Personalized Gifting Trends for 2025 with Tom Romine (Part 2)

Tom Romine:

If you buy, let's say the same item for a hundred people or a thousand people, but you're going to get a better price than if you buy one in general, right? So people are used to, "Hey, maybe I can save some money if I buy all of the same item." But when you think about it, the percentage of people that will not love that product, and not use it has to be eight percent-ish, because certainly whatever you get, there's not one item that is going to fit a hundred percent of the people. So what happens is you've wasted an opportunity with a percentage of that budget overall.

Alyssa Peltier:

Great events, create great brands, but pulling off an event that engages, excites and connects audiences, well, that takes a village. And we're that village. My name is Alyssa.

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Felicia Asiedu:

And I'm Felicia,

Alyssa Peltier:

And you are listening to Great Events, the podcast for all event enthusiasts, creators and innovators in the world of events and marketing.

 

Hello everyone. What has been going on in this wild wide world of events? My name is Alyssa and I will be your host for this week's episode of Great Events, a podcast by Cvent. Now I am joined by a former interviewee, who's already been a participant on our show, but we're welcoming Tom Romine, president and founder of Cultivate, a premium corporate gifting brand. Back to the podcast today. Hello and welcome again to the show, Tom.

Tom Romine:

Hello, Alyssa. So nice to be back with you today.

Alyssa Peltier:

I'm really excited to chat, because the last time we talked about we were a little bit on a cliffhanger, so I feel like we're coming full circle here, and we're going to close the loop on the conversation that we had last time. But just for those of you who weren't able to listen to our previous episode, to recap, we got to know Tom a little bit more about he leads this Cultivate company with a passion for empathy, and appreciation, and kindness in the gifting experience. So that was a lot of our conversation. We then dovetailed into a lot of talk about the trends that are happening overall, as it pertains to 2024. Before we get into 2025, we'll recap on what's been going on in 2024. So we dabbled a little bit around the sustainability conversation, how that's being prioritized by event planners in the current landscape of events.

We talked a lot about personalization and gifting with choice, so giving your audiences, whether that's an employee, or a VIP or a customer, the opportunity to choose their gifting experience. We also talked a little bit about experiential, and just the focus on the face-to-face events, specifically how gifts can play a major part in that. Talked a little bit about appreciation and loyalty, just at large. And then lastly, of course, everyone's favorite, we touched on being really intentional with your budget. So if you missed that previous episode, I'd strongly encourage you to tune in. You'll find it on any of your podcasting favorites, whether that's on Apple or Spotify. Go and find it. Listen in. You'll get read in on the full conversation that we had.

So we finished that conversation, Tom, with a focus on the hottest gifts that are upcoming for 2025. And you alluded to a major trade show that was going on, that Cultivate was going to be participating in, and there were going to be some major announcements. So I'd love to pick up our conversation with, what did you guys announce? What's been talked about? And where's the gifting industry going in 2025?

Tom Romine:

Well, thanks again for having me, and I'm always excited to talk about appreciation. It's the only thing that we do at Cultivate, so it's near and dear to my heart. The most common question we get at IMEX or any trade show that we're ever at for meeting planners is, "What's new? What's fresh? How can I make my event a little different with gifts?" And we've got some new things. So to start it off, we've taken a few of the core categories, like sunglasses and footwear, and apparel, and we've basically figured out a way to take those up a notch. So I'll start with sunglasses.

We've come up with a way to do really beautiful leather cases for sunglasses, so that once people go through the experience of selecting a brand new pair of sunglasses, which they love to do, everyone always needs a new pair, they come over to another station and they get to select a sunglass case to go with it, not just the cheap one that comes with the pair of sunglasses. And strangely, even the best brands in the world still deliver a $2 value case, and it's kind of a bummer. It's kind of a letdown. It does protect the sunglasses, but most of the time they're really large, and not too exciting, not very premium. So we've got some beautiful leather cases to select from, so guests could choose their case. And then let's take it one step further, we can emboss their initials right on the case. So it adds that real personal touch to it. So we're real excited about that, and a lot of price points and options for people to choose from there to cover all spectrums. And then the second category is footwear.

