Saturday 3 October 2015

Gifts to Employees: Should you do Branding on All Gifts

I have come across people who would like to do branding on anything which is available on earth. While you love your brand and there is nothing wrong in it. However when you are Gifting to Employees (also Gifts to Clients), you should be very careful. Sometimes, it becomes counter-productive. Remember over-doing something is always harmful. I again recommend that Put Yourself in Employees' shoes and see if they really want branding on each and every Gift they receive from an Organisation.


Put Yourself in Employees' shoes and see if they really want branding on each and every Gift they receive from an Organisation

I would like to highlight one story here. Recently an organisation bought Wrist watches from us for Gifting to their Employees on completion of their targets. They asked me if we can print their Logo (Branding) on the Wrist watches. We said "Certainly, Yes". However I asked why do you want branding on wrist watches. The purposes highlighted to me was:

  • Brand Association
  • Employees Engagement with Organisation
  • Visibility of the Brand (Marketing)


Absolutely fine. Then, I asked a simple Question. 
If you want to go to a marriage of your Brother-In-Law, Will your Wife allow you to wear this watch? 
If you want to go to a marriage of your Brother-In-Law, Will your Wife allow you to wear this watch?

There was a pin drop silence. You will certainly not wear the watch with your Company Logo in your family function. Then how does it serve your purposes mentioned above. None of them are getting fulfilled, as Wrist watch will stay only in Cupboard.

How do we Decide which product should have branding (printing Logo)?

The answer is simple. Check if your Gift will be used during Office hours  or not. If the answer is Yes, please go ahead and do branding (Logo printing). If answer is No or partially No, avoid doing any branding on the gift. It will be counter-productive and Gift may never be used by Your Employee. Remember, Employees have their Professional Life as well as Personal Life. They will never like to mix both these life. So when they are in office, they would like to give their 100% and ‘Brand Association’ will work. But if they are living personal life, they would like to have some space from Brand Association.

How do we solve our purpose?

In the case quoted above, We need to ask few questions. If I give a Branded Wrist Watch to an Employee without any Logo printing, what are the chances that


  • Employee will remember who has gifted this
  • Employee will use it in Personal life as well as Professional life
Employee will never forget that the Wrist watch was provided by Your Organisation. He will wear the watch everywhere, even in his Brother-In-Law’s marriage. He will also talk about Your Gift to others, proudly.

So I asked my client to look back to the purposes.

  • Brand Association. Whenever Employee wears the watch, he will remember that this was gifted by your Organisation, irrespective of where he is. This is true even after many years. So there is a Long Term Brand Association.
  • Employees Engagement with Organisation. When he wears Wrist Watch, he will also remember about his contributions to the organisation and the appreciation received from you. So this purpose is also solved
  • Visibility of the Brand (Marketing). Whenever he will meet any of his family, friends, associates, it is very likely that he will quote this watch was gifted by your Organisation.
So in effect, all the purposes are met without doing branding. While if you do branding, it will become counter-productive, as Employee will try to avoid wearing the watch.
All the Purposes are met Without Doing Branding. While, if you do Branding, it will become counter-productive.
It is also important to note that when you Buy Branded products, many companies have policies of not allowing co-branding. While none of us will have access to these policies, you will invite unnecessary legal tussles.

So do not worry. Next time, whenever you pick your Corporate Gift for Employees (or Gift for Clients), ask simple question – “Whether the Gift will be consumed in Office or in personal life” and you have your answer.


Thank You

Sunday 23 August 2015

7 Best Corporate Diwali Gifts for Employees

Why do Companies give their Employees a Diwali Gifts? Is it an obligation?

Diwali is one of the Biggest festival in India, celebrated by more than 1 billion people across India. During Diwali, people exchange gifts amongst family and friends. “Family and Friends”, then why Corporates need to give gift to their employees? Is it an Obligation on my part? Certainly Not. However, It is a known fact that almost all Employees, spend
more time with an organisation, then their families and friends. An employee spends More
than 1/3rd of the day with an organisation, 1-2 hours in traveling for work, Almost 1/3rd in sleep. So they are left with Less than 1/3rd of the day for family and friends. An employee treats their co-workers as an extended family. Hence a Corporate should also treat their Employee as part of Corporate family and treat him accordingly. An employee should not be seen as just a “Work Machine”. He should be treated as a business contributor. Remember! Unless an Employee delivers, a Company cannot succeed. Hence Diwali is the time, when a Company can provide Corporate Gift to its Employees and send a message that

  1. You are part of Our Corporate Family
  2. We care for you
  3. We thank you for the contribution made by You
  4. We recognise your efforts to make this company successful
  5. You are Always important to Us
Again, this is not an Obligation, but it is Important to keep engagement with Employee, keep their motivation high and bring their loyalty towards Company.

Should there be any Budget

Budget can be decided on the basis of performance of the Company and how much they can afford. There is guiding principle as such for arriving at a budget for the Diwali Corporate Gifts for Employees. However Companies give too much importance to budget rather than the Gift item and its Quality. Companies spend their lot of time in deciding the right budget, while focus less on what item to provide and its quality.

