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Baubles, Bangles or Beach Balls |
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A thoughtful gift can make a meeting or incentive trip more memorable - and motivational. Hear what some of the country's top destination management executives think makes the perfect pillow gift - plus, the lowdown on where to get the best loot.
Gearing up for your company's next incentive trip or corporate retreat? Don't forget to add pillow gifts to your checklist. Whether you're taking the troops to the beach or gearing up to log in some serious time in a corporate boardroom, you'll want to give attendees something memorable to bring back with them. Why? The gesture will buy you some major goodwill, for one thing, says Jill Bremer, president of Bremer Communications, a coaching firm based in Chicago.
"A gift shows the company has a heart and it recognizes the human element," she says. "People feel like they're being appreciated and that translates into viable corporate returns including motivation, loyalty and retention."
In addition, for incentive trips, a gift helps keep the troops revved up long after the trip has past, Bremer says. "You want to keep the warm thoughts going by choosing quality gifts that fit the scene and help employees remember the things they've done and learned," she says.
But with so many options available, how can executives choose the right gift to match their meeting or excursion? Not to worry, help is here. We tapped five destination management providers - those folks who are accustomed to handling all of the logistics for meetings around the country - and asked them to describe their perfect meeting or incentive gift and to chronicle the thought processes they went into choosing it. Read on for their ideas, as well as shopping checklists you can use to locate your own perfect pillow gift. (Note: If you see something you like in our shopping guides, give the supplier company's ASI number to your promotional products distributor, who can help you find this and other products.)
Playing for Keeps
Susan Henderson, president of Atlanta Arrangements Inc., a Georgia-based destination management company, always looks for gifts with staying power. "The perfect gift for me is one people will keep, one that causes them to remember the meeting or event and one they'll use over and over again," she says.
Henderson found her perfect gift in the form of a mini toolbox. "The theme of the event was putting it all together and finding the right tools," says Henderson, "so the gift fit perfectly with the meeting's message."
The toolbox gift was well received and Henderson believes that's because it was so useful (the current do-it-yourself craze has fueled the need for such handy items) and was easy to cart home (another important trait in a pillow gift). "We didn't find even one toolbox left behind in the hotel rooms," Henderson says, "and I knew that every time one of the attendees pulled it out, they'd remember the meeting."
Henderson also likes to give things that emphasize the flavor of a destination. For meetings held in Atlanta, her favorite item is a high-end crystal peach (after all, Georgia is the peach state) that can be logoed with corporate symbols, award designations or the recipient's name. "No one ever re-gifts these," says Henderson, "because they look as good at home as they do in the office."
Her final suggestion is to look for items that make a recipient's life easier. One of her company's most-recommended gifts is a Stand Up Stapler, a stand-on-its own device that makes stapling a cinch. "No one ever throws these away," Henderson says. "People like them because they make stapling fun - and they save time."
Photo Finish
The best meeting gift Madelyn Marusa, a meeting planner with PRA Destination Management Inc., which operates destination management companies throughout the United States, has ever seen was one her company developed in-house. Marusa's team was looking for a gift for meeting planners who toured different meeting sites. It came up with an imprinted shoulder bag containing a logoed disposable camera and a customized site inspection notebook. "What made this gift perfect was the disposable camera," says Marusa. "We'd already taken the first photo - it was a shot of our sales team so when the recipient developed the film, we'd be the first thing they'd see. What better way to remember us and the meeting!"
Marusa likes to fill out gift packages like these by adding products specific to the locale where the meeting or trip is being held. For instance, the company's San Diego office often gets requests for beach bags complete with sunscreen, beach towel and sunglasses with logos. "We're also on the lookout for indigenous things like locally made salsa and chips and area handicrafts and arts," she says. "People love these because they add both local flavor and color to the gift."
Marusa notes that time is her biggest challenge in choosing the perfect gift. "Clients are always coming in looking for something at the last minute, but we usually need two to three weeks turnaround and with higher quality things it can take even longer." She advises meeting planners to allow ample time for gift selection, especially for custom-made and logoed items.
Creative on a Budget
When Jennifer Miller, general manager of the San Diego-based office of Access Destination Services, was helping a drug company kick off a new drug at its annual conference, she immediately thought of promotional t shirts. But not ordinary T-shirts. No, the tees Miller had in mind were shrink-wrapped in the shape of the new pill. "This got more than a few laughs," she says, "but it was also a great hit because it was so effective in illustrating the new-product theme of the meeting."
Miller says it's also important to choose a gift that reminds people why they came to the event. As an example, Miller often gives crystal sailboats to individuals and groups that participate in local sailing regattas in San Diego. "The crystal boats work well because they remind the recipients of San Diego, the ocean and sailing," she says. "To highlight the theme we logo the sails with expressions like ‘sailing toward success' or ‘charting your own course.'"
Miller also mines San Diego's military bases for gift ideas. "Sometimes we send people on tours to the Miramar Air Station where they filmed Top Gun," she says. "When they get back on the bus they're excited to find a Top Gun hat waiting on their seat, or if it's an incentive trip where the budget's a bit larger, we thrill them with a logoed leather bomber jacket."
Keep 'Em Guessing with Collectibles
Clementine Moore, president of C. Florida Hospitality, an Orlando-based destination management company, remembers the worst gift a meeting planner once requested - a clock that was so big and clunky no one wanted to take it back home. "We learned from that and graduated to our perfect gift, which was a beach bag/towel combo - when you open the bag, it becomes the beach towel," she says. "People love this and they really use it."
Moore also uses attendee profiles to match gifts with recipients. "If a group is going to Orlando and the attendees have children, we'll hand out high quality stuffed toys like alligators and flamingos," she says. "You can imagine the reception they get from the kids when they take these back home to them."
Moore wants people to remember events, but she's careful about logoing gifts for home use. For example, "If we give out picture frames, we place the logos in discreet locations, so people can set out the frames on their coffee tables without anyone knowing they were corporate gifts," she says. "The recipients love this because they know where the logos are, but their guests don't."
Moore thinks repetitive events at annual meetings are fertile ground for collectibles. "For some groups, we select tiny pill boxes in Wedgwood porcelain," she says. "Each year, attendees will get Wedgwood's latest design and before long we have them wondering, ‘What will I get at the meeting this year?'"
Quality is Important
The best gift David Hainline has ever seen was actually a rush job. Hainline, president of Capitol Services Inc., a Falls Church, VA-based destination management company, remembers when his team had less than a month to find an appropriate gift for 3,000 high-end donors attending President Bush's first inaugural dinner. "We decided on custom votive crystal candleholders engraved with the inaugural motif," he says. A crystal supplier worked around the clock to make the deadline and "when we put the votives on the tables, the ‘wow' factor was terrific," he says.
Hainline also likes presidential china."We use this after visits to places like Mount Vernon," he says. "Each attendee gets a piece from a different president's pattern. We have them out on the tables as charger pieces and when dinner is served, the waiters pick them up with a bit of presidential flair and box them for the attendees. That really gets everyone's attention!"
Hainline is often forced to work with tight budgets, but he still insists on quality. "The gift can be something as simple as a logoed pen set, but the key is finding one that doesn't look junky," he says. "We feel you shouldn't give something just to give something, because we want our gifts to produce great memories."
Reprinted with permission of Successful Promotions, copyright 2006
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