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– Choosing an incentive for a festive occasion
can be just as tricky as buying a present for a loved
one. Do you go for expensive or cheap, tasteful or
cheesy, wacky or traditional?
When it comes to travel incentives, specialist agency
Unmissable suggests that tradition still rules.
Certainly, the company’s range of Christmas
incentives is far from static. It now includes ice-skating
trips to Paris, first offered last year, and also
offers year-round trips for ice skating in London.
In both cases, says managing director Justine Clement,
a spate of ice-rink developments enabled to launch
the options.
New Year, New You
Another, less traditional option on offer is the
spa break, typically scheduled for January as part
of detox or “new year, new you” theme.
In fact this type of break has grown into year-round
incentive, says Justine Clement. “It is one of the most
successful in terms of sales. It is driven by demand,
by the number of spas opening in the UK and beyond,
and by the number of treatments that are available”.
Even further from Santa and sleigh-bells is the stay
in the “White-Pod” in the Swiss Alps.
But with third-party consumer promotions that Unmissable
specialises in, clients are rarely looking for mere
novelty value, Justine Clement says.
This message is reinforced by the appeal of Christmas
as a family time, rather than as one for individual,
adult pursuits. It is hardly surprising, then, that
family holidays to Lapland still figure prominently
in Unmissable’s top five Christmas incentives.
Trips to Christmas markets in Europe and shopping
in New York are also growing in popularity.
Seasonal Variations
According to Justine Clement, this fondness for tradition and
familiar themes is a peculiarity of the Christmas
period. “A lot of our work throughout the year
is themed, say, to a brand’s colour, but around
Christmas that all goes out of the window. Clients
will ditch subtlety and go for the seasonal theme.
However, in the period around Valentine’s Day
for example, a number of clients will say, “
we want to be anti-Valentine’s day”, but
that simply doesn’t happen at Christmas.”
In fact when it comes to retail promotions and incentives,
would go beyond Justine Clement's observations about tradition
and see anything that cuts across the flow of the
festive period as positive madness.
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