How we made our definition of a corporate gift

There are few things we like more than gifting, seriously we went around the office and asked. To make all our lives confusing an argument about which gifting type is the best became a problem we haven’t quite solved. So, far we’ve narrowed down the two best ones as promotional gifts and corporate gifts.

But then you may be asking what is the difference between the two? This is something we wondered ourselves, and sad to say, dictionaries were ignored, and Merriam-Webster online could barely help us. All we got from them was a drab explanation that corporate gifts are branded items, which we already knew.

This is where we started getting creative, for us corporate gifts are more than just branded items. They’re creative and interesting ways of saying thank you to your best clients, they’re fun ways to celebrate events and they’re something special that makes you feel unique. All of that and it’s really fund shopping for the perfect corporate gift every season.

This is where we started getting creative, for us corporate gifts are more than just branded items. They’re creative and interesting ways of saying thank you to your best clients, they’re fun ways to celebrate events and they’re something special that makes you feel unique. All of that and it’s really fund shopping for the perfect corporate gift every season.

Holiday Times

This is when you learn you need corporate gifts.

Throughout our discussion we learned two things, some of us can indeed yell loud enough to shatter glass and that knowing when to buy corporate gifts is just as important as what you are buying. The overwhelming example we used was that in the middle of the year corporate gifts aren’t nearly as popular as promotional items.

However, the inverse is true during the holiday seasons and at the start of each year. At Christmas we are almost overwhelmed by companies buying gift hampers, 40 years old wines and chocolate towers made to look like the Eiffel Tower (please don’t ask how we got this, we’re still wondering ourselves). Then at the start of each year everyone shifts to unique and interesting gifts, this is usually when we send out branded tents, stone carvings and the ever-popular engraved Parker pen.

There’s nothing wrong with any of these, indeed we keep a short list on hand for anyone looking for ideas, but you may still be wondering when you will realize that you need to get a few gifts. For most small companies it’s when they receive their first gift from a supplier, for larger companies there’s usually a marketing intern that notices that there is indeed, not enough classic card holders in the storeroom for all the board members.

At the office we decided that it’s probably best to keep a stock of some gifts, those that are always popular and then just keeping an eye on the calendar. A quick heads up, August is ending which means Women’s Month is almost over, September is pretty lax while October brings the ever spook-tacular Halloween celebrations.

Corporate Gifts

So, what qualifies as a corporate gift?

While the definitions are vague, and the online sources all have their versions of an answer we’ve narrowed down a definition to something close to the truth.

A corporate gift is a high-quality desirable item, that can either be gifted or won, which is provided by companies to persons or other companies. These gifts are delivered around special events or commonly accepted holidays in the country where these companies operate.

Yeah, it really is that simple, so now you have a good definition for your friends, but you may still need a few examples. This is where our combined experience of well over 110 years comes into play, we’ve seen it all. We saw the rise of phone cases with button, then the rise of tablets and the accompanying accessories and of course we saw the rise and fall of the fidget spinner.

Some of those may or may not fall into the category of promotional gift more than corporate, but with the right logo you can use almost anything that you want. With that out of the way, our own arguments turned towards the newer, more creative corporate gifts that are being thrown around. Mostly, we started looking at the hampers and gift boxes that we’ve seen on the rise across the industry.

The office likes to buy these as gifts for friends and family as well, likely because we like playing with the gadgets. We never knew how much fun a flashlight could be until we found one that was bendable in any direction, and shape, we could dream of. Then there’s the simple functionality of having battery packs and branded key rings.

Luckily, we also know that these are the average day gifts that you can find anywhere. Our specialty is in finding the unique and weird, like the CEO that gifted engraved Espresso machines a few years ago or one of our favorite clients that asked for branded and named K-way jackets for all his staff.

In the end a corporate gift may very well be anything you want to gift, if it’s been branded and arrives in a nice package.

Espresso Machine
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