A – The annual meeting of the Ippag cooperative (International Partnership for Premiums and Gifts) is traditionally held at one of its member companies from all over the globe. This year the Austrian member, Mitraco, hosted the meeting and numerous Ippag members from all continents travelled to the Austrian capital to groom contacts, exchange experiences and best practices, share knowledge and initiate projects over the course of three days and four nights.
Once again the motto of the meeting was the “Changemakers” initiative, under which the cooperative is dedicating itself to transformation – through continuous rethinking and thinking outside the box as well as by striving to achieve viability and sustainability in the course of their corporate activities. As Ippag General Manager, Florence Mosnier, outlined at the start, Ippag will in future considerably extend its efforts in the direction of sustainability in the scope of the “Better Life Circle” initiative: For example, in future not only the CO2 footprint of the products introduced onto the market is to be made measurable – as is already the case today – but indeed the entire product cycle, including social and ecological factors.
For the first day Florence Mosnier’s organisation team comprising of the Operations Manager, Johanna Dupont, and Valeria Bortoletto, Sustainability Manager at the Ippag member Zinc Group, had booked two exciting speakers: Henriette Frädrich, founder, author and keynote speaker, provided impulses as to how orientation and growth are possible in an ever more complex world. The American industry professional, Bobby Lehew, among others Chief Content Officer at commonsku, a CRM for the promotional products industry, conveyed astounding facts and theses on five significant trends in the “Branded Merch Game”. For instance he drew attention to a trailblazing generation change: Today, one third of the industry’s customers belong to Generation Z, and 75% of the employees will be digital natives in 2025. Based on astounding examples, Lehew demonstrated how real fans can be won over with merchandise in today’s digitally overloaded world. Elementary in this connection: The desirability of products, which beyond this goes hand in hand with the strive for more sustainability.
It not only became clear during a pitch exercise, for the purpose of which randomly selected teams developed haptic campaigns for fictive brands, that the more than two dozen Ippag members are not only masters in developing creative product ideas, but that they also maintain an intensive exchange and long-term friendships in spite of all cultural differences. This was also very apparent at the end of the day, which came to a pleasant close with a boat trip on the Old Danube and a joint evening meal.
On the following day the Ippag members took part in the GXN Meeting (Global Executive Network), which was staged parallel in Vienna and offered further keynotes, workshops and the possibility to network with international industry players. Finally, the third day was dedicated to examples of best practice: As usual, the participants engaged in an exchange about processes, product developments and ideas arising from their own companies – true to the motto “Ippag shares”.
Ultimately, the winners of the Client Pitch Workshop were honoured during the Gala Dinner, which is traditionally held on the last evening – and as always first-time attendees had to demonstrate their singing skills. // Till Barth
