Basket day gift mother wine

THE FOLKS AT STAR TREATMENT HAVE BUILT A BOOMING BUSINESS BY FINDING PERFECT GIFTS FOR HOLLYWOOD'S BIGGEST NAMES

IT may be better to give than to receive -- and for Star Treatment Gift Services it's a lot more profitable as well.

The mission of the firm is pampering the pampered, coddling the coddled and finding the perfect gift for Hollywood types who already lack little in the way of material possessions.

Its clients are anyone and everyone in Hollywood who wants to impress stars, producers or studio execs, but are understandably unnerved by the prospect of trying to make Tom Cruise feel special for $250 or saluting Angelina Jolie for her Oscar triumph.

Since its founding in Van Nuys in 1996, Star Treatment has emerged from a crowded pack of local and Internet-based gift basket companies to establish itself as a leading shopper to the stars. Focusing on luxury merchandise and exhibiting a flair for creativity, the firm is projecting annual revenue approaching $1 million this year, nearly double the total from two years ago.

In the process, its phone number has earned a permanent place on the speed dials of numerous talent managers, agents and executive assistants throughout the entertainment industry.

Star Treatment was founded by Marnie Lerner, 28, her mother, Diane Lerner, 58, and Cynde Cassell, 31, with the idea of offering drop-everything service that other gift companies are unable or unwilling to provide. That attitude has generated strong word of mouth in an industry where reputation rules, and buzz can bring lots of business.

Focusing heavily on the entertainment industry, Star Treatment now generates about 85 percent of its revenue from Los Angeles-area television and film studios.

"I grew up in L.A. I know how the stars are treated. It's all about being pampered," said Marnie Lerner. "What separated us from the get-go was that we wanted to be on the high end. We'll find that one gift that no one else has seen. We don't sell tchotchkes."

Alison Bossert, manager of special events for Columbia Pictures, said two intangibles have led her to use Star Treatment. The first is a determination to please, the second is good taste.

Bossert first hired Star Treatment three years ago after a brochure caught her eye. "They know what's hot and hip and now. They always have fresh ideas," Bossert said.

Last year, Bossert hired Star Treatment to put together gifts for the cast and crew of "Stuart Little," the movie about the escapades of a mouse. In no time, Lerner and Cassell dropped off picnic baskets filled with cheeseboards -- complete with an etched quote from the film -- gourmet cheeses, wine and a toy sailboat, among other items.

"They're amazing. They'll tailor it to the movie or show or whatever project we're working on," Bossert said.

Lerner said that she and Cassell -- who make most of the purchasing decisions -- generally read the scripts to get a feel for the project and gather as many personal details as possible about people receiving the gifts.

A recent project for the upcoming DreamWorks SKG film "Evolution," starring David Duchovny and Julianne Moore, was a typical job. Working with a budget of about $400 for each actor and 20 or so crew members, they assembled baskets containing telescopes, alien stretch toys, an extraterrestrial encyclopedia and rocketship pens.

"We always try to get a feel for the film, to match the genre," Lerner said.

Brian Edwards, manager of talent for American Movie Classics, said the company has the ability to improvise.

"What I like is they are able to complete your sentence," Edwards said. "If you say, 'Whoopi Goldberg likes this,' they just run with it. They come with stuff that you wouldn't think of."

A good example, Edwards said, was the thank-you basket that Star Treatment created for Fox executive Kevin Burns. Tipped off that Burns is a fan of eBay, Lerner and Cassell quickly put together a basket with an eBay gift certificate, a custom mouse pad and a special pager to alert Burns when auctions are taking place.

While most of the custom gift baskets they create run between $200 and $400 each, Star Treatment also sells a selection of readymade baskets for every occasion that start at $35 for gourmet cookies.

The company generates most of its business from word of mouth, but it does have a small advertising budget and runs regular ads in Los Angeles Magazine and the Hollywood Reporter. Its Web site also serves as a good informational resource for clients, but it hasn't done much for sales, generating a meager 1 percent of the company's business, according to Diane Lerner.

Most of the buying is done in large quantities, with Star Treatment purchasing its merchandise wholesale and selling it at top retail prices.

"People hear about what we do, and they think we just put on our pumps and go out to shop for George Clooney," said Marnie Lerner. "It's more involved than that. I mean, what do you get for George Clooney for $300 that he's really going to want?"

The company does get an occasional odd order for a very expensive gift. One was the $15,000 four-strand garnet choke necklace and matching earrings given to Angelina Jolie by Tri-Star Pictures for her Best Actress Academy Award. But most orders emphasize cleverness over excess.

Marnie, who was named after the Alfred Hitchcock character in the movie of the same name and counts herself a huge fan of the famed director, said one of her favorite projects involved the 1998 remake of "Psycho."

In addition to buying knives from the same French company that made the infamous knife from the shower scene in the original, Star Treatment created baskets for the cast and crew that included miniature rocking chairs complete with chenille throws reminiscent of Mother Bates. The baskets for director Gus Van Sant and star Vince Vaughn also included real taxidermied birds.

By their own admission, Marnie Lerner and Cynde Cassell knew little about running a business when they decided to start Star Treatment. Lerner was working as a reporter, writing celebrity interviews and movie reviews for "La Guia Familiar" and "Mundo L.A.," Spanish-language weeklies owned by her parents' company, Latin Publications.

Cassell was a personal shopper at Bloomingdale's in New York, where the pair first met at a fashion show in the early 1990s. In 1996, with both women living in Los Angeles, they launched Star Treatment from Lerner's parents' guest house in Van Nuys. Each woman invested $5,000 to get Star Treatment off the ground.

"The only way we were able to survive is because we had no overhead," Marnie Lerner said. "I think we lost about a third of our investment in-the first year. We kept our day jobs to make money."

With virtually no contacts, but convinced that the studios represented their best hope of success, Lerner and Cassell began aggressively blitzing entertainment companies with brochures and e-mails, following up those communications with. phone calls until they got in touch with the person who was responsible for handling talent and purchasing gifts.

Disappointed by their inability to make a profit but buoyed by the positive feedback they were receiving from clients, Lerner and Cassell found themselves at a critical juncture at the end of their first year in business.

"We realized that the only way we were going to make it work was to quit our day jobs and devote ourselves to this full time. It wasn't going to work half way," Lerner said. At that point, the Gen-X partners convinced Diane Lerner to leave her job as a vice president at Latino Publications to help manage the company.

"My dad wasn't happy," Lerner said. "First, I wouldn't work at his company and then I got my mom to leave."

Spotlight

Star Treatment Gift Services

Year Founded: 1996

Core Business: Custom gift baskets and personal gift buying

Revenue in 1998: $500,000

Revenue in 1999: $700,000

Revenue in 2000: $1 million (projected)

Employees in 1996: Three

Employees in 2000: Nine full-time and eight part-time

Goal: To increase revenue by expanding sales and marketing its own brand-name products

Driving Force: Studios' desire to enhance relationships with stars, employees and clients by giving them distinctive, memorable gift