She's here to help

Can I Send a Gift to Miley or the Jonas Brothers?

Tue., Oct. 28, 2008 4:53 PM PDT by Leslie Gornstein

Shea Walsh/AP Images for Xbox 360

If I wanted to send a gift to a celebrity, how could I make sure they got it?
—Dee Bee

Easy: by paying someone. For example, at the recent Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals benefit in Las Vegas, the Jonas Brothers received a bunch of very nice Xbox equipment (consoles, Lips, Guitar Hero World Tour, etc.).

The Xbox people hired a gifting firm called Distinctive Assets to ensure that only authentic Jonases received the booty. They built a lounge and staffed it with gifting gurus who weeded out stars from grifters. So when the Jonas Bros. came through, their purity rings gleaming, they were personally connected with their gifts, and everyone went away happy.

But maybe you don't have an extra $5,000 to $20,000 for this. Or you just want to send Miley Cyrus a teddy bear. Your gift has a better chance of hitting home with a few simple tips...

First of all, forget the publicists. I've heard tales of publicity firms with rooms full of gifts meant for celebrities—and destined for the grubby hands of personal flacks.

"Instead, contact their managers or an agent if the managers aren't helpful," says Liz Dennery Sanders of the publicity and celebrity outreach firm Dennery Marks Inc. "Make friends with the assistants there if you can, and follow up three or four days later, keeping the chat to three, three and a half minutes, tops."

Where to find such people? Subscribe to the celebrity directory service WhoRepresents.com. Or Lash Fary at Distinctive Assets also recommends IMDB Pro as a good alternative reference.

Once you find that agent or manager, don't hold your breath waiting for a response.

"We've done a lot of gifting for Miley Cyrus," Dennery Sanders dishes, "but we haven't gotten a lot of response from her."

Hey, you can always send those gifts to me. I'll write a thank-you note and everything.

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