So we've done over the years really well with brands like OluKai, sandals and shoes. We recently added Allbirds. We've actually got a way that once people select their pair of shoes or sandals, we can actually put a company logo on the product. So again, we still really believe in choice. Let's give people a choice, let them pick the color, the style, of course the size, try it on, make sure it fits. And then if they want to add a real simple logo or message, we can do that as well. So we're excited to have that additional touch point on footwear in addition to the sunglasses, as I mentioned.

Alyssa Peltier:

Yeah, I love that. I know we talked a lot about, and I just alluded to this a few seconds ago, but the personalization, those options for customization really allow for that personal touch. And we talked a lot about not buying promotional products that can be disposed of. So really investing in luxury brands or elevated brands, so that these aren't just disposable items, so that the logo goes a little bit longer, if you will. Because the item lasts a little bit longer, so certainly those are related to the sustainability theme too. So I can see how those are carrying through and weaving into 2025. So it sounds like these are the buzzy things right now.

Let's talk a little bit about employees specifically. I know that there was just a blog that was launched. End of year gifting is a big priority for a lot of companies. Anything really specific for the employee that you're seeing at Cultivate, Tom?

Tom Romine:

Yeah. So interestingly, a lot of our meeting planner clients end up working with us on their company's holiday gifts. Or sometimes they refer us to their HR department or leadership team that might be handling it, just because they like working with us. But the biggest trend that we're seeing, and that what I would encourage any company is, if you've been the recipient of a holiday gift that has landed flat, whether it's a gift card, whether it's the company guessed and gave everybody the same thing, maybe everybody got a turkey this year. To me, there really is a great opportunity to improve, and it's not just with our service, by the way. There are many companies that do what we do, but offering choice to the employee, to let them pick the gift is what we have seen our clients have the most success with. And it seems like such a simple solution, but it really takes away from all the agonizing and the guesswork of, will they like it? Will they use it? And do I know if they're going to use it?

Like gift cards for example, you might give a gift card out, and if it's an Amazon gift card or Target gift card, that's just going to be put in the household budget, and it's going to end up being used for anything from toilet paper to you name it. So to me, give them an option to choose something wonderful, a brand new item from one of the world's best brands. And they're going to remember their company when they receive it and every time they use it. So that's what we're encouraging to do.

Alyssa Peltier:

How does that factor into budgeting, Tom? I know that's always top of mind, but it's certainly top of mind right now. There's been a lot of economic uncertainty. I know a lot of companies are really focused on just really maximizing profits right now, and really focused on the bottom line. So when you're giving those choices, how does that impact the budgeting for a gift or a promotional product? I know I'm used to the large price breaks, days of old. You think you have to buy in bulk, which kind of is the antithesis of custom and personal, right? So talk to me about that a little bit.

Tom Romine:

Yeah, when you think about it, if you buy, let's say the same item for a hundred people or a thousand people, you're going to get a better price than if you buy one, in general. So people are used to, hey, maybe I can save some money if I buy all of the same item. But when you think about it, the percentage of people that will not love that product and not use it has to be a percentage, because certainly whatever you get, there's not one item that is going to fit a hundred percent of the people. So what happens is, you've wasted an opportunity with a percentage of that budget overall. So even though you may have saved a little bit by buying in bulk, you're losing, because you have many people that are going to be disappointed, because it's an item they either own. Maybe it's not their favorite size, shape, color, brand, whatever it is, it really misses the opportunity.

