CorpComms Magazine

It's the time of goodwill to all men and women again but if Christmas was being inaugurated anew in the corporate arena, you can bet your yuletide log that this kindly season of goodwill and benevolence would be subject to amendments.

Take Christmas gifts. Even the most junior PR professional knows gold (far too showy and expensive), frankincense (too smelly) and myrrh (even smellier) aren't the most appropriate choices for corporate clients in these times of political correctness and CSR. Indeed, with the charity and conservation lobbies both fiercely attacking the Christmas card market, is it even worth bothering with corporate gifts? After all, getting it wrong can backfire.

When catalogue retailer N Brown sent a journalist a Barking Westie - a plastic dog with a Santa hat, an irritating mechanical yap and a bone, chained to a Merry Christmas placard - it probably did not expect to be slated in the media. But it's unlikely many Westies, which were available from N Brown's catalogue, were sold after they were described as bearing a large yellow patch on their coats that looked as if they had been put there by an incontinent friend.

A year later, it was Nestlé in the doghouse. Had the Swiss consumer foods group run foul of the breastfeeding lobby again or committed some treacherous act of carbon emission? Of course not. It had simply sent seasonal gifts of Japanese makunouchi bento boxes with an accompanying blurb waxing on about boxes creating 'a small-scale version of our world', 'leading a life of their own' and 'protecting our memories from fading'.

International Power also rather asked for abuse when it sent out bottles of olive oil with a note boasting that the contents were 'produced from the genuine olives of Pego Power Station region' in Portugal.

Make a list - and check it twice

Lesson one: be very careful what you send to the press. But bear in mind that much more serious collateral damage can result from an inappropriate gifting gesture to a customer or potential clients. And if you're sending presents to international customers, beware the choice of wrapping paper, the number of people you give to and how many gifts you give out at one time.

With domestic customers, much of it is common sense. The website www.worketiquette.co.uk, for example, recommends checking out the corporate gift policies of organisations to which you want to send presents, as some companies' rulebooks prohibit the receipt of any gifts.

It also warns against companies giving something with a corporate logo on it if the intention is for the recipient to feel that it is a personal gift. Ideally, any gift should be shaped to the individual recipient, with as much care and attention as sending a gift to a friend or relative would require. This also ensures the recipient will not get into trouble for 'regifting'. A well-known personal finance journalist once wrapped up his gift of a luxury box of chocolates to present to his wife with the rest of her Christmas goodies; she was less delighted when she opened the box to discover a message of goodwill from a financial services company.

On the other hand, generic gifts such as desk accessories, pens, letter openers, calculators, personalised golf balls, a case of wine, travel accessories, food hampers and tickets to concerts or sporting events are considered fine - just as long as they are packaged nicely and accompanied by a handwritten note.

In these days of sensitivity about improper business relationships and allegations of conflicts of interests, it is also important for companies to be wary of giving anything that seems too expensive or luxurious in case it is perceived in the wrong way. BAe Systems, for example, provides advice for staff about giving gifts to US government officials on its website, stating firmly that they should 'never give a gift or item of value to a US government employee that is intended, or may be construed as intending, to influence the conduct of company business or the decision of that government employee'.

Staff are also reminded that, as a general rule, a Congressional employee (including members of Congress and their staff) may only accept a gift (including a meal) costing less than $50, with a $99.99 calendar-year cap for gifts from the same source, although gifts having a value of less than $10 do not count toward the annual limit.

Goodwill to all

With CSR and sustainability issues creeping further up the agenda these days, some companies are choosing options with a demonstrable benefit to society, mirroring what happened in the corporate Christmas card market, where many firms now prefer to make donations to charity.

'Should corporate gifts be a competition to see who can send the biggest and best hamper or should companies do something that makes a difference?' asks Denise Wales, director of public relations agency Dewcom Media Services. 'I'm a great believer in companies forgetting the glitz and looking at a message from the heart. For example, bespoke accountancy firm Axis Corporate Solutions recently held a charity poker night with the victor donating the winnings to charity. The winner gave £1,000 to aid research into Motor Neurone Disease in memory of his wife who died of the disease three years previously, at the age of 49. What better PR is there than that?'

