Corporate gifting is very important to maintain good relations with your key clients. If you do come up with an idea of a novel gift for them, it will do the trick for you. Conversely, if you give a gift that really looks silly or makes them feel awkward, you may even stand to lose the deal. All of a sudden you find yourself in an unsavory situation. So you need to be careful and judicious. Of course, with a good selection, gifts can help to build lasting corporate relations.

Corporate gifting is done to promote relationship with our employees, clients and others, as we all know. Imagine presenting a beautiful cross pen to a prime customer with his name on it. It’s the ultimate excitement one can get from a gift and render it the most memorable gesture. In essence, corporate promotional gifting is an expression of appreciation of the client’s importance to your business. Here are some important things to keep in mind in this regard:

• A key aspect of corporate promotional gifting is ‘customization’; i.e. just the manner in which the company’s brand logo can be impressed upon the gift, the customer’s name can be embedded upon the gift too.

• As a rule, the person gifting his/her client must know some very specific details about the client. These specific details could be major characteristics, like/dislikes, habits, age and other facts.
• Getting acquainted with your client’s personality and thinking patterns would make up a great deal while choosing the right gift for a corporate client.
• Every person may love a certain gift and might dislike a certain gift. It is better to know your clients and then choose specific gifts for them rather than pick a random item without knowing the clients’ personality and characteristics. It would do more harm than any good.

Corporate gifting is a gesture that in a small, albeit significant way acts as a recall medium - when the client has to make a decision; your logo appears automatically in front of his eyes thanks to the timely and pertinent gift. Even little things that are personal in nature and spell the difference between you and your competitor will help generate sales and build long-lasting relationships. Corporate promotional gifting will always remain as a premium business etiquette and relationship-building activity.

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It may be that one of your friends or family members have burnt their fingers in the stock market meltdown. Can you provide them with some succor? Do you want to suggest them an alternative avenue to park their hard-earned money to safeguard and grow it? Is there a way to assured wealth building in these uncertain times? Well, you need not harangue them on risk-free investing.

What you need do is just buy a nice piece of art, and gift it to them. It’s bound to fascinate them. Then draw their attention to the fact that many high net worth individuals and non resident Indians are putting their money in art! Here are some artists to consider:

Chintan Upadhyay: He often explores the iconography of Pop to convey his subject matter. His paintings carry references from media, advertisements, Bollywood and even the traditional miniature paintings.

Baiju Parthan: His fascination for technology, blended with his passion for mythology is palpable in his practice. The artist views them as symbiotic, as he thinks both mythology and technology feed off each other.

Riyas Komu: His oeuvre refers to the paradoxes of the urban situation that he paints with cynicism and compassion. The artist strives to archive the times, as well as reflect our immediate concerns – both localized and globalized.

Jagannath Panda: In his Panda’s work, a routine event or any commonplace object gets imparted with symbolic stature that is oriented to represent collective aspirations or sometimes rigid dogmas.

T.V. Santhosh: Drawing on images and news reports from the media, he combines pointed text and repetitive sculptural forms to make a statement on both the persistent nature of violence and the way it gradually becomes the norm, through recurrence.

Sunil Gawde: His tools often include sophisticated paint materials and implements like trowels and scrapers for achieving a layered depth in his pigments. This results in textured surfaces - dynamic and dramatic in nature.

D Ebenezer Sunder Singh: The paintings of Paul Cézanne and his principles of Art influenced me immensely. The human figures (the central element of his pictures) shift time and space to locate the psychological characteristics and the principles of life.

