Rewards & Recognition (January 2010)

• Maritz and Affinity Solutions Announce Partnership.
• Don't Miss This Important Webinar on Engagement!
• Certif-A-Gift Unveils 2010 Catalog with New Brands, Green Products.
• Mark Your Calendar! The 2010 EEA Networking Expo.
• Call for IMA Summit Presentations.
• Incentive Gift Card Council Announces 2009-2010 Board of Directors.
• EEA Expo Participants to 'Write the Book' on Enterprise Engagement.
• Electronics: Get Wired!
• Ammunition: What Does the Latest Research Reveal?
• The Architecture of Competition.
• Whitepaper Connects Engagement with Economic Recovery.
• About Selling Communications Inc.

News Briefs

Maritz and Affinity Solutions Announce Partnership

Maritz Real-Time Rewards, an innovator in point-of-sale loyalty programs (www.maritzrtr.com) and Affinity Solutions, a provider of leading-edge relationship marketing programs (www.affinitysolutions.com), have joined forces to offer a comprehensive point-of-purchase relationship marketing program for U.S. credit and debit card issuers and retailers. This joint effort will enable both retailers and card issuers to conduct customer segmentation and in-depth analytics for the retail back office, while engaging consumers in real time at the point of sale, whether in store, online, via mobile device or any other payment channel. Maritz Real-Time Rewards' software solution runs on existing POS platforms and allows customers to receive targeted and customized promotions, in addition to providing an opportunity to pay using their rewards points with only the swipe of a card. The software also tracks customer frequency and spend. Affinity Solutions' merchant-funded rewards program links over 60 million debit and credit card accounts, touching about eight billion card transactions annually through its relationships with financial services partners such as Capital One, U.S. Bank, Regions, Comerica, Sovereign, several of the leading payments processors and many other financial institutions. Its retailer networks include over 25,000 national, regional and local merchants nationwide, including such brands as Exxon-Mobil, Sears, Old Navy, Pizza Hut, Rite Aid, Toys R Us, PetSmart and others. 

Don't Miss This Important Webinar on Engagement!

On Tuesday, February 9, the Enterprise Engagement Alliance and the Human Capital Institute will sponsor a webinar entitled, "Return on Value by Engaging Talent: What Leaders Can Do." It will be presented from 2-3 pm EST and feature Rodger Stotz, Chief Research Officer of the Incentive Research Foundation, and James Dittman, President of Dittman Incentive Marketing. The webinar (rescheduled from December 8) will focus on the economic reasons to engage talent, discussing what leaders can do to create value from talent engagement. You'll hear examples of leaders and organizations that excel at engagement and gain insight to achieving high levels of engagement in your own organization. To register, click here.
 

Certif-A-Gift Unveils 2010 Catalog with New Brands, Green Products

With the release of the 2010 Certif-A-Gift catalog, corporate givers now have the option of gifting a little greener. The company's new focus on green brands lets eco-minded recipients choose from a variety of earth-friendly products, including SPRIG earth-friendly toys, Pure by Chantal ceramic stoneware, Eton self-powered radios, Go-Ped electric scooters, iTouchless recycling bins, Solio solar chargers, Remington electric lawn mowers, Rachael Ray bamboo accessories, Diane Katzman recycled jewelry, eco-friendly totes from Good Hope Bags and Charles River organic cotton canvas jackets. "The 2010 Certif-A-Gift catalog features brand-name rewards people choose for themselves," notes Andy Tobutt, Executive Vice President. "Whether their tastes run to luxury items or products from environmentally responsible companies, gift recipients will find exactly what they want in the 2010 catalog, and business owners can rest easy knowing their gifts are guaranteed to be perfect."

