Case Study: The Six Pillars of a Successful Anniversary Program

Is your organization approaching or celebrating a milestone anniversary this year? It may be time to think about what will make the anniversary year stand apart from all the other years in the minds of the leadership and administration within your organization. Here are some factors to consider.

Products

Choose creative and trendy products that are branded with your logo and have a high perceived value so employees will keep them for many years to come. Whether you choose to add an anniversary wreath to an existing logo, or imprint the products with the anniversary year, the products should be timeless and serve a purpose. It's also important to ensure the anniversary branding is consistent from one piece to another. This is something to look out for especially if the goal is to offer a wide range of products in a variety of colors. Another tip: although products that are imprinted with the anniversary year leave no doubt as to when they were given and can help an employee prove their longevity on the team amongst peers, these products tend to feel out-of-date quickly and may be used less frequently.

Platform

In years gone by, coordinating an anniversary program and distributing the gifts may have been a challenge - maybe you still have nightmares from the last anniversary! Now, with an online, effortless, Amazon-like ordering platform, even someone with limited technology skills can redeem their anniversary gift with just a few clicks. Depending on the size of the team, we may recommend breaking up the ordering window into multiple ordering periods. Spacing out employee ordering and production capacity means no one is required to wait more than three weeks to receive their order from the time of placing it. Also at your disposal is an interactive sizing tool, offered by the online platform for apparel. It is much like the size configurators seen when shopping on the websites of major retailers such as Under Armour and Ralph Lauren.

Pricing

Whether pricing is visible to employees is up to the discretion of the organization. Some choose to make anniversary merchandise available at no charge while others prefer to sell it to employees. Bulk buying the merchandise ahead of the ordering window allows for higher quantity production runs and better pricing which can be passed on to employees, if the organization chooses to sell the anniversary merchandise. 

Payment

A simple and straightforward one page agreement for the payment of the branded merchandise to be made available to employees is signed before the ordering window opens, removing the headache of reviewing fine footnotes on a lengthy contract. If pricing is visible on the site, credit card payment will be enabled and the organization will likely choose to offer each employee a gift code, redeemable against the cost of their branded merchandise purchase.

People

After placing their orders, employees receive an emailed order confirmation listing what they purchased or redeemed. It also includes the timeframe they should expect to receive their order within. If there is any delay with production, employees are notified as quickly as possible. These notifications help to manage expectations and reassure employees that their order is underway. Should further questions exist, a US-based support team is available via phone and email to assist promptly with any technical website difficulties or order status requests.

Process

During the ordering window, custom, on-demand reporting gives the organization valuable insight into the program. Lists of unredeemed gift codes assist follow up with employees who have yet to place an order. Once the ordering window ends and production is complete, to distribute the merchandise, the instructions given by the employee during the checkout process - ship directly to their homes or to their place of work - will be followed. Every gift will be labeled properly with the employee's full name. After the gifts are delivered, a survey can be conducted to collect feedback regarding the items in the program and gauge the interest in setting up an ongoing brand store for long-term use.

Ready to set up your organization's branded merchandise program? Get in touch.