In addition, I would love to circle back to the event world if I could. We're having this conversation with clients every day. What we're seeing is a trend towards quality over quantity. You've heard that term many times, but in this case it refers to rather than buying five small or medium-sized things, hoping guests will like two or three or four of them. They're saying, "Hey, let's concentrate the budget on one really great item." Again, I think if you offer choice, you can get there with this. And then the focus is stronger, and that item has a greater chance of living on after the event, and being used and remembered, and drawing back to the event. So that, I think it really resonates with a lot of our clients. The other thing is, especially with international events, we're seeing clients say, "Hey, we should look at the percentage or the ratio of dollars spent on the actual gifts, versus the budget to execute the program."

So for example, a high tax destination like Costa Rica, or Dominican Republic or even Mexico, could be 30 to 50% tax, plus all the extra shipping and logistics fees. So there might be a case where in that type of destination, a client could consider what we call a gifting suite, where people get to, actually, we still have all the items on display, but then ultimately they shop for their favorite item and it's shipped to them after the event, at home in the US. The savings is dramatic, because you're not paying that 50% tax on all those items. You've got to pay sales tax or whatever, but it's a dramatic savings. And people are going, "Wow, I could spend 85% of my budget on actual gifts, instead of 60% of my budget." So there's a really good way to do that, I think.

Alyssa Peltier:

Payment strategies. I love that. That sounds great. And it also gives you the choice. You're not sending a whole slew of things to one location. You're still giving the choice. It becomes an activation on site, to choose your gift to have it shipped to you. So it almost enhances the experience, as opposed to just becomes a check it off the list to do item, right? Okay. Last question for you, Tom. Something I really do want to talk about, because we're in the rush period. I guess we're the pre- before the rush of gifting. We're in the gratitude season before we really shift into the gifting. So let's talk a little bit about getting those orders in before the holiday rush, and the advantages of doing so.

Tom Romine:

Yeah, so there's really two concepts you can execute around holiday gifting. One is where you're buying something in advance and ordering it, and then either shipping it to individual homes, or if they're all at your office, because you're working at the office, you can deliver it there. Then you're dealing with a lot of the demands of this time of year, which is all the brands and suppliers in this world are compacted with trying to deliver all these items. So you are up against that a bit. The other way to do it is in our online solution, you can actually schedule your gift to go out to recipients in advance, so around Thanksgiving, so they have plenty of time to pick their item and have it shipped before the holidays.

But we even see clients that will look at their holiday gift when they use our online platform as the gift arrives, when that employee opens their email and goes, "Wow, this is my gift!" They click the link and they're presented with say, 50 great options. That's their gift, is the choice of these great options. And if they get that on December 22nd or 23rd, the expectations that they would get it by the 25th are probably not there, and that's okay. The gift was the sentiment. It's, we're giving you an opportunity to pick an amazing item, and it's actually really cool, because they get to pick it and then it delivers after the holidays, and it's that bonus gift when the big brown truck comes and drops it off. And it's kind of a cool way to look at it, where it doesn't impede or create stress for all of our clients that are giving these gifts, like "Will it make it in time?" It's not quite as important in that respect. Does that make sense?

Alyssa Peltier:

Yeah, totally. It totally makes sense. Yeah, you avoid the rush, but it's a strategic avoidance of the rush, right? You're still playing into the season, without having to be consumed by it, for sure. Well, Tom, I really appreciate the conversation today. We'll keep it short and sweet today, and to the point. We gave out some new brands for our listeners to really start thinking about what to look for in 2025, but also a little bit of timeliness, given that it is the holiday season. And there's certainly a gifting undercurrent to this time of year, so we don't want to miss that either. I do want to call out, I have looked at many of the blogs on the Cultivate website, and they are chockfull of information. So if you've listened to this podcast or our former podcast with Tom and the Cultivate team, I would strongly encourage you to dive deep on their blogs because they are really, really, really helpful in terms of getting your gifting strategy set for 2025, and starting to think about some of those new brands that you might want to onboard within your company as well.

With all that, I'd like to thank you once again, Tom, for joining us. Had a great chat today. Thank you, listeners for joining us, and we'll see you next week.

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