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In this article, we shall go through some unspoken norms of giving and receiving a gift in the corporate world:

• Even though your intentions may be honest and it may just be a small gift, if the client firm objects to receiving any gift, giving a gift should be avoided. It will be inappropriate on your part to force a gift on the person.
• Conversely, if receiving a gift makes you feel slightly uncomfortable or you believe it can cause some damage to an important business relationship, it is correct to refuse the gift, but in an appropriate manner.
• Do not ever think of recycling a gift that you have received, at least, within the same circle of friends or else you will be caught. (Remember, that TV commercial of the same gift changing hands, doing rounds of different homes, and ultimately landing with the first person who had gifted it, to start with.
• On other hand, if you receive something that you know is not original, try not to look dejected or disappointed. Accept it with a smile on your face and set your mind to it. If you want to return the gift, do so without opening it, if possible.
• Avoid the temptation of what the ‘generous’ giver has opted to gift. This gives the person the option of recycling the gift. In fact, it always makes sense to check your office policy on accepting any kind of gift from clients.
• Though it might just be a small gift, if your company’s policy says that accepting any gift from the clients is not appropriate, it should be returned. If a gift from one of your business associates looks like a favor, it should be returned.
• In certain cases, a giver might refuse to take the gift back. In such a case, do not make a coworker or a client feel embarrassed about giving. Keep a formal record of your correspondence, if any. Make sure you’ve notified the senior person in your office about the chain of events.

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Below are the vital factors that are extremely essential for chalking out a corporate gift program:

1. Determine your budget first to get a clear understanding of your corporate gift program. Once you set your budget and scope, next you should define the exact purpose of giveaways.  This will depend on what domain you are and your end user.  Your budget will though, will largely dictate how much you should allocate for the gifting program.
2. When deciding how much to spend, key thing to take into account is the intrinsic value of your business relationship. Based on it, you should make sure you give an ‘appropriate’ gift. Also, consider specific guidelines of that corporate entity and industry. You would never want it to appear as a favor.
3. Just reverse the roles. What if you receive an over-expensive gift? Talk to the giver in person if you think that the gift is too costly, too personal or not really suitable to the occasion or the relationship you share with the person. However, never discuss these things in public with the person concerned.
4. Corporate gifts can serve various roles like Thank You gifts for clients and colleagues; motivational gifts; recognition gifts for employees; new client acquisition; retention of business clients; building brand awareness; promotional products; holiday gifts for clients; trade show giveaways; premiums incentives and incentive programs; award programs; advertising specialties; service and safety awards; and general purpose business gifts and awards.
5. One discreet way to place your logo is leather portfolios. It is normally de-bossed on the cover. Some people prefer to customize with the recipients initials. If you believe you have selected a gift that will make a lasting impression on the recipient, there is absolutely no need to place your logo on the gift. The person will remember you by the gorgeous gift itself.  Also work out how you will distribute it - in person or by courier mail.

In other words, sourcing, packaging and dispatching the gifts demand an on-time and high quality solution providers to manage the specialized gifting related tasks on continual basis.

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The holiday season is in full swing. Shopping for friends and relatives is an inseparable and the most enjoyable element of holidaying. We suggest you some exclusive and ethnic gift ideas. We start with Kerala. Here is what you can get as a gift from the state:

Kathakali masks: The Kathakali masks, an icon of Kerala’s culture-scape, are available as little, pretty souvenirs and showpieces. The painted face as well as long black hair of the costume, complete with the elaborate headgear, these curios are usually made in plaster of Paris, papier mache or clay. The masks are available at the government owned emporiums across Kerala and also at handicrafts showrooms near most famous temples and tourist destinations in the state.

Sandalwood sculptures: They are a tad expensive, but they bear the mark of the fragrance of a rich land and its and memories. The sandalwood sculptures are among the most popular souvenirs like the icons of Ganapathy, the elephant headed god; the trinity of Lord Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva (Mahesh), little snake boats and elephants.

Vaikkol chritrangal (straw picture): The beautiful backwaters and the evening sky, huts and hamlets, hills and valleys, boat race, village fairs, festivals… all these spellbinding sights of Kerala are superbly captured and brought to life in straw art. This craft of pasting straw cut to different sizes on canvas or cloth to create fabulous images is termed vaikkol chritrangal (straw picture).

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