Paper still rules

Alvin and Chiw Bailon of Purple Tag Gifts Co.

Alvin Bailon, president of corporate high-quality corporate gifts supplier Purple Tag Gifts Co., knows this for a fact, as many of his company’s bestsellers are still paper-based products.

Gadgets and electronics, of course, have become a favorite in the past years; but there is still high demand for notebooks, Bailon says.

“Pen and paper are very personal,” says Bailon, who describes his company as a “pen and paper advocate.”

Purple Tag Gifts Co. has been providing companies with high-quality corporate gifts for over a decade.

“We focus on the higher-niche gift range, meaning for [companies’] presidents, executives, CEOs. Ours are premium gifts,” says Bailon.

The company somewhat fell into Bailon and his wife Chiw’s laps in 2001 after its previous owner left it under their management.

At the time, the newly married couple was managing their first business, Printsonalities, which specializes in personalized printing. Purple Tag was initially a client of Printsonalities.

“We started Printsonalities in our home, and I remember my dad said, if you want to grow, get out of this house,” Bailon recalls. “So our first office was in Salcedo Village, right across from Salcedo Market.”

Through old-school marketing—aka distributing flyers—Purple Tag found Printsonalities, and together the two companies worked for around three months before Purple Tag’s former owners left the country for good.

“We eventually took over the business, and we had to learn everything we could about it—and we had just gotten married! It was a struggle, but we saw the potential,” says Bailon.

Because the couple already felt comfortable working with paper, their first line of corporate gifts were notebooks, followed by other paper-based products like calendars. Their paper expertise also gives them an edge when it comes to gift packaging.

Friends’ companies were their first customers under Purple Tag, says Bailon, and through word of mouth, their client base grew steadily because the giveaways’ recipients, impressed by what they received, sought them out as well.

“We’re lucky enough to have very loyal customers,” Bailon says.

Purple Tag has also been a regular exhibitor for the past 15 years at the Corporate Giveaways expo, a 31-year-old annual buyers’ show which connects companies to providers of unique corporate gifts.

Bailon also credits their success to the company’s “very good creative pool.” The company conducts their planning during the year’s first three months, brainstorming on new gift ideas, before rolling them out just before the “ber months”—the peak gift-giving season—start.

“Our challenge has always been how to make products that represent a company’s brand well, and at the same time stand out among all the other gifts a recipient gets,” says Bailon. “You have to innovate and innovate. You also have to understand clients’ lifestyle—we think of the recipient, always.”

The couple also continue to marry their printing business with Purple Tag. Three years ago, they came out with specialized stationery sets, which Bailon says became a hit with clients—proof that even in this digital era, paper is still highly patronized.

Their stationery, which can be designed according to how the client wants, also allow companies to help the MovEd Foundation, an organization that “provides early childhood care and development programs in underserved communities through holistic education.”

It’s a special touch that adds meaning to the whole gift-giving experience, says Bailon.

“When there’s a personal touch to a gift, there’s a certain warmth that comes with it,” he says.