GiftCard Partners Blog

In less than 2 weeks, GCP’s own Ed Shulkin and Deb Merkin will attend the Prepaid industry's biggest event. They’ll take in host keynotes, sponsors & exhibitions, and info sessions about the latest products and solutions in prepaid technologies and we’ll report the highlights back to you on this blog. Here are some helpful Prepaid Expo links: -        
Download the agenda -        
Check out the executive sessions -        
Prepaid Keynotes -        
What’s in store Check back next week to check out our Prepaid Expo round up.

Are you a retailer or merchant looking for the latest information on FinCEN’s final rule? Wayne Chatham, CEO of Card Compliant will be educating retailers, restaurants, merchants, and other card issuers on potential compliance solutions and exemptions to FinCEN’s requirements via a 1 hour webinar on February 29, 2012 at 1pm CT. “We are especially interested in having retailers and restaurants participate in the webinar as this may be the first time many have faced compliance issues generated by FinCEN,” states Chuck Rouse, Card Compliant’s Chairman.  “Among other topics, we will address FinCEN, the FinCEN rule on prepaid access, the closed-loop exemption to the rule, the $2,000 closed-loop value requirement, and the $10,000 seller requirement.” Join in on this learning and sharing session and register for the webinar at no cost: 
Are Your Pre-paid, Closed Loop Gift Cards FinCEN Compliant?  http://www.cardcompliant.com/FinCENwebinar.aspx
Source:
gnom.es national newswire

Although our industry trend reports are typically focused on B2B gift card topics and industry events; we thought that “Turning Negativity into Engagement" is a particularly important topic as our clients and customers enter into an uncertain holiday season. At this year’s MoShow we were reminded of some valuable lessons in listening and reacting. We’re happy to share with you a presentation around embracing technology to
listen to your customers, to bring your brand and brand programs closer to enlightenment. Are you willing to accept social media and online networks as listening tools, to assess your customers’ opinions and react? Many believe that adopting these technologies could back-fire on a brand in an all-too-public forum. But consider that negative conversations about your brand are happening online, whether you are present or not…how you listen and address them could be the difference between a proactive leader and a tarnished reputation. Some really great advice and answers to these nagging concerns come to us in a presentation given at the MoShow’s Incentive Gift Card Council (IGCC) meeting. This presentation, by Mike McDonnell, Vice President, Product Management & Client Solutions at
Affinion Loyalty Group, offers fresh perspectives and real-world examples of how to turn negativity into opportunities for engagement in
The Bright Side of Negative Engagement. This presentation will help you determine a critical response to a negative customer experience and help you answer the important question,”What’s Your White Chocolate Mickey?”
Click here to read the rest of GCP’s Industry Trend Report  

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

Save 10% on Holiday Gifts your Employees Can Really Use! This November through December, CVS/pharmacy
^®introduces Project Thankful™, a corporate gift card program that offers new customers a bonus $250 in eGift cards for every $2,500 in CVS eGift cards they purchase. CVS eGift cards are the perfect pick for keeping your employees and their families healthy this holiday season. They can purchase healthful items for themselves and their family, from flu shots to prescriptions and health and beauty products. Show your employees you’re thankful and thoughtful this holiday season and save!
 This offer expires December 31^st, 2011, so make your purchase today.