Loose Cannon: I Can Name That Premium In Three Notes

When the most novel idea in the Incentive Show’s exhibit hall involves mucking out a horse stable, there’s trouble – big trouble – in premium land.

While it’s true that most of the show’s offerings aren’t geared toward direct marketers, in years past there were always a few items that could capture a DMers’ fancy. Not so this year. The hot trend on the exhibit hall floor was actually an echo of something that crashed and burned nearly five years ago.

In the early days of the Internet, several companies attempted to create alternative currencies for online commerce. These monetary systems included “Flooz,” which was unique for its endorsement by noted commerce expert Whoopi Goldberg, and “Beenz,” which was unique for… being named for legumes.

Beyond that, they offered nothing that wasn’t later provided by Web-based services such as PayPal, which manages to facilitate transactions quite nicely in U.S. dollars. Consumers who bought Flooz or Beenz before these companies went of business in 2001 now own a defunct specie that isn’t worth the paper it’s not printed on.

Hold onto your wallets, folks: A new currency for marketers is on the rise: Tunes (or, in keeping with the style of earlier systems, “Toonz”).

Ipromo Works, New York City, offers “Results that Rock your Brand!” through the incentive programs it designs. These programs feature — among other rewards — music download cards. It’s not clear how these brand-rocking rewards differ from those offered by Parsippany, NJ-based Dropcards. Dropcards urges marketers to “Give ‘em what they want” assuming that what “they” want is downloadable music, cell phone ring tones or a variety of other electronic premiums.

There’s no question that consumers have a hearty appetite for song downloads. The concern is whether a commodity – and based on the number of marketers and marketing firms offering songs and ring tones, they are a commodity – can reinforce the identity of, or build a relationship with, an individual marketer. Once “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” is on an iPod, do consumers really care which marketer gave them the points to download it? And if the sponsoring company happens to be a cruise ship line, might this actually be detrimental to the brand?

But overall, this year’s Incentive Show was light on gewgaws that could be used by direct marketers. There wasn’t anything to rival the programmable LED badge or the talking postcard of years past. The DM-applicable items showcased were primarily items that a marketer could stamp its URL or phone number on.

Even in that category, there were few remarkable offerings. Avon, OH-based Trademark Global, which has offered its embossed Trademark Poker game chips for the better part of a decade, is merrily riding the current Texas Hold ‘Em craze, and will cheerfully print a call center number or a URL on its chips. “People use them as business cards,” said account sales manager Mark Pratt.

In January, Wildline Inc. furthered the poker-chip-sized premium trend when it launched the Pen Pal Sport. Pen Pal Sport is a tiny pen contained within a plastic disc, which is in turn housed in a larger circle. The pen nib swivels to protect unsuspecting pockets and pocketbook linings, and the large flat area that surrounds it is suitable for a URL or call center number. It’s an interesting toy, but it will take some training among consumers: I wanted to take some notes while holding one and found myself fishing for a pen – a traditional barrel pen.

If there is an incentive trend that may be overstaying its welcome, it’s the experiential gift. The Incentive Show’s exhibit hall featured several firms touting similar opportunities to give employees or clients a chance to eat in elegant restaurants or have a session in a day spa.

Maybe a massage session, as one such exhibitor gushed, will leave clients or prospects rejuvenated and more open to sales pitches, or employees ready, willing and able to put in some cost-free overtime. But I wonder if The Horse Institute, which offers groups of employees the opportunity to bond by working together on a horse farm in Ancramdale, NY, would have the same team-building effect. Promotional literature for The Horse Institute boasts that there is “no horseback riding during the training.”

Absent riding, the physical activities that involve working with horses are limited and unpleasant. If it’s all the same to The Horse Institute, I’d just as soon have a few toonz.

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