Mark Your Calendar! The 2010 EEA Networking Expo

The Enterprise Engagement Alliance will hold its first annual EEA Networking Expo at the Doral Arrowwood Hotel Conference Center in Rye Brook, NY, June 3-5, 2010. The event is designed to help organizations profit from engaging their key audiences and engineer new ways to use rewards and recognition to drive performance. A slate of interactive education sessions will enable attendees to share the latest and most effective policies, procedures, strategies and tactics in the field of engagement, offering unique, actionable ideas and information they can use to boost performance and profitability, and build relationships with all key audiences. Exhibitors representing the top products, programs and performance-improvement companies will be available during eight hours of dedicated exhibit time, as well as at other networking events and activities during the EEA Networking Expo, to share their extensive expertise with attendees. The Doral Arrowwood is convenient to all major metropolitan areas in the Boston/NYC/Philadelphia/Washington, DC corridor, located only 10 minutes from Westchester Country Airport and 40 minutes from New York's LaGuardia airport. For more information about the Enterprise Engagement Alliance Networking Expo, go to www.eeaexpo.com
 

Call for IMA Summit Presentations

IMA's 2010 Executive Summit, "Business Improvement Starts Here," is scheduled for August 1-3 in Baltimore, MD. Based on 2009 attendee feedback, the schedule will include more informal networking time, a speed networking hour and four breakout sessions, allowing participants to customize their Summit experience to meet their needs. Breakout topics have been chosen based on participant feedback as well, and will include seminars presented by IMA's Strategic Industry Groups on the following topics:

• Cost of Doing Business – Is It All About Price? Finding Creative Solutions to Meet Client Needs, Add Value and Make a Profit
• Want A Bigger Seat at the Planning Table? Use Industry Research and Resources to Make the Business Case for Incentive Programs
• Tips for Marketing to Key Target Audiences – Marketing, HR, Advertising and Promotional Agencies.

If you are interested in presenting a breakout session on one of the topics above, click here for details.

Incentive Gift Card Council Announces 2009-2010 Board of Directors

The board of directors for the 2009-2010 term has been announced by the Incentive Gift Card Council (IGCC), a special industry group of the Incentive Marketing Association. Leslie A. Demourelle, Manager of New Business Implementation for Walgreens Co. in Deerfield , IL, has been elected to serve as President of the incoming Board. Other members include:

• Executive Vice President: Betty Weinkle, CPIM, of American Express Incentive Services
• Vice President – Education: Alex Calicchio of C2 Consulting Services
• Director of Agency Relations: Nick Balestino of Hallmark Insights
• Director of Communications: Monique Agaliotis of Incentive/Sales & Marketing Management magazines
• Director of Membership: Heather Abbott of Barnes & Noble, Inc.
• Director of Media Relations: Stacey McAllister of RK Incentives
• Past President: Andrew Dodge of L. L. Bean Direct to Business

For more information about the Incentive Gift Card Council (IGCC), visit www.usegiftcards.org, call (630) 369-7780, or e-mail .

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Insights from ESM Rewards & Recognition e-News

EEA Expo Participants to 'Write the Book' on Enterprise Engagement

The Enterprise Engagement Alliance Networking Expo, to be held June 3-5, 2010, at the Doral Arrowwod in Rye Brook, NY, is a first-of-its-kind learning and planning experience. A group of carefully selected hosted executives and managers in different aspects of engagement will be invited to participate with other attendees in the development of the first ever implementation manual for Enterprise Engagement. This initiative offers a unique opportunity for business executives and managers to learn from both experts and their peers in facilitated discussion groups. The result of the two-day event will be a manual entitled Enterprise Engagement: A Practical Guide to Maximizing Financial Performance Through People that will be distributed free of charge to all attendees. All participating individuals and their organizations will receive a credit in the manual for their participation. For more information on the EEA Networking Expo, go to www.eeaexpo.org

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In the Current Issue of Engagement Strategies Magazine

The Fall issue of Engagement Strategies Magazine is out. Here's a look at what you'll find inside:

Electronics: Get Wired!

