Luxury Experience & Co (LE&Co) facilitated face-to-face meetings between 126 NFL players and 25 luxury brands at their Super Bowl gifting lounge this year, demonstrating its potential to establish connections between brands and talent. 

Founded in 2018 by former wine industry executive Melissa McAvoy, LE&Co now operates exclusive gifting lounges at major events, including the Oscars, Emmys, Coachella, and the upcoming WNBA All-Star Game, serving luxury brands seeking genuine talent partnerships.

“My mission is business development. What I saw seven years ago was a shift—it’s not just about the press or marketing, but the biggest part is connecting brands and talent directly,” Melissa explains. “For a publicist, you could spend a year and maybe get in contact with 20 brands and then work with five. In our gifting lounge, we put you in front of 25 brands with allocated time for each.”

Melissa’s chance encounter with a Rolls-Royce executive on a flight led to her first major client and the launch of LE&Co. This initial connection quickly expanded to partnerships with other luxury automotive brands like Bentley and Lamborghini, laying the foundation for the gifting lounge concept that would become the company’s signature offering.

She recognized that both sides of the creator economy were struggling with inefficient connection methods. Brands were wasting marketing budgets on unfocused gifting campaigns, while talents and their representatives spent countless hours on cold outreach with minimal results. 

“When you actually meet the founder of a brand or a PR/marketing person, you get to see whether they are a fit for future products or projects,” Melissa says.

According to her, this direct access to decision-makers creates opportunities that digital outreach rarely provides. “There’s a different scale—maybe they want to bring on brand ambassadors or do social media content or ads. You’re getting that interview on both sides, face to face, in person.”

LE&Co has thus positioned itself as the solution for luxury brands and creators seeking meaningful partnerships beyond transactional digital exchanges.

The Anatomy of a Gifting Lounge

Each LE&Co gifting lounge features carefully selected brands and talent in an environment designed to foster genuine connections.

“In our gifting lounges, it’s the talent, the press, and the brands—that’s the only people outside our staff,” Melissa emphasizes. “Every brand knows they are meeting with every talent that walks through the door. They have their time with them.”

Melissa believes this structure ensures no brand is overlooked and all talent engages with each participating brand. The value, she adds, transcends these initial meetings through professional content creation.

“We have designated photographers for each brand, so they’re getting photos of every talent that’s come to that event holding their product in front of their signage,” Melissa details, revealing that these assets become valuable marketing materials for brands, usable across platforms from social media to trade shows.

The content has lasting value for both parties. As Melissa points out, “To have a picture of [NFL player] Devante Adams holding your product would cost you $50,000 for one Instagram post, where you’re getting that and 84 other athletes.”

The Right Brands Meet the Right Talent

Melissa highlights LE&Co’s strategic approach to matching brands with appropriate talent, with each event targeting a specific segment of the creator economy, with brands selected to match that audience.

“For the Super Bowl, we’re not going to bring in female-driven brands because our market for that event is literally 98% NFL players,” Melissa explains. “But the Oscars is more about the celebrity actor and some influencers. Coachella is more influencer-driven.”

This targeted operation extends to maintaining category exclusivity for participating brands. “We’re not bringing in two brands selling the same product,” Melissa states. “We want them to feel like they’re not being overshadowed by another brand that may have a bigger budget.”

Images: “Selling Sunset” Star Amanza Smith (left); Las Vegas Raiders Player Maxx Crosby (right)
 

Creating Experiences: Beyond the Gifting Table

Rather than creating sterile, transactional environments, LE&Co designs experiences tailored to the interests of attending talent.

“Our goal is not to be just a trade show for talent and brands. We really try to create an experience,” Melissa emphasizes, adding that this attention to experience design extends to venue selection.

“For the Super Bowl and Pro Bowl, we partner with Topgolf because what do all these football players like to do off-season? They love to golf,” she shares. “We partner with Topgolf to create that experience where they’re meeting the brands, then they can hit balls and have that fun experience environment.”

Melissa notes that this method creates anticipation and loyalty. “Two months out, I’ll get emails and texts and DMs from players: ‘Can’t wait for the gifting lounge at Super Bowl.'”

The Beauty, Health & Wellness Gifting Lounge: A Case Study

LE&Co’s upcoming Beauty, Health & Wellness Gifting Lounge in May will bring together brands in the beauty, health, and wellness sectors with talent whose personal or professional brands align with these industries. 

“Everyone in that room in some way, be it athlete, influencer, or celebrity, their brand is in the wellness space or sports space or beauty space,” Melissa notes.

This selection extends to both sides of the equation. “We’re not going to bring in talent that hates makeup or isn’t into the wellness side or isn’t into fitness.”

The selection process requires diligence. “We’ll get 250 submissions from influencers, athletes, and celebrities to attend one event, and we pick the top 150,” Melissa explains the curation that ensures participating brands meet talent relevant to their target audience.

One brand participating in LE&Co’s events, Choc Factory Cosmetics—a lip brand founded by Snoop Dogg’s daughter Cori Broadus—has seen measurable results from this targeted approach.

“What we’re finding that’s the driving force for that brand is the influencers, and not just the big influencers—we’re engaging and seeing traction on the micro-influencer level,” Melissa shares. After launching in February, the brand quickly grew from zero to nearly 30,000 social media followers through strategic influencer engagement.

Image: Ilios Lighting Founder Kelly Mondora and Choc Factory Founder Cori Broadus

Measuring Impact: Beyond Impressions

When it comes to showing ROI for participating brands, LE&Co tracks multiple metrics to quantify the value of these in-person connections.

“We measure engagement with talent. We’re measuring the following on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and the posts from the event,” Melissa details. “Then on the press side, we report those metrics and all the coverage from the events, which includes all the brands.”

This reporting applies to conversion metrics: “We’re doing follow-ups with brands as they’re posting and seeing how many click-throughs they’re getting from the talent posts to their Amazon store, TikTok Shop, and website.”

LE&Co also conducts longer-term analysis: “Throughout that time, say six months down the road, we’ll do follow-ups to see what traction they’re getting.”

The Teaching Component: Education as Added Value

In addition to facilitating connections, LE&Co provides education for both brands and talent on maximizing these relationships—an extension of Melissa’s background in PR, marketing, and business development.

“We create a learning experience. It’s not just the connection but also helping on both ends,” Melissa explains. “Especially for newer brands, teaching them how to engage with talent, but also helping the talent speak and work the relationship with the brands.”

This educational component addresses knowledge gaps on both sides. “They may have a big following, but their communication and business development side may be lacking,” Melissa notes about some talent.

Similarly, LE&Co provides insights for brands: “We are talking about how the spectrum of influencers has changed and grown and is more wide—teaching that to the brands.”

What’s Next for LE&Co?

LE&Co is actively moving into new areas of the creator economy. The company is adding WNBA All-Star to its event roster, recognizing the growing prominence of women’s sports.

“WNBA is getting put in the spotlight. That’s an event now that we’ve added—WNBA All-Star—which focuses on the female athlete and the WNBA player,” Melissa shares.

Despite several expansion opportunities, she remains selective: “We get approached daily—‘Do you want to do F1, do you want to do all these?’ But it’s picking and choosing the right ones we know we can succeed with.”

Melissa’s focus remains on creating value through meaningful connections. “My drive is to watch brands grow from utilizing and participating in the events,” she concludes. “I get excited for the new brand that’s like, ‘We’ve just met all these people that we could never even touch or get in contact with.'”