Giftybox Launches National Gift Pass Experiences
Giftybox is putting its own unique spin on its incentive offerings, extending its regional gift-pass experience program nationally this summer.
The New York City-based company, which pairs themed guidebooks and “experience passes” as corporate incentives and consumers gifts, is rolling out four gift options in 14 major cities (Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Los Angles, Miami, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C.) in July and August. Giftybox announced the new incentives this month at the Incentive Show in New York.
Recipients use themed guidebooks that offer a host of suggestions to pick their prepaid experience— a chocolate addiction and kids activities to French dinners and New York winery tours— their leisure.
In July, Giftybox will unveil its newest experience on a national scale—Outdoor Adventure and Classes & Workshops themed boxes. Recipients can select from dozens of experiences as part of their Giftybox package, including parasailing to scuba diving for the adventurer or Tango lessons to cooking classes for others. Classes and workshops cost $49; outdoor adventure gift passes cost $89. The Spa & Well-Being (think facials, massages and salt scrubs) and Winery and Tour Tasting experiences will roll out nationally in August for $119 and $49, respectively, per package. Certificates are valid for at least a year.
“There is something for everybody,” said Nicolas Caillens, co-founder and managing director of Giftybox. “When you receive a box you get instant gratification.”
Giftybox experiences are sold at retail at in high-end bookstores, stationery stores and gift shops in New York. The company is planning a nationwide rollout of some Giftybox offerings this fall, Caillens said.
“There are so many gift cards, but you are limited to one or a few stores,” Caillens said. “You may not like the store…and there is a dollar amount attached. It’s not very elegant.”
Caillens and co-founder Jerome A. Chasques launched Giftybox in September 2004 to give consumers and businesses a new gift-giving option other than stand-alone gift cards. Unlike most gift cards, Giftybox lets recipients choose their gift on their own terms based on a variety of options.
Time Warner Cable last year used Giftybox as an incentive to boost subscriptions around a particular channel dangling a French dinner for two, Caillens said. The company sent out two mailings (70,000 and 120,000 direct mail pieces, respectively, during each flight). As a result, Giftybox sold 8,000 dinners through Time Warner. The company is currently running its third promotion with Giftybox, Caillens said.
The company also offers customized corporate incentives and gifts. For Conde Nast Publications’ president and CEO, the company created a custom dress shirt Giftybox for more than 300 top-level executives and advertisers as a holiday gift last fall. As part of the gift, recipients chose the style, fabric and color of their custom-made shirt.
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