With stock market in a tailspin, people are looking to build a more diversified portfolio of investments that will cushion them against such random and rapid falls in equities. Indeed, stock markets world over have turned topsy-turvy in recent times as the indices have become hyper-sensitive to inflation, recession and any negative macro or micro-economic clues. Experts are advising investors to stay away from the stock markets, and rightly so!

On the other hand, Indian art and artists have truly gone global with a string of shows – solo as well as group – involving both established and emerging artists. Global art auction houses and event directors are giving a place of pride to practitioners from the country, leaving an indelible mark on the international art scene. Indeed, contemporary Indian art and artists have gone global with a string of shows. We take a quick look at some of the internationally acclaimed artists who will continue to find favor with collectors and/ or investors…

Atul Dodiya: His diverse and dynamic art practice, socially and politically responsible in nature, has evolved to become increasingly complex, with the subjects of his address, and his references more specific. His striking imagery has invariably been packed with a stirring swirl of motifs: Bollywood, film stars, political icons, Hindu mythology characters, and so on.

Subodh Gupta: Though he often dwells on domestic themes, he has become an internationally renowned artist. A sculptor, installation-maker, video artist and painter -all rolled in one, this multi-faceted practitioner incorporates in his works everyday objects like bicycles, thali pans, and milk pails, as well as the mass-produced steel boxes used to carry lunch.

Bose Krishnamachari: As a creator, curator and practitioner of art in various forms and domains, he likes to challenge and defy conventional concepts of visual art practices to set his own norms. He has further broadened and deepened his curatorial vision with the Mumbai-based Gallery BMB.

Jitish Kallat: Counted among the most exciting and talented contemporary artists not just in India, but also internationally, he has received recognition for his dynamic work that reflects an involvement with Mumbai.

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Thanks to a truly challenging business environment, today’s businesses have been forced to think beyond lofty or impracticable promises of big bonuses and lavish retreats.

As all of us would readily agree, businesses cutting across domains and irrespective of scale, are now facing the tricky challenge of sticking to stringent budgets as well as conceiving newer, more novel ideas to show their ‘human’ side to clients and employees and to express their heartfelt appreciation. In such circumstances, a little help from outside is always welcome. This is where Giftex 2012 will come into play.

A gift is an ideal tool, object or gesture, whichever way you consider it, when it comes to making a permanent and fulfilling impression on your clients, business associates as well as your valued employees. Gift giving is not a mere ritual. It has emerged as a crucial corporate strategy as part of a larger jigsaw. Generic gifts picked by harried administrative assistants are giving way to personal gestures designed to indicate just how much your truly care for your corporate buddies.

An old cliché goes that ‘it’s the thought that counts’ has perhaps never been more dead-on that now! Today’s corporate culture demands more creative, more innovative and more thoughtful ways of expressing genuine appreciation to the people you care the most – clients, business contacts and your own employees.

In the field of sales & marketing services, clients expect gifting-industry consultants to be right on top of trends; be innovative and tuned to new technology. Part of their responsibility and role to our clients is to come up with innovative ways to get their messages across. For those keen on sourcing the best corporate gifting options, Giftex 2012 provides the perfect opportunity. The event spread over the spacious halls of Nehru Centre will bring together the best from the gifting industry under one umbrella.

A trendsetter and torchbearer in every sense of the corporate gifting industry, Giftex is bound to be a grand success. Be a part of this grand event to grasp various finer aspects and get practical ideas to simplify the task of corporate gifting.

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A successful organization thrives on high-performance, dynamic culture. The key is to build a base of people, at all levels that will critically scrutinize their own practices and voluntarily ask themselves if they are doing all they can to their full potential. The mindset needs to be changed, though! But how to make this happen, you must be wondering! This is where gift certificates come into play.

If you want to encourage loyal and hard working employees and are keen to hold onto them, you need to increase their motivation levels and learn to recognize performance with timely presents like gift certificates.

You may consider the following types of incentives and rewards for your employees:

• Create an attractive incentive structure. For example, give an opportunity to your employees to win a gift certificate equaling a certain percentage of their total sales achieved.

• Set up a ‘points’ ladder, which allows them to win certificates of higher value for increased levels of sales.

• Offer gift cards as part of yearly bonus rewards plans so all team members will encourage each other to improve their productivity. For instance, announce that the team that records the most sales, manages to get the highest customer satisfaction index rating, and completes the most projects on time will get large denominations of gift certificates to the store of their choice.

