There are plenty gifting lounges doling out swag to celebrities during the Toronto International Film Festival. The Essentials Lounge, however, is not one of them.
Pay Chen, host of Winnipeg’s Breakfast Television, gets measured for swag
Now in its fourth season, the lounge run by Toronto’s EGPR is designed to give the VIP treatment to the media, not the stars. Conceived by agency founder Esther Garnick, the Essentials Lounge outfits media covering TIFF with product from brands like Nike, Smart Water, Sorel and HP. The idea, Garnick said, is to offer stressed reporters with goods that will help them get through the festival.
“The concept is about arming these hard-working journalists with the ‘essentials,’ things they can use, things that will enhance their overall experience [during TIFF],” she said.
It’s also a chance for brands to connect with a group of about 150 carefully selected members of the entertainment and lifestyle media and offer them something useful, rather than a cold pitch.
This year’s lounge – open for just one day on the eve of the festival’s launch, September 4 – is also giving away “recovery kits” for reporters to stash away until after TIFF. It includes a two-week pass to to Moksha Yoga, gift cards for Creeds dry cleaning and OrderIt.ca food delivery, Aveda hair treatments and calming teas from TeAlchemy.
While Garnick said she’s happy to see all her brand partners receive press clippings during TIFF, the Essentials Lounge is often a place to introduce media to brands or products they’ll cover later once the storm of the festival has died down.
The lounge launched in 2010 with four sponsors, including Vitaminwater and John Frieda. This year 25 brands will participate. After finding success in Toronto, Garnick said she’s eager to take the concept to film and music festivals covered heavily by media. She thinks it would also work well at fashion weeks.
“It could be a film festival, it could be a fashion week, it could be a music festival. The concept could work anywhere where there is tons of media that come to cover an event,” she said.
Read more of our ongoing coverage of Toronto International Film Festival sponsorships and activations at MarketingMag.ca’s TIFF Sponsor Spotlight
