We have all been to those corporate meetings or incentives where you get to the registration desk or back to your room and there it is…. the welcome gift, goodbye gift, thank you gift. You know the one, cookie cutter padfolio, canvas briefcase or a pen set with the good ol’ company logo stamped right on there. Baseball cap, polo shirt, I know you have bunches.

Now, these gifts are not only appropriate, they are necessary. These gifts are perfect for medical meetings, conferences and educational seminars; they are even perfect for product launches and press events where you want every opportunity to flash your logo or name.

What inevitably happens however is that these “gifts” often end up shoved in a suitcase, returned home and end up in that place in the closet we all have reserved for things we really do not want, but don’t have the heart to throw away. I know, I have that closet and it is crammed full of this stuff.

For your next event, do your attendees a favor and actually surprise them with a give-away that they want, will use and may actually give you a little ROI. If your branded items are shoved in my closet, stuck in a drawer or tossed like trash, you have wasted money, in some cases, thousands of dollars. What a crime. That money would have been better spent somewhere else on the program because no one will remember the give-away.

Almost anything mass produced for the consumer market can be custom branded. Take this knowledge and get something that the attendees are actually going to want and use. There is no need to break the bank or rupture your budget so badly that your meeting bleeds out. All that is required is some thought and a little time and effort put into research.

The Coeur d’Alene resort is a prime example of how to get it right. During a recent Fam one of our planners received… the gift. It was a portfolio. Normally, I would be saying uh-oh. Not this time. The portfolio was beautiful, very nice and classy. It had the resort logo on it of course, but it was stamped on the front so lightly, you can barely see it (it is black on black). The gift was a class act; in fact, our planner now uses it daily. All of our clients and all of our prospective clients that this planner visits, see this portfolio and the logo. Home Run…… this give-away has more than paid for itself. They took the standard give-away and invested just a few more dollars per unit and their gift is literally going around the world.

Another good example is one of our clients, a large Pharma company. Now, they have a million rules and regulations regarding what they can give away to doctors and other persons in the medical field and they were all set to give away pens at one of their events that we were managing. We sat down and said, “Take a look at what you are giving, it is going to end up in the pen cup on a desk or just lost in a sea of clutter”. We encouraged them to spend a few additional dollars per attendee and give a little do-hicky that was a combo laser pointer and presenter (allows them to advance PowerPoint slides). The item was a huge hit with all of the academics and doctors in attendance. I know that these gifts made it home and are in use in schools and offices around the country.

So, next time you have a press event, do not give out a pen set. Give a 528mb flash drive that any reporter would be thrilled to have. They need pens and ball caps, but something that makes the work day easier will always leave a positive impression.

Do closets and bottom drawers around the world a favor and pick a gift that will see the light of day.