Leading Edge/News
Maritz Acquires Cascade
St. Louis, MO-based Maritz, Inc. has announced its acquisition of Cascade Promotion Corporation, a privately-held relationship marketing and rewards fulfillment house. With its acquisition of Cascade, Maritz will build its presence in growing markets, particularly in the gaming and technology industries, as well as acquire warehouses in strategic locations across the U.S.
“This combination has a lot to offer clients in terms of more choice and flexibility at a better price,” says Maritz Motivation CEO Mike Donnelly. “Our combined purchasing power will allow Maritz and Cascade to offer more purposefully chosen brands designed to motivate employees and customers at a competitive cost.”
In order to serve those clients who want access to rewards fulfillment services only, Maritz is rolling out Rewards Direct by Maritz, a flexible, low-cost solution that delivers a purposefully chosen collection of motivating rewards delivered flawlessly. This new solution from Maritz will help rewards-only buyers better drive employee and customer behavior by offering:
- more brands at a better cost
- more efficient reward fulfillment
- high quality customer service
- greater ease of purchase
- a one-stop shop for leading brand name merchandise and gift cards
- quick turnaround on “need it now” items and requests.
“Maritz traditionally provides end-to-end program solutions including strategy, implementation and measurement as well as customized communications,” notes Donnelly. “With the new Rewards Direct by Maritz offering, we’re stepping up our capability to provide targeted solutions to those clients needing rewards fulfillment only. We look forward to being the full-scale, go-to shop for incentive and loyalty rewards buyers.”
For more information, go to http://www.maritz.com
First Data Announces Plans to Acquire InComm
First Data Corp., a global leader in electronic commerce and payment processing services, recently announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire InComm, a leading marketer, distributor and innovator of stored value gift and prepaid products.
Specific terms and conditions of the agreement were not disclosed, and the acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. A press release said the acquisition is expected to be completed in the second quarter of this year.
“The combination of First Data and InComm propels us into having a holistic prepaid product suite that includes banking products, payroll solutions, closed and open loop gift cards and now expanded distribution,” says Ed Labry, President of First Data Corp.’s USA division. “We look forward to leveraging InComm’s expertise and robust retail network to offer end-to-end prepaid solutions to our retail customers around the world.”
Brooks Smith, current President and CEO of InComm, will become the leader of First Data’s Global Prepaid Services division when the transaction closes. “We are pleased to join First Data and are confident this partnership will deliver even more value to our current customers, says Smith. “First Data’s global reach, unmatched scope of solutions and commitment to service excellence will not only enable us to enter new international markets, but also help to expand distribution and deliver innovative prepaid solutions to the small and mid market.”
Enterprise Engagement Alliance Established
Three leading organizations in the fields of human capital, business strategy and marketing have undertaken a unique joint effort to support the emerging area of Enterprise Engagement:
- The Human Capital Institute, one of the nation’s fastest-growing organizations, with over 125,000 members
- Peppers & Rogers Group, the globally-recognized authority on customer strategy and one-to-one marketing, founded by business visionaries Don Peppers and Martha Rogers, Ph.D., and publisher of 1to1 Magazine and related online publications
- Selling Communications Inc., publisher of Motivation Strategie, the media, marketing and technology company that is a pioneer in integrated, permission-based marketing.
The collaborative effort, known as the Enterprise Engagement Alliance (EEA), will foster greater dialog and cross-fertilization between marketing, sales, human resources and operations in order to help organizations profit from the leadership and cross-functional management processes needed to engage customers and employees in a profitable way.
Participation in the Enterprise Engagement Alliance is open to any organization interested in employee and customer engagement, which involves a broad spectrum of issues, including leadership, communications, motivation, training and rewards & recognition. The Incentive Research Foundation (IRF) is the first organization to announce its intention to join the EEA.
“Enterprise Engagement will become mission-critical to businesses in the coming years, as more and more companies recognize that creating a consistent positive customer experience is critical to long-term success,” says Don Peppers, founding partner of Peppers & Rogers Group. “The Internet has leveled the playing field. Research demonstrates that organizations that can inspire and enable their employees to consistently deliver great customer experiences generally do better over time than those that don’t.”
“Many organizations think of their brands only in terms of their products,” says Allan Schweyer, Executive Director of the Human Capital Institute. “In fact, as more and more companies compete for fewer and fewer highly skilled employees in the coming years, the brand will also affect an organization’s ability to attract and retain talent. We see a close inter-relationship between a company’s product and service brand and its talent brand. This effort is designed to help better make that connection.”
Selling Communications Inc. will support the effort by providing a venue for an annual worldwide conference on Enterprise Engagement in New York City (taking place in May of 2009) , as well as by promoting and disseminating content developed by the Human Capital Institute, Peppers & Rogers Group and 1to1 Media through its own sales and marketing properties. The goal is to bring executives from the disciplines of sales, marketing and human resources together under one roof to actively participate in a unique dialog and learn how companies and organizations can best link external and internal marketing and communications initiatives to maximize customer satisfaction, message alignment and resource efficacy.
Don Peppers and Martha Rogers will be personally involved in the proprietary research and content developed to strengthen and focus the EEA’s ongoing education programs. All three founding enterprises will contribute speakers and expertise to develop the education plan. “Our mission is to document and prove the economic benefits available to those businesses who understand the distinct advantages of harnessing the collective synergies of engaged employees and empowered consumers,” says Martha Rogers, founding partner of Peppers & Rogers Group.