Focus on Quality

Now let us touch upon the quality aspect. Companies spend Billions of money on Diwali Gifts, but they hardly focus on the quality of the product they are buying. Imagine that you have decided to spend handsome money to buy Speakers for your next Diwali Gift for Employees. Employees also are happy to receive it. Company earned all Brownie points.
After using 4 – 5 times, Employee finds that Speaker is not working. Just think that what an Employee might be thinking at that moment. He will feel cheated by his company. He will think that Company has cut corners and given him sub-standard gift item or Company has given him low cost rejected item. While none of this is true from the Company’s perspective, but this is what Company get as an End result, by not focusing on quality. So how can a company ensure quality product is being offered? If your budget permits, you can go for branded products, but these products come at premium. Hence in most of the cases, Companies go for Unbranded products in Corporate Gifting. Unbranded products also offer low price, possibility of customization and personalization. Unbranded products will not offer any Guarantee on Quality. So it is very important that you select your Vendor carefully, who can provide you quality product. There are thousands of Vendors and Companies usually go for Vendor who offer cheapest price without looking at any other aspect. Just an oral statement from Vendor “We offer best Quality or this is Best Quality product” with cheapest price makes killing. But this is where the trap is. Companies end up in getting low quality product. So Companies should be very careful and should not look at only prices. They should also look at Quality of the product, especially in cases of Unbranded products.

Focus on Gift Item


Gift Item is another element which needs more focus than what is being given. Here mostly personal bias plays a big role. Usually people who are responsible to select the Gift Item for Employees, they usually have bias, knowingly or unknowingly, towards selecting

Gift items. This is also the most complex question to answer. Here, companies can take scientific approach. Working population is getting younger. Preferences are changing. What was good earlier is now becoming out dated quickly. So what should be considered while selecting Gift Items?

  1. Get into the shoes of Employee and understand what it needs
  2. Whether it is offering personal utility
  3. Will the product be used on daily basis
  4. Whether product is Stylish and attractive
  5. If product is Trendy, looks premium
  6. Product offers right aesthetics
  7. Branded product wherever possible
All above are equally important. Can you think of gifting Toilet paper to your employee? It has personal utility and is of daily use. Obviously not? Why? Because, it does not fulfil all other conditions. So what should be considered as Gifts for Employees? Below are 7 items which you can think of considering for Diwali. These items are being picked up basis consumer behaviours and preferences over last 1 year.
Chocolates are fast catching up and replacing Sweets (mithais). Employees are now younger generation. They are looking for packaged food or food from organised sector. They are also becoming health conscious. Hence Sweets (Mithais) are now out of fashion. Chocolates can be customized. Branding is also possible on Chocolates. It gives premium feeling to the gifting. Packaging can be attractive.
This is in true sense a Gift. This offers Extreme premium feeling to Gifting. This is highly customizable. Only challenge with Gift Basket is portability. It is very difficult for bulk gifting. However Gift Hampers can solve this problem.

3.       Ear Phone / Head Phone

This is a new age gifting. All employees are now using mobile phones for calls as well as listening music. Talking time has also increased over years. Ear Phones and Head phones offer convenience and highest utility. Many stylish and trendy Ear phones and Head phones are available. Many companies have started realizing this and started looking this as Gifts.

4.       Power Bank

Everyone is now using more of electronic gadgets like mobile phones and tablets. Many times, this is done when you are on the move. Hence charging battery, while traveling, becomes essential. Hence power bank offers maximum utility.

5.       Speakers

Speakers are also new age gifting. Speakers can be stylish and trendy. Branding is possible on speakers. Speakers offer long term utility, so branding will stay for a longer period.

6.       Kitchen Accessories

Kitchen Accessories are all time favourites when it comes to Gifting to Employees. This provides personal utility. However preferences have changed over years. Steel utensils are out of fashion. Ice Cream bowls, Bowl sets, Glass sets are highly used and are out of fashion. But food containers, Casseroles, Microwave safe cookwares are preferred. If budget permits, companies can also go for cooking appliances like Air Dryer, Tandoors, etc.

7.       Bags

Bags offer many options. Now there are many trendy bags available. Back Pack Bags are used by almost everyone. So it provides maximum utility.

So, be careful while picking up your next Diwali Gift for Employees. Just few cautions and it can do wonders.

Saturday 11 July 2015

Diwali Gifts for Employees

Diwali is the biggest festival in India which usually comes in October/November. When we talk of festival, we can not ignore Gifts. All Corporate Companies in India look for Diwali Gifts for Employees. Diwali Gifts are good way to say your employees:

  • We care for You
  • We love Your contribution towards past years company performance
  • We treat you as part of our family
  • We are part of your festivity and happiness

Significance of Corporate Diwali Gifts 

Corporate Diwali Gifts are very important and should be given utmost importance and attention. This shows how serious you are towards your Employees.


What Should be Given as Gifts To Employees

This is the toughest question to answer. People wonder what to provide as There are unlimited range of products available in the market which can be picked up as your next Diwali Gifts to Employees. Gift Desires has wide range of products to pick up as your next Diwali Gifts for Employees. We also recommend products which are trending based on an algorithm which looks at the users' activities on site. This makes your choice very easy.