Incentive Newsline: Is 'Incentive' Passé?

When Site, formerly known as the Society of Incentive & Travel Executives, changed its name in January, it deliberately "moved away from the word incentive in the rebrand," according to Brenda Anderson, CEO.

The change is the most public example of how the once-ubiquitous word is being replaced in some circles of the industry, in favor of terms like "motivation" or "engagement." Among the reasons for Site's switch, according to Anderson, is that "incentive" has long been synonymous with "boondoggle" in Europe, and this year in the United States, incentives "got twisted with executive excess."

Site now uses the term "motivational experiences" to describe incentive travel programs in everything from its tagline to its Crystal Awards, which honor the best programs in the business.

Karen Renk, executive director of the Incentive Marketing Association, said many industry firms now refer to travel incentives as "engagement programs."

"We need to be careful," Renk said. "The two are not interchangeable. An engagement program is an overall strategy, of which incentives play an important role."

"The real matter," said Thomas J. Mahoney, president and CEO of ITA Group, "is that the [incentive] industry didn't do a good job of demonstrating the value of people performance and measurement. If we all did that all along, the words we use to describe these programs wouldn't matter."