• Give gift certificates to those employees who exhibit effective leadership skills, brainstorm outstanding solutions on key projects, go an extra mile to help a co-worker or come up with a money saving strategy for the company.

Let the employees select what gift certificate they want to keep from a variety of gift cards options from bookstores, music stores, shopping malls or restaurants. The customized and personalized format of the giveaways will sure motivate the staff to contribute valuable inputs to its growth.

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‘It is not the size of the gift that matters but the size of the heart, which gives it!’ - Quotation in ‘The Angels’ Little Instruction Book’ by Eileen Elias Freeman

‘Tis blessed to bestow, and yet,
Could we bestow the gifts we get,
And keep the ones we give away,
How happy were our Christmas day!’
- Carolyn Wells

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On the eve of Giftex 2012, where you are all set to get a kaleidoscopic view of the best gift ideas on offer under one roof, we also feel it is pertinent to know some of the key norms – dos and don’ts of corporate gifting – generic or those given on special occasion.

1. First and foremost, check the company policy on giving and receiving gifts. Know whether they prefer token gifts or something fancy or jazzy as well. Putting a logo on the gift is important, but do so in a subtle manner!
2. One should remember cultural and geographical barriers. Each state and country has its different values on basis of which gifting strategy should be devised. Follow the local conventions or else you might end up offending your international clients.
3. When giving a gift to individuals, it’s always a good idea to give a gift that is personalized in nature. Cost is not always the factor; try to follow the person’s tastes and know about his or her tastes. For example, if a client enjoys a particular sporting activity, he or she should be given free tickets to that game or a souvenir.
4. Gifting activity should not be too personal or centered around only few individual as it may create a misunderstanding. It should not be politically incorrect. For example, you should not be gifting a weight loss certificate to a fat person or a box of sweets to a diabetic this may create a misunderstanding. Avoid gifts that are based on religious themes. Generic gift ideas work best.
5. Do not repeat a gift idea year after year. Rotate them skillfully so that each year the program should arouse interest, thus making the client appreciate it more.

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Corporate gift giving is undoubtedly a serious business. As part of a well-devised program, it can help in establishing or enhancing critical business relationships and, in the process, serve as a cost-effective mode of imparting an element of goodwill to your business. We shall consider the many issues and ideas relevant to the corporate gift program’s success.

There can be multifold reasons for conducting a corporate gift program. For example, you may wish to thank your long-standing customers for their contribution to your business or recognize efforts of a committed employee for working overtime to meet a deadline. Mostly, the idea is to affirm relationships and subtly enhance the personal connection between a gift giver and recipient. It’s important to understand that gifts are different from incentives.

Customizing is a critical element for the success of a corporate gifting program. We have already checked some basic guidelines to follow for corporate gifting during festivals. Of course, these may vary based on your company policy. It needs to be decided whether to go for personalized packaging with special notes inserted in them. A nice note accompanying the present can reduce a sense of obligation, if any, on part of the recipient.

Ideally, the gifts should be given sans a precondition or a hidden motive. Of course, it would be naive to believe that there’s no bottom-line benefit to be drawn from corporate gift giving, but that aspect should be secondary.  Even though it’s an integral part of marketing strategy, corporate gift program should be subtly aimed at building bonds and a sense of long-term partnership with valued associates to make a gifting program successful.

The whole exercise should be planned well in advance well before the festival season sets in. This will give you enough time to negotiate the price for the gifts you are looking for and also to avail of attractive discount offers. Inputs from experts are very essential in this regard.

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Specific rules and norms are set by respective advertising standards authorities in different countries. The same are monitored by committees that keep a tab over advertising practices that can often be misleading. These bodies are independently administered and serve like a watchdog.

For example, Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) functions as a self regulatory voluntary organization. The role and functioning of ASCI encompasses addressing complaints received from consumers and industry against advertisements and claims that are considered as false or misleading. It is important in this context that we consider the difference, albeit subtle, between a prize (awarded to a lucky few winners) and a gift (available to all or a majority of entrants to a promotion irrespective of the fact whether they win or lose).

This distinction should always be made amply clear to consumers who are being targeted or approached through promotional offers. If all or almost all participants are entitled to an award in a promotion, it should not be termed a prize. In such a case, it may preferably be denoted as a ‘gift’, ‘reward’, ‘award’ or a similar such term as long as the context does not get misleading to consumers.
For example, promoters should not make a claim that respondents will get to ‘win’ a ‘gift’ because the terminology is improper, confusing and inconsistent. Rather state they would get to ‘win a ‘prize’ or will be ‘given a ‘gift’. Let’s take a practical case. A few years ago, the UK based Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) mulled over a peculiar promotion that involved the promoter offering several prizes and gifts.

