Incentive - March 2008 - (Page 60)

AWARDS “In the future you may be able to go to a Best Buy and recycle your phone.” –Mark Kramer, Maritz Motivation There were a reported 130,000 attendees at this year’s show Sony’s 11.1-inch OLED TV, the XEL-1, is just 3 millimeters thick, yet it outperforms LCD and plasma displays in many respects. It’s in mass production now, but it costs $2,500, so it’s not for everyone away,” Kramer relates, “so that in the future you may be able to go to a Best Buy and recycle your phone. It’s something that our clients are concerned with, definitely.” Meanwhile, Sony, Philips and Panasonic are bringing displays to market in 2008 or 2009 that will consume less power. The biggest story here is Sony’s Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED), likely the next generation in display technology. The 11.1-inch display Sony unveiled at CES is just three millimeters thin, and it delivers quality images with less power consumption. “It made a huge impact,” says Kramer. Meanwhile, Panasonic made a big splash with a massive 150-inch plasma display that’s probably not so eco-friendly (plasma gobbles power) but is certainly impressively large. When it comes to high-definition video players, “Blu-ray won the war, and HD DVD is on life support,” says Saro Hartounian, CEO of Harco Incentive Solutions in Englewood, N.J. That’s largely thanks to Warner coming out for Blu-ray at CES, and the CESestablished primacy of the Blu-ray makes it a huge winner with incentives. “We’ve been seeing redemptions of four to one, for Blu-ray over HD DVD,” Hartounian says. “We bundle Blu-ray titles with the video players. How is the reception [by customers]? Amazing.” With five of the big seven Hollywood studios backing Blu-ray Disc, don’t expect HD DVD to make a comeback anytime soon. Meanwhile, the Federal Communications Commission’s move to digital broadcasting in 2009 is stoking demand for digital televisions. “The consumer is a little alarmed about FCC cutting off of analog signals in February 2009,” says Harco’s Hartounian. The general response has been simple: Consumers are replacing their old ana- 60 | Incentive | March 2008 | incentivemag.com http://incentivemag.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Incentive - March 2008

Incentive - March 2008 Contents Editor’s Note: Delivering on Diversity In The News Cover Story: Leveraging Diversity in the Workplace Incentive Interview: Paul Levesque on Why Awards Fail Case Study: AEIS’ Max!-imum Incentive Program Mine Employees’ Creativity with Innovation Incentives Incentive Must-Reads The Third Annual Gift Card Roundtable My Turn: Motivation or Bribery? Everybody Get Together In Her Shoes: Why Bosses Should Be Flexible Incentive Primer: Passport Problem-Solving potentials Here and Now Is CES Electronics Heaven? China and Crystal: More Than a Pretty Face Travel News Florida: What’s New on the Beach? Smooth Sailing for Incentive Cruising Come To Hawaii And Take It Fast Last Word: But Enough About You

Incentive - March 2008

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