The New Year always starts with a clean slate, expressed so well by a fresh new calendar as a gift or promotion. A physical link in a digital era, these old-school timekeepers are holding their own when it comes to creativity and connecting with customers. Here’s how:

Mark your milestones. Customizing a calendar with artwork and messaging is a great way to tie together an incentive program, sales promotion or communications campaign, to highlight your key dates and messages, says Carol de Ville, president of The Branding Company in Brantford, Ont. “Personalizing a calendar helps drive those incentive programs or any big initiative where you want to build an ongoing impression,” she says.

Make it personal. Go local and source a gift with hand-crafted appeal, such as this perpetual calendar, by Calgary-based artist Lindy Turner, who’ll custom-create small runs (1-500) of her CraftedbyLindy line of paper and accessories.

Give it some pop. Every year, we look forward to the poster-sized Bubble Calendar by Brooklyn designer Stephen Turbek, who can brand or customize your message to give it your own daily “pop”. There's no Canadian distributor, but there's a wholesale discount to the trade if you order direct.

Go wall-to-wall. Anyone who plans events lives by the calendar, a concept brought to life in the workspace by Stockholm-based artist Christiaan Postma’s Calendar Wallpaper. “By merging qualities from an everyday item like a wallpaper with functions from a calendar that we use daily, something ordinary like a wall becomes alive and personal,” he says.

Get eyeballs all year. From a marketing perspective, don’t forget that a calendar can bring a year’s worth of brand exposure. Industry studies cited by the Promotional Products Professionals Canada suggest that people will glance at a calendar on average 12 times a day – that’s 84 brand impressions a week, or 4,380 per year!

Find more corporate gift and promo product ideas at Ignitemag.ca.

INCENTIVES + MEETINGS
RISE awards to give credit where it’s due
When it comes to event planning, we all know people who just seem to have what it takes to get results and energize others. If you know or work with a bright star in the events industry, spread the word by making a nomination for Meeting Professionals International’s RISE Awards - Recognizing Industry Success and Excellence. “We want to acknowledge people who you remember for their ability to innovate, impact and influence others through the work they do,” says Theresa Davis, Manager of Strategic Communications with MPI in Dallas. Categories include Young Professional Achievement and Meeting Industry Leadership. Online nominations can be made via the MPI Website and supporting documents from nominees must be received by Dec. 15, 2009. The awards will be presented in Vancouver at The MPI World Education Congress in July 25-27, 2010.

CORPORATE GIFTS + REWARDS
Promo products make the grade
About one-fifth of all promotional products sold in Canada are used in some kind of employee recognition program, according to the 2009 Sales Volume Study of the Promotional Products Professionals of Canada. “Employee service awards, safety and education programs, employee relations and incentives account for 19% of promotional product sales,” says the new report, accounting for some $754 million in spending last year alone.

CORPORATE TRAVEL MANAGEMENT
Diners Club T&E cards expand the menu at BMO
The card is key, goes a recent Diners Club slogan, and the corporate card, in particular, is the focus of a planned North American acquisition of the franchise by Bank of Montreal. If approved by regulators in the new year, the Diners Club deal would more than double BMO's Corporate Card business, adding scope for global programs. If yours is one of the 6,000 North American businesses using Diners Club to manage T&E: the move from Citigroup to BMO should be seamless. “Our immediate focus will be to ensure a very smooth transition for customers once the deal is completed,” says BMO spokesperson Ralph Marranca. The acquisition includes customer service resources as well as the highly rated Club Rewards program.