Believe it or not, now is the time to tackle that client list and begin your holiday gift shopping. Are you interested in effective giveaways and branding? You should be!
Case study:
For the holiday season of 2016, a local Chamber of Commerce opted to give an end-of-year gift for everyone in their Chairman’s Circle. Thinking along the lines of “everyone loves coffee or tea (good logic), and purchasing a gift card is so easy (also good logic)” they decided to give gift cards to a popular national coffee chain. There was absolutely nothing wrong about the gift, it was perfectly lovely, and people did enjoy using the card. So what’s wrong with this picture? Let’s break it down:
- The coffee card was branded with the chain’s logo, not the Chamber’s. The coffee company wasn’t even a member of the Chamber. Why give free advertising to a company you’re not affiliated with?
- Market saturation with a generic gift and a potential for one-time use. If the chamber thought the coffee cards were easy, guess what? So did a million other businesses. When their Chairman’s Circle members went to use the GC, they most likely had trouble even recalling from where it had been received.
- The dreaded re-gift. Let’s face it, when buying gifts in bulk quantity; you won’t please everyone. Not everyone loves a gift card to a national coffee chain, but it makes for an easy, anonymous re-gift.
Holiday 2017. The Chamber knew they wanted better gifts and came to Deprigo with time to plan. Presto! Our marketing team easily solved the solutions to the previous year’s gift problems.
- Deprigo presented a range of ideas all branded with the Chamber’s logo and brand palette, providing subtle and consistent reminders of the Chamber’s community presence for the gift recipient.
- A unique gift with potential for continuous use. The Chamber, with Deprigo’s guidance, selected a portable speaker as the 2017 Holiday gift. It was a gift that could be used year-round, over and over.
- The dreaded re-gift becomes not so dreaded. We get it, not everyone wants a coffee gift card, and not everyone wants a portable speaker. However, this time if/when re-gifts occurred, the items were branded, and the new recipient would now become aware of, or reminded of the Chamber. Thus the gift continued to spread joy along with a small branding message.
You can see the difference a little advance planning and working with a creative agency can make.
BONUS TIPS Take your gifting further! It’s easy to take a good gift to next-level greatness.
For a gift relating to music, such as this remote portable speaker, consider having your staff put together a play-list of holiday favorites! Be sure to include the name of the person who selected each song for a personal connection, along with a link to download the play-list. Print the list (or have Deprigo print it for you) and attach to the gift packaging.
