| Subject: How to Motivate Millionaire |
Author:
John Madrigal
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Date Posted: 08:50:46 05/11/06 Thu
How to Motivate Millionaire
By Vincent Alonzo
Looking to motivate high-profile, highly compensated clients or employees? Traditional incentives aren't going to get their attention. Here's how companies can make an impression on their favorite millionaires.
Show me the money!" That's what Cuba Gooding's character, a pampered, high maintenance NFL wide receiver said to his agent, played by Tom Cruise in the 1996 film, Jerry McGuire.
It turns out that life does not imitate art.
Mike Holmgren, head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, learned that lesson the hard way earlier this year when he tried to motivate his already highly compensated players to win Super Bowl XL by showing these millionaires $73,000 – the winner's share of the Super Bowl money – stacked neatly in one dollar bills. Just to refresh your memory – the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Seahawks fairly decisively by the score of 21 to 10.
Holmgren should have consulted the motivation industry before he embarked on his flawed attempted to incentivize his team. Any incentive expert worthy of the name would have told him that cash makes a poor motivator. "Sure it's possible to move the performance needle by offering a cash incentive, but the amount you have to spend makes it prohibitive," says John Jack, vice president of innovation for BI Performance Services, a Minneapolis-based performance improvement company.
The minimum salary for veteran NFL players is $765,000; that makes the winner's share of the Super Bowl money less than 10% of their salaries. Try leaving a waiter a tip of less than 10% and see what kind of service you get the next time you dine at his table.
But if $73,000 dollars isn't enough, what hope is there for any sales or brand manager to use incentives or promotions to motivate highly compensated employees or wealthy customers? Here are some successful examples of how it's done.
And the Award Goes to ...
Anyone who shows up, that's who. While no one is guaranteed to be walking away with Oscar gold at the Academy Awards, the presenters, entertainers and nominees are all assured of leaving the Kodak Theater loaded down with awards. Only they call it swag, and it comes in the form of an elegant bag filled with all kinds of goodies that has a total dollar value somewhere in the low six-figure range.
This year one of the hottest gifts at the Oscars was Victoria's Secret's prize to the best actress nominees: a bra and panty set with a removable gold and diamond brooch. Kodak and Kwiat Diamonds created EasyShare V570 cameras with the best actress nominees' initials in 75 brilliant-cut diamonds (valued at $20,000). Motorola handed out special edition gunmetal PEBL phones in a custom gift box to directing and acting nominees. And M&M's Candies presented nominees with personalized M&Ms that had their names and words of congratulations printed on each M.
Okay, not many of us are ever going to have the opportunity to put together a promotion on a scale to match the excess of the celebrity gift bags that are given out on Oscar night. But still there are lessons to be learned from how the big Hollywood players manage such giveaways. The first lesson: Creating exclusive gift bags for top clients or celebrities who attend a corporate party or product launch is a major motivator. "It makes them feel special," says Josephy Calloway, an event planner in Las Vegas who often creates gift bags for corporate parties and other special events. "If you single out the VIPs with a gift bag, they're going to show tremendous loyalty in the future."
Indeed, one organization, the Gay Men's Health Crisis, employed this strategy when recently hosting the Move Against AIDS Danceathon fundraiser. The event had several hooks to woo celebrities, including a gift bag filled with glam galore, like custom hand-painted jeans by Sol Chicks Designs, Guittard chocolate bars and a Threads handmade scarf with 24K gold threads. Getting celebrities to participate in the event was key, says Francesca Shuster, director of communications and public relations for MZA Events (the organization that coordinated the event), because the celeb buzz helped attract more than 3,000 participants, with donations totaling more than $750,000. As an additional incentive, participants on certain teams had a chance to win the gift bags.
The key to creating a successful gift bag program for high-profile clients or employees is to make the items super-trendy, says Calloway. "If you're giving away chocolates, for example, they should be high-end, hard-to-get chocolates, not Hershey's," he says. "If you've got apparel in the bag, make sure it's something that's really exclusive or edgy, not something that can be found right down the street. The items have to have some marquee value."
To boost exclusivity, experts recommend creating a checklist, and having recipients sign in for the gift bags. This process helps make VIPs feel special – and keeps other party guests away from the loot. Organizers at a recent private luncheon at the Diamond Acquifer Oscar suite at the Soho House in Hollywood failed to do that, and about 20 pricey gift bags that included a $1,000 diamond bracelet were snatched up by one of the celebrity guests and her entourage.
To maintain the prestige of the gifts, generally the host of the event and the company putting together the gift bag will refrain from publicizing what's in the bag. The Academy Awards is perhaps the strictest practitioner in this regard. No one associated with the Oscar basket will speak on the record about it, and companies can start preparing bids for the Oscar basket at least six months in advance. The refusal of the Academy to publicize the contents of the gift bags leaves the publicity in the hands of those sponsors who supply the gifts.
The result? "The mystique surrounding the bags definitely boosts their perceived value," Calloway says.
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