GiftCard Partners Blog

We don't tend to cover topics outside of the gift card industry in our blog, but this story came to us and we found it so compelling, we decided we have to share. Through the NBA lockout the entire NBA community was on edge wondering if there would be a 2011-2012 NBA season, and for teams they were wondering if there would be any opportunity to take in ticket revenue this year. But not Boston Celtics’ Interactive Media Director, Peter Stringer. He was busy maximizing the Celtics' 3-Point-Play Facebook App. This App turned 5.6 million Facebook followers into revenue generating ticket holders. He used the popularity of a Facebook App to raise awareness and strength for his brand, and parlayed that into thousands of dollars in revenue for his organization. This is one instance that proves the power of social media. How will you use that power for your organization?
This social media success earned Stringer the Pymnts.com Innovator of the Week Award this week. For more information check out the article.

We’ve been hearing a lot about how gift cards have become the most coveted gift this holiday season, as well as their rise to the number 1 spot for workplace incentives, but; do gift cards have a strong hold on the most redeemed item in loyalty programs? Really…we want to know! A recent study released in the United States, called “Born This Way: The US Millennial Loyalty Survey”, concluded that Gen Y, AKA “Millennial” consumers (those born between the mid-1970s and the mid-1990s)  “will change the way companies and brands build sustainable customer loyalty”. HOW?

Veteran’s Day is this Friday, November 11th and we're seeing lots of gift card promotions, offers and sales …but how many of them actually benefit US Veterans? One VA Medical Center held a women’s health program that gave away $20 gift cards to women who received HIV testing in the month of September. This was a great way to support our veterans while promoting routine female healthcare checks and disease control. You may know that GCP has been collecting and sharing the great employer health and wellness uses of gift cards that we are capturing in our series of surveys –
check out our blog: Health and Wellness Employer Gift Card Successes: for more great healthcare gift card uses. Source:
The Business Journal of Greater Milwaukee

In today’s competitive landscape, gift card programs are no longer just a convenient gifting option—they’re a strategic tool to amplify sales, foster loyalty, and expand brand visibility. By partnering with experts like GiftCard Partners, businesses can streamline their gift card programs, driving tangible growth and deeper customer engagement with powerful gift card marketing strategies.

It's baack, we have blogged about it before, but now it walks among us, so it seems time to revisit Google Wallet.  It is the first smart phone app, only available on a very select few smart phone models, that allows you to complete payment transactions using your phone, instead of a credit card, or the prehistoric form of payment, cash.  Google wallet is revolutionizing commerce, and how people recieve rewards.  Imagine how easy it would be for a company running a health and wellness program to simply place electronic CVS/Pharmacy gift cards in their employees' Google Wallet accounts, instead of going through the hassle of ordering physical cards, and having to have the cards activated. As revolutionizing as Google Wallet could be, it will still take time to catch on.  For one, it is not yet widely available, and it would be a bit of a stretch to say that people will switch cell phones, or even carriers for this technology.  Additionally, it remains to be seen how many consumers will actually use the technology, given that a wide margin have expressed discomfort in using mobile technology for financial purposes, give the possibilities of identity theft and hacking. Google Wallet will revolutionize commerce, and the face of the gift card industry, just not immediately.  
For more information on Google Wallet, from someone who has actually tested the technology, click here