We’ve all grown tired of hearing about COVID 19, but I assure you, today’s article is less about what we can’t do amidst the pandemic, and more about what we can do – specifically in terms of corporate gifting.

We’ve touched briefly on corporate gifting that relates to the current situation the world finds itself in, as this allows for gifting to be both more effective and more relevant, but today we’ll go into more detail and also look at how to corporate gift during a pandemic.

Some examples of the perfect pandemic corporate gifts:

• Branded face masks.
• Branded hand sanitizers in different sizes depending on where they will be used – a slightly larger bottle for on a desk vs a smaller bottle with a clip allowing the receiver to attach it to their computer bag/handbag or put it in their car.
• A branded thermometer.
• A branded plastic face shield for those who feel that masks are uncomfortable.

These examples are inexpensive to the company as well as effective for the receiver. Unlike notebooks and pens, giving personal protection equipment out as a corporate gift during COVID 19 shows the receiver that the company cares for their safety, and in a time when we are all looking for something to sanitize our hands or a mask or face shield to wear out of the house and your company has gifted these items to us, we are essentially looking for your brand which is found on these protective items.

Another thing we now have to consider when it comes to corporate gifting is how to deliver these gifts in the midst of a pandemic.

Before COVID 19 hit, corporate gifting was easy – staff could be found in the office and corporate gifts could be handed out there. Customers would come into the office for meetings and corporate gifts could be handed out before/during/after. But now that restrictions have been placed on leaving the house and how many we can allow indoors, not all of your staff may be coming into the office, they may be working from home instead.  Meetings with customers are now held online via video calls. However this does not mean that corporate gifting is a thing of the past, this just means we need to adapt the way we corporate gift, the same way we’ve adapted the gifts themselves to fit current needs.

Despite the build up to the answer, the answer is very simple. Corporate gifting is now done via delivery. Companies are now making use of delivery companies such as Parcelspot, FEDEX and Courier Guy, which allow you to box your corporate gift and have it delivered to the customer/employee.

Although this is the only option available for companies to corporate gift, there are some downfalls.

• Corporate gifting via a delivery service is impersonal.
• Corporate gifting via a delivery service means that there is no real contact being made between the company and customer/employee which is what is needed to build a relationship. It is vital then that included in the corporate gift is a greetings card, which can make up for the lack of contact when it is written correctly.
• Corporate gifting via a delivery service is more expensive.

Companies now have to budget for more than just the gift itself but also for the delivery. This is more difficult as delivery price may vary depending on where the corporate gift needs to be delivered to. This downfall makes it worth looking at having someone from within your own company, deliver the corporate gifts themselves. This would still cost more than corporate gifting previously did, however it would still be a cheaper and safe option than using a courier service, as not only do you know and trust the person doing the deliveries but they are also already working for the company and therefore a small increase in pay is all that would be necessary.