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Sweet Gifts of Success

Christmas is a time for giving. In the corporate world though, any time is a good time to reward mutual co-operation. However, it is by no means Christmas every day in corporation land. The corporate gift, dispossessed of warm and fuzzy associations of sleigh bells, Santa Claus and log fires burning, usually flops.

The problem, corporate givers will tell you, is how to keep it interesting.

These days, some very successful companies dedicate themselves entirely to getting corporate gift-giving right, allowing busy executives to give gifts that work.

The two young entrepreneurs behind The Mangos Gift Company, Zhu “Jojo” Hong and Lu Lu, have made it their (very successful) business to play Santa to the gift-giving big boys of the corporate world here in China.

From the start Mangos hit on something original. For any new business in an emerging sector, the challenge has always been to get the consumer’s attention and by being daring and innovative, keep it. In business for two and half years, this December “Mangos” move to smart new premises in Wan Da Plaza.

“From the beginning, we have done it differently,” said Jojo.

This they did by recognising that personal gifts often end up a disappointment.  Knowing this was not an option for a gift company, Mangos decided to rethink the gift-giving process. They didn’t have to look far.

“Chinese culture emphasizes the particulars of gift giving in order to determine the gift to give: what, when, to whom, where and in what way. So, we decided to focus on the manner of giving as well as these other conditions,” said Jojo.

As most gift vendors in the market pay attention to the gift, not to the manner of giving it, Jojo and partner Lu Lu knew they were on the right track. But it was the introduction of another original idea that made the lasting impression they hoped for.

“We thought why not let our clients’ customers choose their own gifts and designed a credit gift card, ‘The Mangos Gift Card.’ It’s been very, very successful,” said Jojo.

More than a couple of excellent ideas later Lenovo, IBM, Volkswagen and Yahoo are among the major multinational clientele, along with a host of smaller local companies, whose customers shop with the company.

Jojo and Lu Lu are hardworking, university educated, cheerfully single women in their 30s, driven by what they do.

“I am not personally ambitious but it has been my ambition to make a great company —to create, harvest and to own our know-how,” said Jojo.

This they have started doing, with characteristic humility.

“I’m not ambitious too, but if success means you are doing what you like-and you are trying to do your best to do that-then I am successful,” said Lu Lu.

The Mangos Gift Card has been a boon to business. Cardholders simply call the Mangos hotline and order from a range of gifts. The cards come in various gift denominations ranging in value from a couple of hundred yuan up to whatever the client budget allows.

Animals feature everywhere in the Mangos office and throughout the gift collection a sense of playfulness and good humour is evident.

“However, we try to avoid the ‘white elephant’ gift and give something that is useful instead. We research our clients needs thoroughly so not to make any mistakes,” said Jojo.

The Mangos gift collection is very carefully chosen. It includes well-researched, handmade mythic creatures from Chinese legends like the tu’er-ye; tailored symbols of the Chinese zodiac-beautifully crafted pigs for 2007 await-and cute cartoon miniature cars for Volkswagen especially representative of Mangos’ style.

They can be professional jokers too.

“There is a Chinese saying ‘yu he xiong zhang bu ke jian de’ that means ‘you can’t have bear paw and fish at the same time.’ Well, we thought, why can’t you? We created a gift in a fish-shaped box that we stuffed full of bear-paw shaped chocolates. It was a great success,” said Lu Lu.

A set of silver spoons was also given as a gift to parents of a healthy new-born baby boy. The gift was cheekily engraved: “Ample baby boy born with a silver spoon in his mouth!”

Because keeping it fresh is their business, The Mangos Gift Company is sparkling with original ideas and creative ways of giving. One of the most popular gift ranges, used through The Mango Gift Card, provides organic vegetables and specialised foods from innovative local suppliers which customers especially like.

“Special clients can use their cards up to ten times or more,” said Lu Lu.

Another key area for the company is continuing to explore ideas surrounding gift giving.

“Usually, business is business but we don’t like to think of it just this way. We like to think of people who have business relation as also having friendship as an important part of that relationship. The gift is an important component of that relationship,” said Jojo.

Mangos explore this relationship both in the personalising of the gift and the gift process and also in their discussions about branding. Gifts that creatively use the brand continue to emphasize relationships with the client company, Mangos emphasize. 

As well as travelling to product fairs and gift expos around Asia, Mangos employ talented designers to conceptualize “personal touch” gifts and adapt branding to suit new gift concepts. 

“Everybody knows the branding symbols used by well-known brands. Our designer will take the symbols and develop them into different gift products,” said Lu Lu.

“The attitude of the Mangos team matters. It is said that the company which has the highest profit must be those who can satisfy their clients the best. That means we have to have high standards. We can’t overlook anything. This is our speciality,” said Lu Lu.

Being able to stand in the shoes of others makes their company a success. Jojo and Lu Lu are also women comfortable in their own shoes and comfortable with their ambitions and humble style.

“The gifts we give embody our ideals,” said Lu Lu.