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Make the Holder As Important As the Gift Card

PotentialsMag.com

APRIL 27, 2006 - -- A gift card may be a great way to reward an employee for a job well done, but more and more companies are putting thought into how the card itself is presented. After all, the basic argument in the incentive industry is that the ability to brand a gift card is one of the most important ways to differentiate it from cash, to give it trophy value.

Increasingly, companies running incentive and loyalty programs are considering wrapping gift cards or packing them in with promotional gifts as an inexpensive and effective way to add branding, according to Diane Gillespie, director of marketing and communications at Rosemont, Ill.-based Marketing Innovators.

"We have clients who are branding fanatics at the front end of a program," says Gillespie. "But when it comes to the back-end reward, the brand is missing. A lot of companies put no money for branding [gift cards] in their program budgets."

That is beginning to change, she adds. While companies have been selling promotional items designed to brand gift cards for several years in the incentive market-Godiva Chocolatier was an early entrant with a signature gold box that held a piece of chocolate and a space for a gift card-relatively few gift card providers offer even printed cardboard wraps, to say nothing of the tins and teddy bears that have become increasingly popular with retail gift card purchasers during the holiday season, Gillespie says.

Printing a special gift card can be expensive, and many providers have sizable minimum orders before they will co-brand a card, she adds. Customized cardboard wraps can be had for up to $2, while tins run $2 to $6 and larger items like stuffed animals and wooden boxes cost $5 to $10. These latter items can have trophy value, because they are kept after the card is spent, Gillespie says.

They also make it easier for program managers to offer branded cards from a variety of retailers. "Many of our clients don't want to pick one card," Gillespie says. "They would rather offer a cross section for a diverse audience."

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