There is also the carbon lobby to accommodate. Sourcing the finest produce from Peru and air-freighting it to London probably will not go down well if the recipient is an environmental charity or pressure group. In the US, for example, Metropolitan Gifts, which supplies corporate gifts for companies including Toyota and Ritz Carlton Hotels to send out to their clients, has a 'no wicker, no waste' policy that means the packaging is actually part of the design and a reusable part of the gift.

'In a world that is rightly rejecting waste, we carefully select products and packaging that are reusable, recyclable or consumable,' says Metropolitan Gifts president Greg Roberts. 'Our goal is that nothing goes in the trash.'

UK companies with environmentally conscious customers are taking note, too.

'We are very keen on the environment and eager to look at what we can send that has a low-carbon footprint,' says Peter Dunkley, creative director at Depo Consulting, a management consultancy based in Milton Keynes. 'We have a global workforce because we do a lot of work with virtual communities such as Second Life. Part of our message is that working in virtual communities gives you a lower carbon footprint so we have decided to source all the gifts we send out this year to be local to the recipient.

'We have a client in Ireland, for example, who will be receiving locally smoked salmon. We'll also be sending local cheeses to UK clients and we have a client in California who will be getting locally sourced wines. It sounds like a ludicrous amount of work but all it takes is a few minutes on Google, a Google account and a credit card. One of the advantages of going local is you are less likely to put your foot in it. It also shows you have gone to a lot of trouble. One of our clients is the carbon offset charity Pure - I suppose we really ought to take the present there on foot! You have to think of everything.'

'Corporate gift-giving is in decline and the danger is that it could make CEOs and directors seem increasingly distant to key suppliers and contacts,' notes Jason Atkinson, director at recruitment consultancy Russam GMS. 'We think it is really important to thank clients and our executives, who this year will be receiving a side of fine smoked salmon. Last year, a bottle of champagne was sent to all executives on assignments and key clients. Obviously the cost is a consideration and needs to be kept down to around £40-£50 but the quality needs to reflect your brand image.'

Jeremy Shaw, creative director at branding and design agency Lloyd Northover, agrees. 'Organisations are turning to their brand strategy to inform their choice of corporate gift, using the gift as a vehicle to reinforce their values in the mind of the customer,' he says.

'One example of this is National Savings & Investments - which wanted to underline that sustainability is a key part of its brand value integrity - giving a jute bag to customers. Bags of branded seedlings were also given, again reinforcing the idea of growing and managing your own finances.

'At Aquatic, a company that delivers oil from the sea bed to refineries, the brand proposition is to be 'the enabler' so the gift was a high-quality wire-free power charger, literally enabling the recipient to charge lap-tops and mobiles in inhospitable areas where there is no electricity. Thrislington Cubicles wanted to target architects with its innovative state-of-the-art cubicles so it sent a really innovative calendar containing 365 tiny squares of soap to be used one day at a time in the bathroom.'

International offence

All such concerns, of course, are only magnified when it comes to giving corporate gifts to clients in other countries. In Japan, for example, white wrapping paper is out as it symbolises death, while gifts need to be presented with both hands (in the same way the Japanese present business cards). It is also customary in Japanese culture to give gifts of increasing value as a business relationship develops.

In China, it's still illegal to offer gifts to government officials so they should only be presented to a group of business people, not individuals. Clocks should be avoided, as the Chinese word for clock is very similar to their word for death, as should books. Similarly, the colours blue, black and white are associated with funerals and not recommended.

Wrapping paper for gifts to Chinese companies should be in 'jubilant' colours such as red, yellow or pink, and gifts should be given in pairs rather than odd numbers - even numbers signify good luck whereas odd numbers imply loneliness or separation.

Elsewhere, it's clearly not a sensible idea to send alcoholic or pigskin presents to customers in the Middle East. And in Latin America, leather gifts are frowned upon as most of the finest leather comes from South - rather than Latin - America.

Nor is it advisable to send anything to Taiwan that states on the back that it was made there. Clearly, the 'buy local' trend hasn't quite reached that part of the world yet. In the field of corporate gift giving - as in so many other aspects of life - it seems it's a challenge to please all of the people all of the time.

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