Last Minute Gifts: A Giving Spirit
November 27, 2008
As companies work to keep costs down, social responsibility has become a top way to add meaning to corporate gifting
By Alex Palmer
The expression that "it's the thought that counts" is getting a boost in credibility this year as the continuing economic crisis puts the pinch on corporate gifting budgets. Incentive's new corporate gifting IQ survey, the full results of which will be published in our next issue, showed that about 42 percent of respondents are spending less on gifts this year compared to last. While expensive tokens of appreciation may be less of an option for givers this year, the desire to send something that makes an impact on clients and employees is as important as ever. As companies get creative with their gifting, "value" is being measured in a gift's meaning more than its price point.
For example, the leadership at the global consultancy LEK Consulting felt that social responsibility would boost the impact of their holiday gifts to clients. For the past several years, the Boston-based company had sent out small items from Tiffany & Co. (such as bookmarks and letter openers) to its approximately 5,600 recipients. But in conjunction with several other company-wide efforts to boost its corporate conscientiousness, they decided last year to reach out to CharityChoice, a company that offers donation gift cards, which allow recipients to choose where their donation will go.
"It was a big deal. Our VPs were nervous about it," says Jillian McLaughlin, a sales coordinator for LEK, explaining that they had concerns that clients had come to expect a high-end gift. However, the cards ended up being a big hit. "They loved it," says McLaughlin.
This year, CharityChoice is creating a Web site for the company where recipients can go to choose which charity they would like to donate to. "[The designer] and I got together and we created the Web site so that it would have the same look and feel as our corporate Web site. It was kind of a cross between CharityChoice and our site."
Another popular, and affordable, gift that companies are embracing is planting trees in the honor of customers or employees. Plant A Tree USA, a reforestation company based in Cherry Hill, N.J., specializes in doing just that for corporate groups and offers special discounts for larger orders. Recipients receive a personalized certificate describing the gift that was given on their behalf.
 Billtrust, an outsource billing company and one of Plant A Tree's clients, worked with the company as it sought to reward its customers that shifted to paperless online billing—what they call their "e-Adoption" program. According to the company leadership, the tree plantings made a strong impact with recipients and strengthened Billtrust's green reputation.
"It's the best incentive we could give," says Mitch Rose, vice president of marketing for Billtrust. "They're proud of helping to contribute to the environment, and they're proud of the recognition."
Dan Strack, who works as a trader for a Wall Street firm, is legally required to keep gifts under $100, so he has also turned to small charitable donations in the recipient's name to boost client relationships.
"People like that—they understand that we'd love to give nice big gifts, but legally we just can't do that," says Strack. He says that the recent market crisis makes buying elaborate gifts even less likely, not just because of budget constraints but considering the public perception of such expenditures.
Though he has recently been giving packages of La Cense Beef to friends. Strack cites the meat provider's emphasis on humane treatment of its livestock, which are fed with grass and not injected with hormones or antibiotics, as a draw for their gift packages. "The people I send it to are intrigued by the idea of grass-fed beef—the fact that the cows are grazed in a very humane way," says Strack. "[La Cense] is doing the right things for the right reasons and it shows in their products."
The beef comes as a whole care package, with a packet of different recipes and information on the ranch.
Ed Navis, a human resources consultant who has been helping clients find unique and inexpensive ways to give corporate gifts, says if there's one thing leadership should keep in mind in their giving, it's that gifts will have a bigger impact if there is more thought—not necessarily more money—behind them. Many of his clients are small businesses that can't afford big gifts at the end of the year or compete with major corporations in gift-giving.
"If we give money, it tends never to be enough, because there's no thought behind it," says Navis. "Especially this year, which people are so nervous about, we can say to our employees, 'I can't shell out large amounts of money for these gifts, but your work has meant so much to me,' and this has to be a trend that corporate leaders use throughout the entire year."
He gives an example of a sales organization of about 80 employees where sales have been soft because of the economy. So the company's CEO has charged each of his four managers to get to know their direct reports well and figure out a meaningful gift for each one that would cost less than $30 (and the CEO is doing the same with his direct reports). A recent idea they had was to give an employee who enjoys sailing a captain's cap with his name on it with a hand-signed card from his manager and the CEO.
Gifting certainly remains popular. A study released by the Promotional Products Association International (PPAI) at the end of September found that 80 percent of the sales and marketing executives who responded classify themselves as gift givers. The study reflected that relationship building was the most commonly cited reason for givers, with 70 percent giving "to thank customers," and 66 percent giving "to build goodwill."
"They should be given with the intent of building a relationship or keeping an existing relationship… When I talk to our members who are more successful on this, they are looking to find a gift that is meaningful to that particular person," says Steve Slagle, president and CEO of PPAI. "It's not about price. There are certainly products in this industry that have higher perceived value than others, but often if it's a thoughtful gift—whether it's $5 or $10—it will have impact for the individual.
Buffalo Grove, Ill.–based software company Vizioncore Inc. also used the packaging of their gifts to make an impact on the recipients. For gifts to 60 of their partners at a recent event in Las Vegas, the company gave gift baskets from That's Caring Gifts, which come in 100 percent reusable and recyclable baskets.
"I think that makes a strong statement," says Michelle Radlowski, marketing coordinator for Vizioncore. "Gifts that are better for the environment say a positive thing about the giver."
That's Caring is a green gift company that not only uses biodegradable wrap and recyclable trays and baskets for its chocolates, wine and cookies, it also ships with carbon offsets.
Send comments to alex.palmer@incentivemag.com.
|
RSS
