Don’t Know What to Get Your Colleagues? Here’s an Idea

Often, around the holidays, investors like to send out a little something to colleagues and other acquaintances. For example, Boston-based Flybridge Capital Partners (formerly known as IDG Boston), each year gives out a non-business book to its portfolio CEOs. This year, they’ll receive Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, by historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, which looks at the importance of teamwork in overcoming difficult situations.

Accel Partners also sends out books — or used to. I haven’t received anything from the firm since its 2005 move into China, when I was sent Oracle Bones: A Journey Through Time in China by Peter Hessler. Perhaps I forgot to say thank you (it really is a great book).

Still, while books can be nice, maybe you’re looking for something fresh and unexpected. In that case, you may want to consider a new item on the market that’s sure to make a lasting impression on your network, and the ozone layer: You might want to consider Flame by Burger King, a new men’s body spray that combines the “scent of seduction with a hint of flame-broiled meat.”

You must be joking, you’re thinking, along with the understandable concern that body spray is a little more personal than what you had in mind. Think of it this way: you can rest assured that no one will ever forget you or your gift. Meanwhile, Burger King will have demonstrated, once again, why it’s still at the top of the heap of the fast food world after all these years.

When it comes to marketing — both offline and on — it really does reign supreme. (Click here to see what I mean.)