A-listers. She believes that the actual value of Award show gift bags has been unfairly over-exaggerated. Some media quotes have put the value of some of these baskets to be as high as $100,000.

According to Cathy, “Although, the swag may - in fact - be valued as such, many of the items come in the form of a non-transferable gift certificate. It would be extremely rare that a celebrity actually redeems every single gift certificate in a gift bag, particularly the ones where there is some sort of personal appearance required on their part, in order to redeem”.

So, unlike a gift bag, where a merchant has no idea whether an item will be used or worn by the celebrity who receives it, with Swag Is Good, celebrities choose the merchandise themselves. And merchants are able to proactively target the celebrity demographic of their choice.

So how does Swag Is Good work with this tax law being newly enforced? At the end of each month, celebrity members will receive an itemized list of the merchandise they have personally selected and received from Swag Is Good along with its approximate retail value. Celebrities can then discuss with their own business managers how to fulfill their tax obligations. In addition, Swag is Good makes it easy for celebrities to offset the tax liability with charitable donations through their Charitable Swag give back program.

Swag Is Good even allows merchants the opportunity to submit their “wish lists” of the top celebrities they are really hoping to place their products with.

Swag is Good officially launches in October 2006, and with the ripple that is going through the celebrity community, the timing really couldn’t be better. Swag is good.

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