Do Gift Card Employee Awards Have Trophy Value?

The nice folks who sell traditional merchandise awards would have you believe that gift cards when used as employee incentive or recognition awards have no trophy value. They purport that gift cards do not provide the intrinsic value or the tangible evidence of success provided by the traditional high priced merchandise awards given to our parents and grandparents. To this we simply say......HOGWASH, PROVE IT! There is no empirical evidence to support this claim, and never has been. It is another smoke screen to demonize gift cards and turn unsuspecting buyers toward their own award products. You see, they can’t stand the idea of selling gift cards as options to their merchandise simple because they haven’t figured out how to make any money doing it.

In our ongoing attempt to defend gift cards against the onslaught of those who would have you believe such tripe let us offer the following and let you decide if gift cards have trophy value and are a symbol of success.

You see, gift cards are not gift cards. When your participants get to choose the gift card that they want, they are to the holder the same kind of dreams and desires that used to be generated by the coffee table award books of the 1960’s. Except they have far more appeal to the workers of today than any other award. Gift cards are the stylish new outfit seen in the window at Macy’s; they are the new wide screen plasma HDTV at Best Buy, they are the deluxe Barbecue shown on sale at Home Depot, they are a child’s bike at Wal-Mart; they are the beautiful diamond necklace offered at Costco. They are all these things and millions and millions more. The only real difference between them and merchandise used in traditional award programs is that with a gift card, for the budget you have, your participant will be able to get a larger TV plus a DVD probably two bikes, the new outfit plus a glamorous sweater, a grandfather clock and a watch, and they may still have money left over. The decision is yours. Do you think they provide trophy value?

Be Well, Be Happy, Hug Someone.