Companies get creative with gifts

Gift baskets gather on the floor. Cookie tins pile on countertops. Cards fall like snowflakes.

Christmas gift giving is about to begin.

It's a prime public relations opportunity for companies that want to say thanks to their customers. And the whole point of public relations is to get noticed and remembered.

Creativity is a wining way to break through the blizzard of gift baskets and candy boxes. Relevancy is a close second.

With a company name like Panda Printing, visual gifts are a natural. The printer, says Kristal Gonzalez in customer service, uses its own press to print its cute panda logo on pencils and notepads, chopsticks and fans, mints and carry bags. It's even sent candles and tree ornaments cast in the shape of what else? a panda.

Incline Village advertising agency Smith & Jones creates a custom art calendar for clients, says account executive Diana Evans. This year, each employee was set free to hand carve a linoleum block. Each employee was assigned a month to feature in a wood-block print.

The standard gift basket got a twist at Innerwest Advertising and Public Relations, says Aimee Eiguren, public relations director. All the stuffings were identified as "Made In Nevada" products. Salsa, barbeque sauce, soup mix, cookies, teas, and wine all came from providers spread from Genoa to Sparks.

And at printing company a * carlile, office manager Thea Diamond still remembers the 1997 die cut card that popped open into a Jack-in-the-box a tree ornament.

Technical workers may seem to talk a different language and share a specialized sense of humor.

But tech-savvy clients of companies such as Twelve Horses, a Web focused marketing company, live online. And that's where their Christmas cards went, says Robert Payne, marketing manager. Customers got an email greeting with a link to a Flash video rendition of "The 12 Days of Christmas" sung with industry specific lines such as "Five servers crashing ..."

The staff at Noble Studios Marketing and Web Development in Carson City sent clients a video that featured the crew performing a lively lip-sync to holiday songs. They stopped short of actually singing, says Jarrod Lopiccolo, business manager.

Some companies are choosing to stray from the fray altogether. In lieu of gifts, they send customers a card marking a charitable donation made in the client's name.

Krump Construction had given tools cast in chocolate, such as a chocolate hammer. While memorable, the effort was discontinued when quantities grew unmanageable, says the firm's Karen Albrecht. The company now sends a card noting a donation to charity.

Q&D Construction has also gone the charitable donation route, says Dean Whellams, business development director. However, for years the firm gave decorative tools: ruler, t-square, triangle, protractor made of cherry wood and laser engraved with the company logo. Designed by President Norm Dianda, they were made in the company's own millwork shop. Some customers even hung their collected tools sets on the wall. But this year, a charitable donation will be given instead.

At Ding Communications, the company has given gifts that played on its name, like sleigh bells. One year it gave underwear emblazoned with ding-dong for the men and ding-a-ling for the women. And how was that received? People loved it, says Greg Fine, a principal. But this year, the company is also going the sociably responsible route and giving to charity in lieu of a gift.

Companies that choose functional over funny are going with fleece, says Gerard Greiner at Blue Moon Advertising and Promotional Products. They've been imprinting company logos on jackets, vests and scarves.

The biggest trend right now, says Executive Giftsource owner Stephanie Larude, is Thanksgiving gifts. "It gives people who want to stand out from the crowd a way to preempt the holiday rush." While those gifts are most often the tried and true gift basket, some opt for giant gourmet caramel apples.

For those who want to hold out for the holiday season, she recommends the gift tower. It contains all the sweet and savory food items commonly found in a gift basket, but offers a dramatic presentation boxes varied in size and stacked into a tower.

Some business people want to go beyond the gift and invest time in building personal relationships with clients.

To devise holiday gift programs for that purpose, Dali Wiederhoft, public relations director at estiponagroup advertising and public relations, has gone back to the Nevada theme.

She arranged for sporting season ticket packages from University of Nevada, Reno, for Sierra Neurosurgery Group. To entertain referring doctors, the surgeons there will each attend a sporting event with a referring doctor, while the administrative staff will entertain the clerical staff from that doctor's office.

"It's a light way for all to bond without a heavy time commitment," says Wiederhoft.

And what will the estipongroup give?

Last year it gave clients a custom-made holiday music sampler CD. "This year we're doing something that blends custom art with the art of living, but we can't say what, yet," says Wiederhoft. "We don't want to spoil the surprise."