Altoona, PA (1888PressRelease)
July 26, 2009 - According to industry watches, the promotional technique is being successfully used by brands all over the world to bring themselves recognition and loyalty and is very popular because of its personal reach.
Many companies also routinely include free gifts with a product sold to the customer to build recall value and also for brand placement. According to a fact-finding survey conducted in 2007 the response from corporate gifts was as high as 17%. That’s higher than any other medium including print, television or the Internet.
Industry experts say that the high returns on investment and the fact that the gifts are given to build customer loyalty are the two important reasons why the demand for corporate gifts has not gone down even during the slowdown.
The survey also revealed that most corporate gifts are under $50. Most common corporate gifts include promotional pen, promotional USB memory stick, promotional clothing, or promotional key ring. The gifts were found to be given away during conferences, seminars, meetings, sales promotions and also during festivals and client birthdays, etc.
Food items like cookies, biscuits etc were found to be the least welcome corporate gift while personal accessories and clothing were found to be most popular gift items. Clothing was also found to be most common gifted item.
Offbeat items like promotional stress toy, folders, coffee mugs, and specially designed tools were also found to be an emerging favorites. One negative trend that the survey revealed was that the corporate restriction on its employees on receiving gifts has increased slightly.
“Of late there is an increased emphasis on appearing transparent and honest in all dealings in the corporate world. That’s why many corporates have announced fresh policies about gifts. Many have limited the worth of the gift that an employee can accept while some have banned gifts altogether in the organization,” said an industry watcher.
This trend is limited to only a handful of companies right now, and according to most experts there are very small chances of it spreading. “Once it is clear that the companies are no longer in the dock, or in public scrutiny, corporate gifts will be the last thing that companies care about,” said an expert.
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