I must admit that at the outset that I am no professional at writing articles or novels. Writing is a form of expression and one expresses what one feels. When Gifts & Accessories approached me to share my experience in the industry, I took it as a privilege, considering that we are only three years young in this business, but at the same time we are also one of the fastest growing company. We started in early 2000 as a graphic designing firm, and extending to its natural course of becoming an advertising agency by the name of Pen n Paper – an idea expressed.

Little did we know that gifting would become a natural extension and we would form a full fledged gifting and promotions company – Blutree Solutions P Ltd. We actually tumbled into the gifting industry quite by chance- one of our clients wanted some souvenirs to be distributed at exhibitions. Considering the relationship with our clients, we walked the extra mile to source the gifts for them. We simply gave them what they wanted. Having satisfied their needs, it became our practice to be the full solutions provider and that’s when the real rollercoaster ride started. No matter the number of degrees one holds on management in marketing. This industry is like no other. One needs to do things differently; a strategy is only an experiment till it delivers the desired outcome.

Innovation is the key The buzz word these days is “Innovation”. Every where you look, from magazine articles to market studies, innovation seems to be the key to success in product development. But what does innovation really mean? By definition, innovation is about a lot more than harebrained invention. Rather, it’s about benefiting, in some way, from the exploitation of ideas that are new to your company. It follows, that innovative ideas don’t necessarily have to be completely ground breaking. Nor do they have to be focused on new products. An innovation can be as radical or incremental as is necessary and can relate to your products or services or the way that you make and/or deliver them to customers. What is important is that a company should benefit in some way from the rollout of new ideas.

“Benefit” is also a fairly plural term from our perspective. It is great if an innovation produces financial benefit, but it might be equally valuable to improve the social or environmental fabric of your company or community. The experience of creative background helps innovate with basic raw materials and create newer and fresher products. Listening to ones clients, research, creation and execution on time every time gives immense creative satisfaction. Is new packaging on an old product innovation? If a company’s innovative products end up displacing sales of its existing products, is it worth it? And let’s not forget, being innovative can be a costly venture for a business. Some argue that it is not rocket science, its not like one has created a spaceship. But everything that exists was created for the first time, somewhere by someone.

Let me elaborate a bit more on this. The alphabets A, B, C, D … in English language were created, but when you rearrange the alphabets it creates a word, and rearranging the words a sentence. Sentences make a format, a story, a plot, a novel, a script, a movie, a serial, a show, protected by copyright. Likewise, starting from the idea of giving a gift, to identifying the gift, to packaging and to the delivery of the gift, every person - every process contributes to that “WOW” effect expected from the recipient of the gift. Like every other service there is cost attached at every stage, the cost of the originator, the cost of the idea generation, the product cost, people cost etc.

Some argue that every marketer or corporate aims to maximise the returns on the marketing budgets. The problem is while doing so, more often innocently, some share innovative products with other vendors for competitive alternate quotes, discouraging the innovator to attempt another go at creativity. So the industry today is not as organised, it consists of many SME’s single person, family-owned concerns, with limited capital trying to maximise their returns and the least focus is on the purpose of gifting which is to innovate, distinguish and create that ‘wow’ effect.

Innovation creates the ‘wow’ effect in gifting

Gifting is more than 4 P’s of marketing (Product, Place, Price, Promotion) It is augmenting the product with that something extra, defined as innovation to create the ‘wow’ effect. Which makes the 4 P’s very subjective and relative to the 5th P – Perception. The perceived value of the gift is not the same as the cost of the gift. Likewise the cost of the product alone is not the cost of the gift, the cost of the gift is essentially the idea, identifying the right gift for the right theme, campaign, promotion, which is essentially ignored and not given due importance to, with the influx of Chinese hi-tech gimmicky products, it only adds to the worry, it has become even more difficult since we have a problem of abundance. There is enough choice available but truly a thankless effort to find the right gift.

The issues involved go well beyond technology or economics. For innovation, creativity and scientific spirit to flourish there has to be a society that encourages debate, tolerates criticism and relishes freedom. Finance and commerce on the other hand, can easily flourish in authoritarian and regressive societies. Debate, criticism and questioning the status-quo are not exactly the hallmarks of financiers. We understand that all cannot be documented, discrepancies will surface and patent laws, copyright laws will be of little help.

It is for the industry as a whole to respect one another for the efforts. Else, we will we will soon see no innovation, only repetition of the same gifts, and everybody biting into the same pie. Think of Gifting, not as a duty, but as a Privilege (the 6th P) Gifting is an expression of goodwill and the concept of giving gifts has been a traditional practice around the world. Also, it is a way of building personal rapport with clients, employees, channel partners, vendors etc. It is our privilege to be a part of gifting industry. To the ones who are reading this article, put down the magazine wherever you are and go create that ‘WOW’ effect.

Ravi K. - Director Blutree Solutions P. Ltd.