“U.S. businesses collectively spend billions to get customers, but relatively little to keep them,” says Bruce Bolger, President of Selling Communications Inc. “It is getting harder for companies to get away with having poor service and uninformed, demotivated employees. Companies that get Enterprise Engagement right perform better over time, and that’s the message we need to make sure Corporate America understands and internalizes.”
Industry Leadership Council a Collaborative Effort
Manufacturers, incentive companies and other industry leaders have joined together to form the Industry Leadership Council (ILC), a affiliate partner of the Incentive Federation, to further advance and promote the field of incentives, rewards and recognition. The ILC plans to develop relationships with other industry associations and organizations that have access to key markets and possess research capabilities that can help the Incentive Federation and its partner research groups speed up research output and outreach.
Bruce Bolger, a founding member of the ILC, says the ILC’s objectives include helping the industry:
- Capitalize on the shift from mass marketing to target marketing and the growing emphasis on one-to-one communications.
- Develop a new message focusing on “engagement,” instead of “carrots.”
- Focus on the role of rewards not only as incentives but as communication media needed to engage in a one-to-one marketing world.
- Promote on the benefits of focusing on the human element in business.
- Increase the perceived value of rewards and recognition, brands and promotional products, as well as the services provided by incentive companies.
Also in the works is a Washington, DC, Summit designed to raise industry visibility by briefing congressional leaders on the importance of engagement, bringing together top brands and incentive companies and other leaders in roundtable discussions to determine how the industry can better work together, and to discuss specific changes in the tax code that would promote greater use of productivity programs. “Specifically, we would like to discuss increasing the business gift allowance from $25 currently and look at extending the safety program tax advantages to more employees,” says Bolger.
Program Allows Redemption of Gold Points Through December
The Gold Points Reward Network program, operated by Gold Points Corporation, a subsidiary of Carlson Marketing Worldwide, recently announced that any outstanding Gold Points must be redeemed no later than 11:59 pm Central time, December 31, 2008, at which time all program operations will cease. This does not apply to the Carlson Hotels goldpoints plus program. Gold Points Reward Network stopped issuing points at the end of March, 2008. Members of the program will be able to redeem their points for merchandise and gift cards or exchange them for points in frequent flier programs and other loyalty programs through the end of this year. For more information about these and other redemption opportunities, go to http://www.goldpoints.com/
PhRMA Revised Marketing Code Bans Promotional Products
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) Board of Directors recently released a statement outlining changes in the voluntary PhRMA Code on Interactions with Healthcare Professionals, scheduled to take effect in January 2009. The PhRMA Board notes that interactions between company representatives and healthcare professionals “should be focused on informing the healthcare professionals about products, providing scientific and educational information, and supporting medical research and education.”
Traditionally, part of that interaction has included reps offering doctors imprinted promotional products, but under the new rules that will no longer be allowed. Specifically, the revised Code “prohibits distribution of non-educational items (such as pens, mugs and other ‘reminder’ objects typically adorned with a company or product logo) to healthcare providers and their staff.” The Code acknowledges that such items, even though of minimal value, “may foster misperceptions that company interactions with healthcare professionals are not based on informing them about medical and scientific issues.”
The new guidelines also prohibit company sales reps from providing restaurant meals to healthcare professionals, but allows them to provide “occasional meals in healthcare professionals’ offices in conjunction with informational presentations.” The Code also reaffirms and strengthens previous statements that companies should not provide any entertainment or recreational benefits to healthcare professionals.
For more information on the revised PhRMA Code, go to http://www.phrma.org/news_room/
IRF Invitational Attracts Record Crowd
The 15th Annual Incentive Invitational, held at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas, May 28-June 1, boasted a record crowd of more than 400 attendees and guests this year. Sponsored by the Incentive Research Foundation (IRF), the Incentive Invitational – the foremost fundraising event for the incentive industry – brings together senior level incentive buyers, service providers and suppliers for four days of networking, leisure activities and roundtable discussions covering key industry issues.
The Invitational’s education track focused on ways that research can be used to manage and improve the results of a company’s incentive programs, from program design through award selection and ROI measurement. In the first of the Research Roundtables, IRF Research Committee Advisor Rodger Stotz delivered a presentation on how existing research can be applied to help manage an organization’s incentive travel programs. In the second Roundtable presentation, IRF Research Committee Chair Robert Dawson shared the results of the IRF’s recently released survey, The Involvement of Procurement or Purchasing in the Incentive Travel Business. The survey revealed insight into the relationship between incentive travel providers and procurement departments citing, among other findings, the increasing need for the two groups to work more closely together and the imperative for service providers to help educate procurement executives about incentive best practices and ROI measurement.
The event’s highlight and the centerpiece for IRF fundraising efforts was the Invitational’s signature Live and Silent Around-the-World Showcase auction, which featured incentive-quality travel packages and merchandise. This best-in-class auction attracted many new “first-timers” as well as veteran contributors.
“This year's Invitational raised the bar for quality and exceeded all expectations for results,” says Frank Katusak, President of the IRF. “The funds raised at this premier industry event will enable us to continue pursuing the IRF’s mission to fund critical incentive industry research.”
For more information, go to http://www.TheIRF.org.