The promoter considered that since recipients got one of two or three gifts on offer with no single gift going to ‘all or most’ of them, each gift could well be described as a prize. However, the authorities stipulated that since the vast majority of respondents would get one of two or three low-value items, they should be termed as gifts. The promoter thus had to withdraw the claim that these were rather prizes and not gifts.

So make sure that you promote the program in a proper context so that it is not perceived to be misleading consumers. In other words, drawing a fine line between a gift and a prize is vital.

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The occasion is celebrated across the world in the memory of Saint Valentine. But who exactly is this mysterious man? We are sure you would be curious to know as why we celebrate this day. We take this opportunity to dig into the history of Valentine’s Day and throw light on the patron saint who is associated with the day. Read the rest of this entry »

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Adding a natural touch to one’s home or office settings will make a perfect gesture and a great gift! To make your task easier, many nurseries are now innovating. As a result, there is ample choice to add to the green quotient of your friend’s or colleague’s office or home environ. Here are some Gorgeous ‘green’ gift ideas:

1. If you’re looking for wonderful ways to add a tinge of green to your friends’ or coveted client’s living or working space, we recommend you some gorgeous ways of helping your corporate friends to go green.
2. You can get beautiful Bonsais, succulents and cacti based on your budget and also the person whom you are gifting it. Potted plants such as adenium or desert rose and lavender are worth a buy.
3. If you are looking at bright, colorful varieties, bird of paradise, orchids and are recommended. Benjamina or starlight are preferred options in smaller garden plants.
4. If you want to pick exotic varieties, landscaping will help in accentuating the plants. Seeking help of a landscape consultant is a good idea to understand how to do it. The choice of plant depends on the kind of space available.
5. If it is for the interior surroundings, the decor of the space matters. You need to take into account the size of the plant. For instance, if you are getting bonsai, suggest that they be placed in front of the bigger, taller greens.
6. For home garden gifting, there are a wide range of ornamental, aromatic and medicinal plants available. You may consider creepers for wide spaces, though they may not be exotic. Of course, everything exotic need not be expensive!
7. A wide variety of them are generally seeded in October. Sunflowers and Zinnia elegans are among the available options; they bloom well in this season.
8. You can go for the willowy, tall lupins in purple that are easily available in pots as well as seeds at most nurseries. Other more exotic varieties are anthuriums or orchids. Mody Exotica, a cultivation facility, redecorates open spaces if you can afford it.

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Specific rules and norms are set by respective advertising standards authorities in different countries. The same are monitored by committees that keep a tab over advertising practices that can often be misleading. These bodies are independently administered and serve like a watchdog.

For example, Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) functions as a self regulatory voluntary organization. The role and functioning of ASCI encompasses addressing complaints received from consumers and industry against advertisements and claims that are considered as false or misleading. It is important in this context that we consider the difference, albeit subtle, between a prize (awarded to a lucky few winners) and a gift (available to all or a majority of entrants to a promotion irrespective of the fact whether they win or lose).

This distinction should always be made amply clear to consumers who are being targeted or approached through the promotions offer in form of prizes or gifts. If all or almost all participants are entitled to an award in a promotion, it should not be termed a prize. In such a case, it may be denoted as a ‘gift’, ‘reward’, ‘award’ or a similar term as long as the context does not get misleading to consumers. 

For example, promoters should not make a claim that respondents can get to ‘win’ a ‘reward’ because the terminology is improper, confusing and inconsistent. In other words, respondents get to ‘win’ a ‘prize’ but are ‘awarded’, ‘allocated’ or ‘given’ a ‘gift’. Let’s take a practical case. A few years ago, the UK based Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) mulled over a rather complicated promotion that involved the promoter offering several prizes and gifts.

The promoter considered that since recipients got one of two or three gifts on offer with no single gift going to ‘all or most’ of them, each gift could well be described as a prize. However, the authorities stipulated that since the vast majority of respondents would get one of two or three low-value items, they should be termed as gifts. The promoter thus had to withdraw the claim that these were rather prizes, and not gifts.

So make sure that you promote the program in a proper context so that it is not perceived to be misleading consumers.

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