Feature: Can experiences work in sales promotion?

Ensuring a positive experience for the recipient of a gift voucher can make all the difference in the success a sales promotion since brand identity will be reflected by the quality of service and gift that are delivered. The goal of a gift voucher or gift card should be to make a lasting and positive impact through sales promotion and one way of ensuring that the recipient will be left with something special to remember is to use and experience gift vouchers.

Several members of The VA provide chance in a lifetime experiences as gift-vouchers and I thought that this would be a great opportunity to highlight the benefits of utilising experiential sales promotions as a means of building enduring relationships with the consumer.

Red Letter Days was a pioneer of the concept of offering gift experience vouchers that promise exciting days out and the opportunity to try unusual activities the gift with a difference for both corporate and consumer markets.

Zachary Soreff, director of sales & marketing at Red Letter Days explains the value of an experiential reward: Experiences offer a more interactive and tuned-in way of promoting a product which, in turn, allows audiences to become more integrated with the brand. They are a popular tool for sales promotion because we are engaging customers emotionally with the brands by giving them a memory to cherish.¨

There is certainly an emotional touch point for any company, whether it is speed and excitement to attract the younger market or comfort and luxury to attract a more refined audience. It is the job of the experiential provider to discover the activity or experience that will best represent the brand to its intended audience.

Tim Bishop of eXhilaration explains that by aligning your brand with a relevant experience you can help to create a more exciting perception of your business in the customers mind.

eXhilaration are experts in providing vouchers for adrenaline experiences such as Ferrari driving, bungee jumping and adventure weekends but also offer less extreme pursuits including spa days and gourmet cruises. The impact of sending someone over a mountain with nothing but a bit of elastic to hold onto will certainly be a lasting one¡¨ he continued, but not necessarily one that everybody would enjoy.

The Full Experience Company offers a wide choice with its trademarked Smart Box gift packages. The secret to its success explains Benoit Linossier, managing director, is that the Smart Box appears to be worth a lot more than it really costs, which just goes to show that a gift does not necessarily have to rely on its monetary worth to be appreciated and valued.

A great example of how experiential vouchers can add value to a sales promotion without pushing up the costs is the campaign that The Full Experience ran with Nokia in France. Benoit explained: By offering an Adventure Smart Box instead of a discount, customers were encouraged to purchase a top of the range mobile phone instead of the cheaper alternative as they felt that they were getting a lot more for their money with an experience.¡¨ This demonstrates just how valuable experiential gifts can be; that essentially, its the memories that really count.