Leading global corporate gift provider, Virgin Incentives – the B2B arm of Virgin Experience Days – and Merlin Entertainments – the global leader in branded entertainment destinations – have announced the launch of ‘The Merlin Gift Card’, in an exclusive new partnership for customers in the UK.
This strategic partnership will bring together joint, market-leading expertise from the corporate gifting and rewards industry and the entertainment industry to innovate and grow the experiential gifting market for businesses across the UK. Both successful in their respective fields, the global organisations will connect corporate customers to an enhanced level of memorable, immersive experiences, across entertainment, events and retail spaces.
The multi-choice Merlin Gift Card gives recipients the opportunity to visit all of Merlin’s UK theme parks and attractions, including Alton Towers Resort, Thorpe Park, LEGOLAND Windsor Resort and many more.
Employers can load the Gift Card with variable denominations at any value between £5 and £1,000, and gift card recipients can use this like a Mastercard at the checkout on any attraction website. What’s more, Hotels, experiences and upgrades are also applicable as well as tickets.
The Merlin Gift Card is only available from Virgin Incentives and is sold directly to businesses, through third party partners, retail partners and to come, wider consumer marketing partnerships.
Danni Rush, COO of Virgin Incentives, Virgin Experience Days and Virgin Experience Gifts, says: “Encouraging a healthy work life balance and inspiring teams to get out, have fun and try a new experience is really important to us, so it was an easy choice to support the launch of a Merlin Gift Card with our brand and further our work to Change Gifting for Good!
“The Merlin Gift Card helps our clients reward their workforce with a huge choice of activities all over the country, and for them to share and enjoy with the whole family.
“We look forward to working even more closely with Merlin Entertainments, to help to bring more joy and exciting experiences to employees around the UK.”
Studies have shown that corporate rewards, such as thank you’s, congratulations, and marking personal and professional milestones, work: 90% of UK HR professionals agree that recognition and rewards have a positive effect on employee retention.
Dominique Sidley, Global Sales Director, Merlin Entertainments says: “Having partnered with Virgin Experience Days for over a decade, we are delighted to expand into the gifting and rewards space in order to benefit businesses all over the country. Virgin Incentives has been the perfect partner in supporting the launch of The Merlin Gift Card, and this seemed to be a natural and exciting next step for us to take.
“It’s all about delivering exceptional experiences to our corporate guests and we are thrilled to collaborate with a like-minded organisation with such extensive experience in this sector. We love the breadth of Virgin Incentives’ presence and look forward to seeing this help achieve our strategic goals for gifting via Business Direct, Business to Consumer, Retail and Direct to Consumer in the future.”