Article - Conditions of Corporate Gift Giving
04 Feb 2021
Customs and Conditions of Corporate Gift Giving
When you give someone a corporate gift, or when you’re the lucky recipient, chances are good that you’ve never given a thought to this gesture. You just know that it creates a mutual “feel good” situation for both parties. The feelings need not necessarily be the warm and fuzzy kind, as they’re likely to be if the relationship between the parties is personal, close, and caring or loving.
Business Relationship Building
Although a measure of relationship building or strengthening, corporate gifts convey a different meaning to personal gifts. The item given may be modest or quite substantial, but the latter may potentially and inadvertently be viewed as having other, ulterior implications, so should thus be considered with additional care.
Either way, one should take care to ensure that whatever the present is, it should be appropriate in the all-important corporate setting and not too personal, lest it convey an inappropriate message or, in the case of an expensive item, be seen as an indirect bribe – the absolute corporate gift no-no.
Company Policies
This brings us to a couple of other potential issues. Some companies have two strictly enforced policies designed to eliminate the potential for bribery, undue influence and fraud. One policy involves not employing members of the same family and providing full disclosure if there is any familial connection between employees.
The second prohibits employees from receiving gifts from suppliers, vendors, associated companies or a person or entity with which negotiations are underway or already concluded. Check, and if needs be, double check whether the latter policy applies to personnel employed by the relevant concern before initiating any giving of corporate gifts.
Brand Building and Exposure
Most corporate gifts are branded, which does – to a degree – remove any hint of bribery, while playing a positive role in brand building, gaining additional brand exposure, and expanding on overall marketing efforts. It’s highly likely that your own corporate brand, plus its products or services, will remain top of mind each time the recipient looks at or uses their token of appreciation – a twofold purpose of giving the gift, in addition to handing over a tangible token of appreciation and good will.
Expanding Your Brand
One should never pass up on an opportunity to expand one’s corporate brand, particularly in today’s often challenging and always competitive marketplace. Your brand represents who you are, what you do, your business’s ethos and your belief and pride in its products, services, personnel, company culture, and corporate image.
It’s also necessary to review and refresh a corporate entity’s brand, perhaps even the logo and, in particular, its marketing strategy, including the company’s gifts and give-away items. People – existing and prospective customers and clients – remember what they see; the more often they see your brand, the closer to recall and more familiar it’ll be when they need to make use of your company’s products and/or services.
Branded Gifting Specialists
XCO Group, founded in 1987, is one of South Africa’s leading specialist branding and brand-building concerns, which has developed a significant international footprint by supplying the corporate sector with an enormous range of branded goods and branding options. Just about every relevant type of appropriate corporate gift solution is included, categorised as follows:
· Premium and executive
· Handout & event
· Novelty
· Technology
· Leisure & outdoor
· Personal care
· Drinkware
· Kitchenware
· Luggage
· Travel
· Sports & wellness
· Ladies
· Stationery
· Writing instruments
· Folders and notebooks
· Tools, knives & torches
· XCO Express
· Gift sets
· End-of-range
· Many more options
Beginnings
When, where and how did the custom of giving gifts begin? In nature, male chimpanzees are known to give the object of their affection a tasty titbit, a gift consisting of food. It’s highly likely that hunter-gatherer, prehistoric man did likewise, once these ancient ancestors of Homo sapiens adopted social instead of solitary lifestyles.
As mankind progressively evolved and became more sophisticated, gifts kept pace, although edible or food and drink presents haven’t lost their appeal, even now, two decades into the 21st century. Think chocolates, a bottle of fine wine/spirits/liqueur or champagne, caviar, nuts, exotic coffee, fruit baskets or a special meal at a Michelin-starred restaurant.
Although XCO Group doesn’t supply perishable items throughout most of Africa and beyond, you’ll seldom, if ever, experience a lack of inspiration or great branded corporate gift ideas when you look at all the exciting, innovative and quality products available from XCO – your efficient online brand expansion partners.