Magazine: Gift trends and POPAI awards

Business and promotional gifts were on the agenda of the year’s last Trade Marketing Club meeting that took place in the BKIK building. One of the club’s founders Zsuzsanna Hermann welcomed participants and the first presenter was Éva Váradi, sourcing and marketing director of Golding Reklámajándék Kft. She told that their being a member of IGC Promotions guarantees opportunities which they would not get as a local company, because large multinational companies tend to manage promotional gifts centrally and sign comprehensive agreements, for instance with ICG promotions, whose local affiliates do the job on different markets. She added that the number of their partners grew 4 percent but the value of purchased gifts dropped. Alexandra Kracsó, managing director of Neo-Morpheus Kft. showed how the market niche can be found with the help of good ideas. In their Greenpromo project they offer environmentally friendly recycled gifts to progressive, environmentally conscious firms. At the same time they also launched their ‘Let’s write the future together’ programme, in which they used ‘green’ ballpoint pens to raise money for the Heim Pál Children’s Hospital. Ferenc Rusz, sales director with Anda Present Kft. spoke about the 60-percent export ratio of the Hungarian-owned company. They are selling products to 27 European countries. The company published a catalogue titled Relaxmas, referring to the fact that their partners can lay back and relax as Anda Present offers an all-round service to partners. Anikó Fekete, IS Innovative Solutions Kft.’s sales manager used a topical example (Hungaria sparkling wine decorated with Swarovski Elements crystal glass markers) to illustrate that instead of standardised promotional gifts Innovative Solutions works with joint thinking and tailor-made solutions. The customer side was also represented at the meeting: Aniko Simonyi, the head of advertising and logistics at Egis Gyógyszergyár Nyrt. was invited by Golding. She told that they choose gifts based on being familiar with target group demand, practicality and real gift-like character. She is always happy to consult experts before making a gift decision. Ákos Csapó, managing director of LPD Group was the guest of Neo-Morpheus. He told that they like the Greenpromo solution because they can use it to express the company’s environmental consciousness, which they can rarely do in everyday operation. BUSZESZ Zrt. marketing manager Adrienn Horváth came to speak about their partnership with Anda Present. Her experience is that marketing managers appreciate it if an external partner takes care of everything connected to business and promotional gifts. The second part of the meeting was the ceremonial announcement of the 3rd POPAI Awards POP competition and the presentation of the prizes. Ildikó Kátai, general secretary of the POPAI Hungary Association spoke briefly about the history of POPAI POP competitions, which began in 1958 and about POPAI Global Awards that started 3 years ago. Works that entered the Hungarian competition were exhibited between 26 and 28 September in Hotel Pelion, Tapolca, as part of Trade magazin’s annual Business Days conference, where conference participants also had the chance to evaluate them (giving points from 1 to 5 in different evaluation categories). Winners were announced in 3 categories, diplomas were handed over by the president of POPAI Hungary Association Ágnes Csiby and Zsuzsanna Hermann. Nagel Hungaria Kft., the main sponsor of the competition, offered a special award, which was presented by head of the international division Zsuzsanna Garai and commercial executive Barna Tóth.