Brand Aid was approached by Premier Nutrition, makers of PowerBar and other health products, to come up with a significant thank-you gift for a specially curated group of 50 athlete influencers. PowerBar had recruited an elite team of athletes, including Olympians and World Champions hailing from a wide array of sports (including snowboarding, swimming, triathlon and cycling) to collaborate on products and recommend the brand to others.

Premier Nutrition was looking to spend $250-$300 per kit, and the gift had to be “meaningful, not cheesy. There couldn’t be a bad association with the brand,” says Brand Aid CEO Renya Nelson.

In coming up with recommendations, “we pretended we were the athletes,” says Nelson. The products had to be the highest quality sports gear, trendy and memorable. Brand Aid came up with a dozen choices of backpacks and duffels (with mockups and product decks) that were then sent to Premier Nutrition’s team. “They got back to us that day and told us we nailed it,” she says.

Brand Aid provided gender-neutral backpacks from trendy brand Fjallraven, Stormtech zip-ups in the PowerBar colors of blue, red and yellow, a matte black S’well- style water bottle with the PowerBar logo, and a T-shirt wrapped up in a rubber wristband. The Team PowerBar logo was on the lid of the box, which was personalized with the athlete’s name, and included a letter from PowerBar thanking the athletes for their support.

“It was a powerful gift, and all these influencers took to social media, posting pictures on mountaintops, or by the ocean or in the rain,” Nelson says. “It gave the PowerBar brand massive – and immediate – exposure on social media.” An added plus? “We could see immediate results from the project,” she says.

In fact, the kit was such a success that PowerBar asked Brand Aid to collaborate on a similar packaging project to help launch a new line of plant-based protein bars.