So you had your annual holiday event planned, but then COVID happened, and all the fun events were cancelled. Pssh…it happens, and it’s happened A LOT this year.
If you look on the bright side (and we highly recommend it) you will realize that, even though the event is cancelled, Christmas is definitely happening in a BIG WAY, and you can still deliver smiles. You simply take that budget and re-allocate it to something equally as awesome, but in a different format. Yes, you can deliver an experience through the mail – and it can be fabulous!
Initially, it may not seem like a simple feat to deliver a memorable experience since the attendees aren’t congregating in one location, right? However, using their home mailing address, you can meet them where THEY are – which is actually more convenient for them since they don’t have to go out of there way to get somewhere.
And this is really supposed to be all about them anyway, right?
That said, you may be wondering just HOW you can meet them were they are. Once you curate a super righteous holiday gift package that will make the recipient’s jaw drop when unboxing, just ship it to them at home. Oh yes, we can help you with that, because that’s our jam.
Actually – in a humble brag sort of fashion – for targets outside of your employee base, we can also build a landing page to collect the addresses on your behalf and just send you the list, too. Just in case you’re event extends beyond internal teams.
Sometimes, it’s fun to prolong the excitement by sending a little teaser up front – just a little something that says “we’re about to knock your socks off with a really cool gift/event for the holidays to show how much we appreciate you”…but without so many words.
Let the gifts do the talking.
Then, imagine their excitement when they receive their follow-up gift a week later.
So here’s what you do:
- Determine the total funds that were allocated to the original holiday event, and all of the schtuff that goes with an in-person event. You know, like snacks, entertainment, audio/visual tech support, and all that jazz.
- Select an online platform that supports LIVE broadcasting – Hopin, Be.Live, and even Facebook or Instagram are some that we’ve used. Check out our LIVE Variety Hour Happy Hour as an example.
- Recruit a surprise celebrity guest to “drop in” – might be Santa, might be Bobby Flay, it could even be a talking llama (yep, you can hire a llama for a live event/meeting).
- Invite your people:
- For internal employees, send an email invite and simply add everyone to the “nice” list (for gifting purposes)
- For external attendees: send out a link to register – either via email (cheapest) or with the little teaser gift mailer
- Collect mailing addresses, either from HR (internal attendees) or on a custom landing page (external attendees).
- Plan a cool merchandise gift package – like, something that can help make 2020 more tolerable and less like a crap-tastic beginning to a new decade
- Send the gift to deliver just prior to the event to kick start the celebration!
- Take it LIVE!
Remember, just because the holiday event is cancelled, it doesn’t mean you can’t celebrate. Deliver the party to their door, and gather virtually to bring the whole gang together for a holiday extravaganza that’s could easily become the most memorable event of the year!
And if you still feel like you want to dial it up another notch…consider building a custom online “gift shop” where everyone can pick their own gift. A personalized gifting experience, if you will…with all items pre-approved by corporate, of course. If you can provide a gifting budget per person, we’ll research a variety of trendy options and even build the site for you.
Yeah, we do that too. Stay tuned to our blog for more info on that…
