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Photographer taps incentive market
Monte Nagler hopes more firms reward staff with artworks
By Neal Haldane / Special to The Detroit News
FARMINGTON HILLS
-- Forget the Coach handbag or the Rolex watch the next time employee
or customer incentive time rolls around.
Instead, how about a limited edition framed photograph
as a reward for that valuable employee or high-volume customer?
"Pieces of art have become a new entry in the incentive
award arena," said Mickey Nagler, marketing director for Monte Nagler
Photography LLC. "We're finding other entities where Monte's fine
arts photography is applicable." So Nagler has tapped into the incentive
market, complementing his gallery sales, advertising work, teaching duties
and calendar royalties that should exceed $200,000 this year, said Mickey,
Monte's wife. Eventually, photographs used in incentive programs could
contribute 20 percent of total sales, she added.
"The company wants an impact that says 'Thanks for doing
a great job' and also inspires you to keep on going," Mickey said about
her husband's photographs of beautiful places. "Photographs have a sticky
effect. It's not put away in a closet or given away."
Finding the right incentive for well-heeled executives
or successful salespeople is a challenge, Nagler said.
"They have received everything and anything," she said.
"They're making over seven figures and you need to give rewards appropriate
for what value they brought into the company."
Ken Wiktor, executive creative director at Budco in
Highland Park, worked with Nagler several years ago on an incentive program
for General Motors Corp. Budco commissioned Nagler to go to California
and photograph the scenery to produce exclusive work to reward salespeople,
Wiktor said.
"This was custom and geared to an audience that could
appreciate fine art, the art that Monte does," he said. "It really worked
well because everyone wanted that piece of art."
John Hawes, senior account executive for BI, a firm
that specializes in incentive programs, is proposing using Nagler for
an upcoming reward trip.
"We're thinking of having him come out and teach the
participants on the trip about photography and give each of them a keepsake
from Monte," Hawes said. "Everybody wants to take better pictures. What
he does is teach people a little bit about lighting and how to frame things
up."
A few weeks after the trip, participants will be surprised
with a framed Nagler photograph of the trip's destination, Hawes said.
"It's a good way for them to remember the great time
they had, and what they did to earn to get there," he said.
Neal Haldane is a Metro Detroit free-lance writer.
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