The tradition of corporate souvenirs in Russia is so strong that it has almost no analogues in importance in the world. As a rule, before the New Year and other public holidays, all employees of the marketing department begin to frantically come up with what to surprise customers and partners this time. Multi-million dollar budgets are spent on souvenirs but a truly significant and interesting corporate gift is the exception rather than the rule. Usually companies limit themselves to diaries and calendars, not caring too much about the fact that the giver has already accumulated a whole collection of corporate diaries and only one calendar can be used per year.
We decided to collect some recommendations on how to make corporate gifts that your partner will not want to throw away.
New year is not the only holiday on the calendar
As a rule, the main fuss with corporate souvenirs begins before the New year. During this period, couriers arrive in droves with gifts from friendly companies. But have you tried to think about corporate gifts from a competitive perspective?
In the new year period it is obvious that the competition between companies for space on the shelf/wall/in the partner's drawer exceeds all imaginable boundaries. Perhaps, it makes sense to choose a less competitive holiday to make your partner a pleasant present? For example, professional holidays or company birthdays are celebrated on a much smaller scale. Perhaps it is better to leave the New year alone and create something unusual for the day of the Builder?
Pay attention to your needs
To be remembered, corporate souvenirs must be used in real life. Therefore, they should be useful and non-banal. Being the fifteenth daily planner and the one hundred and fifth engraved pen on the list is a prospect that almost guarantees that no one will pick up this souvenir during the year.
Try paying attention to your own work needs — what would make life easier for you in your industry? Perhaps it makes more sense for the director of an engineering company to present an interesting tube for drawings with a personal engraving, rather than another diary and the head of the oil company's department to present a beautiful set for carrying samples of oil and fuel oil, rather than a wall calendar?
Choose gifts with unlimited validity
For this reason, dated diaries that have become a nuisance can be deleted from the list immediately. Instead, choose the souvenirs that will please your partner for many years. To do this, gifts must not have an expiration date (such as a calendar or candy) and they must also be of high quality.
Pay attention to ready-made solutions
It is not necessary to think every year about creating a unique souvenir and pounding the doorsteps of printing houses that will undertake complex and expensive work on a small print run of unique corporate gifts. If time is running out or no printing company is taking up the implementation of your crazy idea, it makes sense to pay attention to the ready-made solutions that some companies offer. For example, book publishers offer to release a series of business books in a special branded dust jacket and manufacturers of iconic notebooks Moleskine are ready to release a special edition of their notebooks for the needs of your company. Such solutions are usually of high quality and never get dusty on the shelf.
Give not only things
Now the trend called alternative giving is gaining momentum in the world. The essence of this phenomenon lies in the fact that the company is donating its budget for corporate gifts in favor of any charitable organization or Foundation. In return, they receive thank-you cards for the contribution which in turn, they can send to their partners instead of a useless new year's souvenir. Therefore, if you are disappointed in the effectiveness of corporate gifts or you are suddenly tired of coming up with original Souvenirs every year which despite all your efforts, gather dust on the shelves of partners, perhaps in your case it makes sense to give up pointless spending to do a good deed.
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