Two small ideas for your business

Personal gifts as marketing can feel different from an ordinary discount. In the US in 2010, I encountered two ideas: A little Christmas gift from a mini-golf course and an extra gift card when you bought a gift for someone else.

Personal gifts as marketing at the restaurant table

While I was having lunch with my family, a man dressed as Father Christmas sat at another table. He gave my son Mads a gift. Inside were five dollars and a brochure for a mini-golf course.

It surprised both my son and me. The money was a real banknote, and I wanted to thank the man and take a closer look at the brochure. I felt I wanted to give something back.

I saw him handing out more gifts to families with children. I imagined he owned the mini-golf course, but I hadn’t had that confirmed.

My thinking about the finances was a calculation

I worked out how many families might need to visit the course for the gifts to pay for themselves. It was a hypothetical example, not figures from the man’s business or a result I’d measured.

What I actually experienced was that the gift made me happy and got me to spend time on the advert.

A gift card for the giver

I heard the second idea on the radio. When buying a gift card for, say, 75 dollars, you could get an extra 20-dollar gift card for yourself rather than simply receiving a percentage discount.

I imagined there was something special about getting your own gift while buying one for a friend. But I didn’t know the campaigns’ measured effect or the Danish rules for the same model.

They were two historical examples that got me thinking about gifts, experiences and marketing. I tell my own experiences of developing a business in Iværksætter til jeg dør.

On my trip the following year, I also saw a discount voucher with a hidden value.

A real five-dollar note from Father Christmas

I’d been out for lunch with my family the day before. At another table sat a man and his wife dressed up for Christmas. The man looked like a real Father Christmas with his big white beard. The dog was wearing little reindeer antlers too, and the kids were very impressed.

As we walked past, he gave my son Mads a gift. We unwrapped it at our table. Inside was a real five-dollar note, around 27 kroner using the amount I mention back then, and a brochure for a nearby family mini-golf course.

It wasn’t a voucher or a note with his brand on it. It was money. That impressed both my son and me. I suddenly felt indebted to this man and wanted to do him a favour.

I wanted to give something back

I call it reciprocal value: If you give someone something unconditionally, they may want to return the favour.

A gift with a big SPAMfighter logo on it may feel more like advertising. The recipient might think it’s really just something to make them buy more. You might expect the brochure to trigger the same reaction, but it didn’t for me here.

I went over and thanked him properly. I should have interviewed him, but I was a little flustered and didn’t do it. Afterwards, I spent quite a while on the advert. I felt I owed him a look at it after he’d given my son money.

He sat wrapping up more gifts and handed them out whenever a family with children passed. Later, I saw him with his wife at an outdoor seating area, drinking a large draught beer and continuing to hand out gifts.

A calculation I imagined

I got the impression he owned the mini-golf course. I don’t know. It was just my impression. He seemed to be enjoying himself, and I imagined he’d decided to spend December making families with children happy and perhaps gaining a few extra customers.

I calculated 500 gifts with five dollars in each. That’s 2,500 dollars, which I estimated at 13,000–14,000 kroner back then. You can quickly spend that amount on Google AdWords too.

If ten per cent of the families visited the course, that would be 50 families. In my example, I used five people per family and ten dollars per person. That made 50 dollars per family and 2,500 dollars in total revenue.

That’s my hypothetical calculation, not information from the man’s accounts. When I say the money would be recovered, I’m comparing the cost of the gifts with revenue without including the course’s other costs.

I imagined a mix of Christmas cheer, the joy of doing something for others and extra customers. I hadn’t worked out what I could use the idea for myself, but I was inspired. My wife wrote the details down, and I certainly wanted to visit the course. There was also a voucher that could save us a dollar.

The radio idea: Give the buyer their own gift card

In the second video, I talk about something I hear on the radio in Florida. Several shops gave an extra gift card instead of an ordinary percentage discount when you bought a gift card for someone else.

I first compare it with buying a gift card for 100 dollars and getting ten per cent off. The offer that particularly catches my attention is different: Buy a 75-dollar gift card for a local restaurant, and get a 20-dollar gift card for yourself at the same restaurant.

I think there’s something special in the psychology. If I buy a gift for a friend, I get my own gift at the same time. And if I choose a restaurant gift card for someone else, it’s probably often for a place I like myself.

My thought about corporate gifts and the effect

I also imagine a business owner buying 75-dollar gift cards for customers and getting a whole load of 20-dollar gift cards for themselves. In the video, I describe it very loosely as something that could be tax-deductible. That’s my speculation back then, not a determination of deductions or how to treat the extra gift cards.

I could imagine a personal gift card having an extra effect compared with simply getting a discount. I emphasise that Americans are good at measuring their marketing, so I conclude it probably works if lots of businesses use it. However, I hadn’t obtained the campaigns’ figures myself.

I didn’t think I’d seen the model much in Denmark. Perhaps it already existed, or perhaps rules stood in the way. I said myself I didn’t know the legislation and would have it checked. That’s the open question I end with in December 2010.

Best wishes, Martin