Column: Wow clients with holiday gifts from local businesses

BY STACEY COHEN

The holidays are the perfect time to let your clients and staff know how much you value them. It”™s also a time when countless other businesses are doing the same and competing for brand visibility. To ensure that your brand stands out from the crowd, go beyond the trite gift basket. Instead, consider thoughtful, original gifts that also support local business this holiday season.

Cultural exchange

Ӣ Subscription to Manhattanville CollegeӪs Castle Conversations speaker series at Reid Castle in Purchase. Enjoy four evenings of diverse viewpoints, thought-provoking insights and fascinating analysis during this exclusive subscription-based speaker series. In 2015, Manhattanville College will welcome four titans who will share their keen perceptions on the dynamics shaping our world today: media luminary Arianna Huffington (March 25), legendary journalist Dan Rather (June 24), world-renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson (Sept. 9), and Pulitzer prize-winning biographer Doris Kearns Goodwin (Dec. 2). WNYC host Leonard Lopate and WQXR on-air personality Elliott Forrest will serve as event emcees. Subscriptions for the series, presented by MasterCard, start at $250 with multiple levels of VIP packages available, including intimate pre-lecture dining experiences and post-lecture receptions with the featured speakers. CastleConversations.org; 914-323-1277.

Ӣ Membership at Jacob Burns Film Center. Give the gift of cinematic excellence. The Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville is a cultural institution dedicated to presenting the best of cinema. Housing a state-of-the-art theater complex, a 27,000-square-foot Media Arts Lab and a residence for international filmmakers, the Jacob Burns campus provides opportunities for people of all ages to learn about the power of film. Members of the Jacob Burns Film Center become part of WestchesterӪs premier film community and receive benefits like discounts, complimentary tickets and invitations to intimate members-only events with notable actors and directors. Individual memberships start at $75, with packages ranging to $750. BurnsFilmCenter.org; 914-773-7663.

Mind and body: Get in the spirit

”¢ Golf, exercise and spa services from Clay Health Club and Spa. Rejuvenate your clients”™ and employees”™ mind, body and spirit this holiday season ”” they”™ll be just as thankful for you as you are for them. Clay Health Club and Spa, a luxury wellness center that opened in September in Port Chester, offers an array of unique amenities including customized nutritional programs, bloodwork and hormone testing/analysis to optimize personal training, and a fitness center and full-service spa. Clay is also the only health club in the country to offer the NASA-developed technology Gears 3-D golf swing analysis to improve any golfer”™s technique. A 60-minute golf swing evaluation is $250; massage therapy begins at $60. InsideClay.com; 914-937-5000.

Ӣ Weekly deliveries of fresh produce from Field Goods. For the health-minded, bring natural, locally sourced food to their plates. Delivering to workplace and community locations in nine Hudson Valley counties, Field Goods offers subscriptions and single-week deliveries of more than 150 different varieties of local, fresh fruit and vegetables to keep clients and employees happy and healthy. Field Goods works with farmers who pride themselves on growing the best tasting varieties, many of which are not available in the grocery stores. Subscriptions begin at $20 per week. Field-Goods.com; 888-887-3848.

Sweet gesture

”¢ Famous Brownies with a mission from Greyston Bakery. Supporting a cause this holiday season is one sweet form of gratitude that a client or employee will certainly appreciate. Renowned for making the brownies in Ben & Jerry”™s chocolate fudge ice cream, Greyston Bakery operates under the mantra “We don”™t hire people to make brownies, we bake brownies to hire people.” For more than 30 years, the bakery has maintained a unique open hiring policy, offering employment opportunities to those in need of a second chance. Greyston”™s “do-good” brownies come in four delectable varieties ”” chocolate fudge, pumpkin spice blondie, brown sugar blondie and toasted coconut ”” and are available in a variety of gift boxes, including a customizable keepsake birchwood box that can display company logos. Gift packages range from $7 to $75. Greyston.com; 914-375-1510.

”¢ Colorful confections from Imagine Candy. Rethink the hackneyed box of chocolates and venture to Imagine Candy for a remarkably sweet experience. The Scarsdale-based candy store”™s “Chocolate Concierge” can help find the perfect candy combination for customized gifts with any business”™ colors or theme. Imagine Candy also offers an extensive variety of chocolate and sweets for every palate ”“ including sugar-free, vegan, gluten-free, nut-free, kosher and dairy-free options. ImagineCandy.com; 914-723-7887.

Let your brand shine during this festive season. Happy holidays!

Stacey Cohen is president of Co-Communications Inc. in Mount Kisco, with satellite offices in Connecticut and New York City. She can be reached by email at stacey@cocommunications.com or by phone at 914-666-0066.