Year after year, electronics remain some of the most sought after incentive products. From televisions to touch-screen GPS units, digital cameras to cellular phones and MP3 players to wireless reading devices, if you're looking for a means to motivate employees or customers, it seems you can't go wrong if your incentive program includes electronic options. Perhaps their popularity can be attributed to the fact that electronics have infiltrated every nook and cranny of our everyday lives. According to data from the Consumer Electronics Association, the average American household owns 23 consumer electronic products and spent a total of $1,229 on electronics purchases in the past year. Adults reported personally spending an average of $725 on consumer electronic products in the past 12 months. Read about the latest electronics gear >>
 

Ammunition: What Does the Latest Research Reveal?

In our annual overview of recent studies on recognition, motivation and engagement, we look at the latest research from the Human Capital Institute, the Incentive Research Foundation, the Forum for People Performance Management & Measurement, Aberdeen Group, TMP worldwide, Hay Group and Watson Wyatt. Find out how people are driving performance and profits >>
 

The Architecture of Competition

Don Peppers says he came to understand the need for both employee and customer engagement through his work in marketing – particularly his study of marketing technology – over the last decade and a half. "The whole one-to-one marketing concept is based on technology," explains Peppers, co-founder with Martha Rogers of Peppers & Rogers Group and 1to1® Media and co-author of the recent book, Rules to Break and Laws to Follow. "It's concerned with the fact that interactive, database and computer technology were making it more possible for companies to talk to customers one at a time, customize products and services for them and hear back from them, as opposed to simply talking at them through mass media. There's a whole architecture of competition now built around this sort of interactive relationship with customers. But at its core, it's driven by technology." Read more of the Fall cover story in Engagement Strategies Magazine >>

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News From Selling Communications Inc.

Whitepaper Connects Engagement with Economic Recovery

One of the greatest opportunities to increase corporate profits – and subsequently boost the economy – lies in motivating workforces to improve performance, drive greater customer engagement and ultimately increase revenue, according to a new report from the Enterprise Engagement Alliance (EEA) and the Human Capital Institute (HCI). The Enterprise Engagement Alliance is a coalition of companies and associations dedicated to promoting the importance of engagement, founded  last year by the Human Capital Institute, Peppers & Rogers Group, 1to1® Media and Selling Communications, Inc. Entitled The Economics of Engagement, the report provides a comprehensive analysis of research in the field of Enterprise Engagement and offers how-to information on benchmarking tools that can quantitatively measure the benefits of employee and customer engagement. These measurement tools are critical to demonstrate the bottom-line impact of enterprise engagement, both to corporations and to the economy as a whole, using financial language that senior executives, investors and economists are accustomed to. "One of the most encouraging findings of this report is the revelation that vast reserves of overall performance potential are essentially hiding in plain sight," says Bruce Bolger of the Enterprise Engagement Alliance. "Engaging the people that companies deal with on a day-to-day basis – both internally and externally – in a comprehensive, compelling and connected way will create a result that is more than just the sum of its parts. Naturally, as with any such investment, the return needs to be demonstrated to decision makers, and there's a growing body of evidence in the engagement arena that does just that." Get a copy of the report >>

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About Selling Communications Inc.

Selling Communications, Inc. is a fully integrated, target marketing, media and technology agency that improves results for clients by focusing on the people who matter most. Take advantage of these SCI services to improve your business development:

• Engagement Marketing Agency Solutions: Identify and get permission to communicate with the people who matter most through an integrated program rooted in permission-driven databases, direct mail, e-mail, Web sites, brochures, newsletters, public relations and sophisticated telephone sales that produce results.
   
• Target media: Build your brand and bring it directly to your power buyers through our stable of established niche print and online magazines in the sales, marketing and meetings fields (including this newsletter).
   
• Integrated Communications Technology: Build permission-based databases through Solata software to effectively communicate with the people who want to hear from you and precisely track the results in real time.

For more information on Selling Communications, its products and services, contact Jim Kilmetis at 914-591-7600, ext. 229 or send an e-mail to .

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