The Envelope Please - The Oscar's Envelope & 2014's Stats

The Oscars 2014 Envelopes

One of the most infamous lines in Oscar history will always be, "The envelope please." Over the years, the envelopes used in the Academy Awards have matured, gaining more media attention. This year, each Oscar envelope was custom made for each nominee. That totals 72 envelopes for the Oscars' 24 categories, as well as three announcement cards for every nominee (363 cards for 121 nominees). The cost? Approximately $200 - $500 per envelope. This envelope is so costly because of the meticulous attention paid to detail. Additionally, cost was high because so few were created. Small business owner Marc Friedland and his team of 10 staffers spent approximately 110 hours creating these gorgeous gold envelopes and cards. Each envelope, with red lacquered lining and heavy ecru paper, weighs a quarter of a pound, which is significantly heavier than most envelopes.

In 2011, Marc Friedland Couture Communications in L.A. was asked to create the envelopes. According to actor Tom Hanks, "these envelopes are works of art in themselves." This year, Friedland utilized social media, including Twitter and Vine to demonstrate the actual creation process. This year's envelopes included ten specialty processes:

1. Custom-made paper / custom printed envelopes
2. Hand-tooled die-making
3. Laminating
4. Hand-folding
5. Hand-gluing
6. Hand-wrapping
7. Sheeting
8. Hand-fed gold leaf stamping
9. Hand-fed embossing
10. Imprinting of nominee's names

In addition to the 10 specialty processes, the envelopes also were made of "a heavyweight ecru card, featuring deco gold foil accents, and was accented with a gold-leaf embossed Oscar statuette."

How the Oscars' Envelope Can Inspire Your Mailings

Friedland stated, "Hopefully the envelope will never become digital because it's a keepsake," he said. "It's the least-tech, most-emotional keepsake I know, and it's perhaps the most-famous envelope in the world." We at Precision Envelope couldn't agree more. Although we love social media, we feel sending a letter (either business or personal) and having it designed with craftsmanship in mind, helps tremendously when sending a mailing and trying to differentiate your brand/self from other competitors, letters, etc. If you’re spending money on a mailing, you do not want your piece to be considered junk mail and be thrown out. Instead, try to differentiate yourself, even if you are on a budget. We suggest first consulting a professional to choose the style and create a design. You can help differentiate your brand either with colored envelopes, going green with recycled envelopes, or using booklet envelopes for a business.

The Future of Envelopes

With the Oscars' help in putting the power of envelopes back on the map, we are hoping to see a trend of this in all fields - from other award shows, to personal mailings, to businesses creating a signature look. By creating an envelope that feels unique, there’s somewhat of a sentimental vibe felt when receiving the mailing. Will you be taking a cue from the Oscars and change your mailings? If so, what will you do to differentiate your company from competitors?