Personally speaking, I love to learn. That’s not to say I loved every moment of school! But I've always enjoyed learning new things, and that hasn’t changed since school ended. In fact, curiosity continues to increase as time goes by. But that kind of attitude is more common when you can choose the subject yourself. Once someone else decides that a group of people need to learn about a particular subject, it may be harder to build up the same enthusiasm.

Cinnaire, in the financial services industry, had such a challenge. They were planning a series of employee training meetings to broaden and enhance the perspectives of staff; increase understanding of program offerings and operations; and increase staff engagement and market share. A series of four meetings was planned. (This happened before the pandemic put a halt to such meetings.) While the meetings were optional, they hoped for at least half of employees to attend. How to motivate?

It started with creating a brand. The theme of Learning Junkie was chosen, and a custom logo was created for this program and used on a specially-selected, branded gift that could only be obtained by attending the training sessions. Of course, the program was not limited to a single gift. A separate VIP gift was selected to generate positive discussions and enhance participation. Each attendee would receive a gift as well as a chance to earn the VIP item. The VIP item was given to the person, voted on by the participants, who contributed the most to that meeting. A winner would also be randomly drawn for a grand prize given at the end of the program. Participants entered their name into the drawing for each event they attended.

Different promotional products were selected for the gift levels at each of four events. Theseincluded a t-shirt and waterproof 48-can cooler; a lunch cooler with divided dishes, a reusable water bottle and silverware, and an executive wooden barbeque set; a golf shoe caddy and a collapsible chair with a footrest; and a vacuum-insulated tumbler and a pair of Bluetooth headphones.

Attendance goals were exceeded by more than 50 percent. Of course, the ultimate goal was for better trained staff to lead to increased sales, and that happened as well. All a result of a well-planned marketing campaign, with one of the motivators being carefully chosen promotional products.