Black Tie Optional
WITH QUALITY PRODUCTS, EXOTIC TRIPS, AND A-LIST PLAYERS, THE PREMIUM INCENTIVE CATEGORY IS LOOKING PRETTY CLASSY.
Marketers looking for quality products to better impress their audience. Travel incentives that are adding adventure and mystique to the standard vacation giveaway. Brand names hunting for corporate sales.
The need to attract and retain customers continues to fuel changes within the premium incentive market, and those changes are increasingly of the upscale variety.
The industry as a whole is experiencing solid growth. Distributor sales of promotional products rose 13 percent to $14.9 billion in 1999, according to the latest findings from the Promotional Products Association International. For years, the people who make premiums have been trying to shake off the “ad specialties” label that stereotyped them as purveyors of key chains, plastic cups, and other low-value trinkets; based on the products now being made, it’s time their plea was heard (See the story on page s2).
That upgrade in quality is driven by the demands of marketers, who more and more require better premium incentives that will make employees and customers stand up and take notice. Other brands are doing away with cookie-cutter prize pools in sweepstakes and contests to instead let winners design their own prizes for maximum impact. (See page s8.) Others are devising themed travel incentives that send a brand message along with the airline tickets. (Page s17.)
In a move that reflects these changes, big-name manufacturers like Nike (profiled on page s27) are entering the corporate sales arena to stake some territory in a market that, while not nearly as large as the retail channel, can provide attractive, stable revenue streams. And that trend only enhances the quality level even more.
The premium incentive category still can’t boast a Madison Avenue address in the world of marketing. But it sure is getting invited to a lot more swanky parties now.
