It’s Great To Reciprocate

This giving season, why not consider what recipients might really like, suggests Matt Pluckrose.

As we start to enter autumn and many clients start early planning for the ‘giving season’, it’s time to think what your clients will be looking for.

This area of our market has traditionally been dominated by alcohol, hampers, vouchers and lifestyle products to reward behaviour or loyalty during the year.

Like many aspects of business life, giving and receiving gifts around Q4 is linked to influencing behaviour based on the concept of reciprocity, but what does that mean?

Give To Receive

In psychology, reciprocity is a social norm of responding to a positive action with another positive action and so rewarding kind actions.

As a social construct, reciprocity means that in response to friendly actions, people are frequently much nicer and much more cooperative than predicted by the self-interest model.

This makes sense in our industry as companies, brand owners and employers want to reach out and create that positive feeling with a positive action such as giving a gift that will create further positivity towards them for the coming year. This is what drives spending in this season and why companies and brand owners think carefully about what will provoke and drive those feelings.

Lasting Impression

This is where we believe promotional technology can be very beneficial to your clients as the useful, quality and long-lasting impact of a tech gift delivers exactly this feeling. Getting this right though is not easy as the wrong gift, poorly executed with the wrong back story or thought can have the opposite feeling to that intended.

When suggesting and planning your clients’ campaign ideas, it’s worth bearing in mind to only give what you would want to receive.

This idea is never more true than around the giving season where the investment in reciprocity should be carefully considered as the negative feeling of receiving a gift that does not meet the target audience’s expectation can have the opposite effect to that intended.

Promotional technology and lifestyle gifts provide your target with the right mix of usefulness, quality, responsibility, and products which fit their digital lifestyle.

Tech On Trend

So, what will be trending and filling this objective this autumn-winter? Let’s take a look at some options. Tech giants like Apple have led the way with electronics which change and improve our way of living, the way we work, travel and communicate.

Trends over the past 12-18 months have shown clearly that items such as anti-lost trackers for our keys, luggage or even pets are again hot – led by Apple’s AirTag which is now a must-have for many.

Wireless magnetic charging is changing as all the major brands start to adapt their phone designs to allow for this. The Qi2 standard will become the norm for this over the coming months and this will become a universal gifting idea to suit all consumers, allowing them to charge devices quicker and more conveniently.

Sounds Good

Audio products are always very popular lifestyle gifts and with more retail brands accepting the need to use more sustainable materials this will feature strong this season with a close eye on speakers, headphones and earbuds particularly.

Gifting in technology is always a good time to reconsider budget. Many clients are starting to reduce the quantity of gifts and focus on higher end gifting for their key customers. Sometimes the budget for these can be very substantial which is where a well-chosen technology gift can really make the perfect choice.

In this area we are seeing growing demand for items such as micro wireless printers, projectors and of course retail brands often demonstrate to the recipient the thanks being offered and build that positive feeling . 

Technology whether it’s for use in the home, office or while travelling is the must have merchandise this autumn and when considered in the context of ‘what would you like to receive?’ can be the go-to gifting experience this winter.

 

• Matt Pluckrose is Managing Director of Desktop Ideas