It’s no secret that I love throwing parties. Some of the gatherings that I’ve hosted recently, like the Sabra Hummus taste-testing party and the Johnson & Johnson Cause Party, were sponsored events where I was given free promotional party supplies. I held another such gathering last Sunday – this time, it was a fun makeup party sponsored by CoverGirl and BzzAgent.
If you haven’t heard of BzzAgent, it’s a “Word-of-mouth marketing” company that connects people with samples in a unique way. You simply sign up for a free account, and BzzAgent will send you invitations to participate in campaigns for different products. When you sign up for a campaign, you receive products to try and samples/coupons to share with your friends. Then you send a quick message (or “BzzReport”) to BzzAgent, letting them know what you and your friends thought of the product. Companies create these campaigns as a way to advertise their product and get feedback from consumers. My rule of thumb with frugal endeavors is always to determine the value of what you’re getting versus the amount of time invested in the activity. I like BzzAgent, because it only takes a moment to log on and send a quick message telling them what my experiences with the product were. I’ve done all kinds of fun things for BzzAgent – they recently sent me two bags of Mahatma Rice and ten coupons for free rice to pass out to my friends and family, and in the past I’ve done campaigns for beauty products, cleaning supplies, and more.
My latest campaign was to host a COVERGIRL & Olay Simply Ageless party. I invited my girlfriends over for a fun afternoon giving each other makeovers using a box of free makeup that I was sent by BzzAgent.
Our makeovers – you can read the full recap here if you like.
If you want to get in on the fun, it’s totally free to sign up for a free BzzAgent account – tell ’em BzzAgent Harderotbreathe sent you!
Another organization that does this type of marketing is Houseparty. While each BzzAgent campaign is different – this was the first party Bzz campaign I’ve ever seen – Houseparty is geared exclusively towards sponsored parties. They have an ever-changing list of parties that you can sign up to be considered for. Every party has a limited amount of spaces, so only a select number of participants are chosen for each one. I personally haven’t been selected for a houseparty yet, but perhaps you’ll have better luck!
Other sponsored parties that I have thrown were a result of projects that I got involved with through my other blog, Contest Corner. Many companies connect with bloggers directly to review products on their site, and in some instances I have thrown a party with the review products, gotten feedback from guests, and then blogged about what we thought of it. If you’re interested in starting a blog and possibly reviewing products on it, check out this helpful article at The Motherload. If you already have a blog, here are some review panels that I recommend signing up for – please bear in mind, these panels are not specifically for sponsored parties, but rather for product reviews in general. However, I think it’s worth mentioning them, because it’s due to my general involvement with organizations such as these that I find out about various product campaigns; and occasionally, this results in me throwing some sort of gathering.
MyBlogSpark
BlogFriendlyPR
FuelMyBlog
One2One Network
Uprinting Blog Sponsorship Program
The Product Review Place
Entertaining is a lot of work, whether your party is sponsored or not. But I enjoy having gatherings, and working with companies to throw these unique soirées has been fun and a different experience than anything I would put together myself.
And speaking of parties – I am having yet another this weekend, but this time it’s all my own creation. Jai’s birthday is on the 13th, and we are celebrating a week early with friends and family. I will be spending Friday preparing for the event; so I’ll see you on Monday, readers!
