Call them tchotchkes, souvenirs, or pillow gifts; they're becoming more popular at meetings—from trade shows to incentives. "People are focusing more than ever on these gifts as part of their programs," says Mark Bernstein, merchandiser in the recognition and promotion products division of Minneapolis, MN-based Carlson Marketing Group. A March survey of 160 Successful Meetings readers found that approximately 70 percent of all planners use pillow gifts and promotional teasers at their events.
While it is possible to plan a "merchandise-less" meeting, these items are one of the most cost-effective ways to add value to the attendee's overall experience. "It's part of the sizzle of the program, the feel-good attitude that brings it all together," says Dick Gaeta, president of Marblehead, MA-based Premier Incentives. "People look forward to receiving these gifts." Simultaneously, pillow gifts promote the host company, the site of the meeting, or the meeting itself. "It's the cheapest way to advertise," says Melissa Anunson, marketing manager at Verona, WI-based pc/nametag, a company that provides meeting supplies. "You can get small premiums with your organization's logo imprinted on them for less than a buck." As the popularity of meeting gifts has grown, so too has the challenge of finding gifts that are memorable and unique enough to market your meeting or company effectively and to be appreciated by the recipient.
Make Yourself Useful
"Utility is always number one," Anunson says of her clients' requirements for promotional gifts. And, according to the recent Successful Meetings reader survey, she's right: 83 percent of respondents say the most important aspect of gifts is that attendees actually use them after the event. "That's why pens, pads of paper, and bags have always been popular," she says. But these days, as Anunson puts it, "Those are sort of generic; everyone's done that already." So planners are improving upon the old standards by personalizing other useful items such as lip balm and sunscreen. In the same vein, while still using favorites including sweatshirts, golf shirts, and tote bags, planners are upgrading the quality of these items. "You don't see as many standard canvas tote bags," says Bernstein. "Now they're retail branded, or beach bags." The Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau, for example, greets its VIP guests with towel bags, or beach towels that fold up into bags that can carry other items. Communications Manager Cindy Malin says she receives many compliments on these bags and they leave a lasting impression on recipients. "We even had a meeting planner call us last year who wanted us to replace a towel bag she received ten years ago," Malin says.
Others forgo traditional gifts entirely in favor of increasingly popular lifestyle gifts. "We're seeing a lot more pieces that people can use on site at their meetings and in their personal life as well," Bernstein says. One particularly successful gift he provided was a silver-and-brass desk clock to which his client added a "subtly screened and engraved plate" displaying the brand on it. "It's got great value as a trophy gift, and [the attendees] can look at it every day and remember their trip."
Also increasingly popular: Gifts that evoke the destination at which the meeting is held. The Charlotte, NC, tourism organization, Visit Charlotte, recommends that its visitors receive chocolate-covered pecans from the Carolinas. Planners say edible gifts are always a hit and offer the added opportunity to give something that authentically represents the area in which the event occurs. Dan Meister, a Boca Raton, FL-based meeting planner, says he gave attendees of a Bahamas incentive trip rum cakes in a tin with little bottles of rum wrapped around it. And, he says, it was economical. "The best thing about it from our side was that we negotiated directly with the factory and saved fifty percent off retail buying in bulk and having our own staff wrap them," he says. Of a trip to a Disney property, Kathleen Zwart, meeting planner with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, says, "One of the best pillow gifts we got was a chocolate treasure chest, which was not only made of chocolate but also everything in it and on the tray with it was chocolate, including a huge Mickey Mouse sculpture. To a chocoholic, it's pure heaven!" Other locations give locally produced liquors, hot sauces, and spice mixes, along with breath mints and strips. "Edibles are growing, and are a great tie-in to the region your meeting is in," says pc/nametag's Anunson. "If you look at the retail trends in edibles, and in about a year or so, you can have those items imprinted."
Others take different approaches. "One of the most well-received gifts we gave at an incentive trip last year was a high quality silver frame with a photo of each couple taken just a few hours earlier as they arrived at an off-site location," says Zwart. "The attendees were blown away by our ability to take, print, and frame the photo and place it in their rooms before they returned." Although this gift was relatively inexpensive, Zwart says, it was by far the most talked about one during the trip. And attendees always have the option to change the photo in the frame when they return from the trip.
Planners of incentives or other meetings with traditionally larger budgets say consumer electronics prove wildly popular. "We've given digital binoculars, which were great pieces to use both on site and back in their personal settings," says Bernstein, who silk-screened the name of his event on the binoculars case. The Greater Houston CVB gives its VIP visitors a featherweight, credit-card-sized digital camera—a gift clearly usable during and after their trips. And the camera is printed with "Houston, SpaceCity USA" right above the lens so attendees will always remember where it came from.
One-Stop Shop
As the public becomes more health conscious, hotels with on-site spas have proliferated. The confluence of these two trends gives planners the option of using hotel- or retail-branded spa products as pillow gifts. Seaside, FL's WaterColor Inn, for example, offers planners several options from which to choose their meeting gifts. Planners can purchase a small bag of bath products and lotions, each packaged in a metallic paint tube that recalls the theme of the inn itself. Similarly, when New Jersey-based meeting planner Julia Ramos held an event at the Silverado Resort in Napa Valley, CA, she says she gave attendees bathrobes with the logo of the resort's spa that were very well received. Gifts from on-site spas save on the costs associated with bringing gifts to destinations and are also widely usable while still representing the destination itself.
Sourcing gifts at the hotel where the event will be held also helps to avoid complicated customs requirements when planning meetings abroad. "Programs operating in Mexico, for example, have to contend with a huge issue with tariffs on products from Japan or Indonesia," Bernstein says, pointing out that many consumer electronics are manufactured in those countries. To avoid such problems, Bernstein tries to source gifts regionally and partner with local vendors.
In any case, it's important to remember that your guests have to carry their gifts home with them—and there is such a thing as too useful. "At MPI's MidAmerica conference, one of the CVBs had a Swiss Army knife in the main goodie bag," says one attendee. "Thank goodness I looked through the bag, but I wonder how many people got tripped up at security with a knife in their carryon, completely unaware!"