My Best Promotion
This month for My Best Promotion, we'll be taking a look at an employee incentive program created for a large national credit union, submitted by Laura Zaukaite Silva, senior promotional marketing consultant for CMC Promos, San Francisco, Calif. The incentive program functioned through a point-based reward system, allowing employees to earn higher quality gifts the better and more frequently they met the programs goals. Below, Silva discusses the successes and struggles of the program, from bundling items to dealing with a large corporate committee as a collective client.
Promo Marketing: What was the promotion's goal? What did you do to make the goal happen?
Laura Zaukaite Silva: It was an internal program to show appreciation to employees participating in the data integration program. The program had a reward system, so employees were able to collect points for efficiency and accuracy and exchange the points for gifts. Our client's data transfer program was a big journey for them, so the promotion's theme was "Journey of the Gnome."
PM: What kinds of items did you use in the promotion, and why?
LZS: Our program had different "levels" of gifts, so employees that spent more time doing data integration were awarded with nicer and more gifts. Since the program had a journey theme, all the gifts were travel-related.
We presented a die-cut window journal book as a passport idea. Of course we decided to use the client's custom gnome for a die-cut, and Chameleon Like Inc. from Gilroy, Calif. did a wonderful job making sure that it was exactly what the client expected. In addition to journals we did backpacks, laptop sleeves, travel mugs and photo books.
PM: What made this a profitable promotion for you? Why?
LZS: This was a profitable promotion for us because we came up with item ideas and presented them as a package deal. It was a good and easy solution for our client. It went with their theme, it fit their budget and they knew that employees would appreciate and have use for the gifts.
PM: What was the best decision you made with this program and why?
LZS: The best decision we made was to have two people working on this project. I collaborated with [executive vice president of CMC Promos] Zachary Tyler on this project, which allowed us to have two perspectives on the project as well ensure 24/7 availability to the client and their needs.
PM: Did you run into any problems with the promotion, and if so, how did you overcome them?
LZS: The biggest challenge we had to overcome was the size of the group involved in the decision-making process on the client's side. More people involved [led to] more opinions; more opinions [led to] a harder-to-make final decision. We were able to overcome that by listening to everyone in group meetings, but then suggesting final item options only to the leader of the group. 
Want to be considered for a future segment of My Best Promotion? Contact Michael Cornnell at mcornnell@napco.com or 215-238-5449 for a list of questions and other details.
- People:
- Laura Zaukaite Silva