Ovation Incentives, the UK-based B2B incentive marketing company, today announced that it is to open a US office in Chicago, Illinois. Driven on the back of strong demand for its international gift card incentive reward solutions from North American customers, this will be the company’s first office outside of the UK.
In the US the demand for B2B international incentive solutions has grown rapidly in recent years. By having a local presence in the US, Ovation will be better able to service this expanding market and specifically grow its existing network of incentive agency customers with its best-in-class global reward platform, the Universal Voucher System.
Highlighting the importance of this move for Ovation, the company is delighted to announce that Rory Smith is to be Ovation Incentives first representative in the USA and will lead the company’s sales in North America from its new Chicago base.
Rory Smith has worked in the US incentive and rewards industry for over 20 years both on the agency side as a performance improvement consultant and more recently directing US sales for a leading prepaid gift card distributor. An established incentive industry professional, Rory currently chairs the IGCC (Incentive Gift Card Council) fundraising program for Wounded Warrior Project, and was recently awarded the industry Rising Star Award by the Incentive Marketing Association.
To date Ovation Incentives has built a strong client base in the US for its suite of international reward solutions and has already partnered with a number of US incentive agencies to assist them in managing and developing their international reward offerings for their clients. With Rory Smith’s experience and reputation in the US incentive market Ovation hopes to significantly grow its US-based revenues which currently represent over 50% of its business.
Commenting on the move Jonathan Grey, Ovation Incentives CEO said, “We are extremely excited about finally putting feet on the ground in our largest market and having someone of Rory’s calibre to launch our business in the US is just amazing. Over the past few years we’ve built a world-class gift card based reward solution that is second to none. Being able to now offer this depth of service to our industry partners in the US, and having someone like Rory lead the way, makes for a very exciting future. ”
Rory Smith commented, “Teaming up with Ovation Incentives to bring their solutions the US incentive market feels like a natural fit for me. Through my time in the industry I’ve seen how the demand for global gift card programs and, in particular, international digital gift card programs has exploded – I’m very excited to be bringing a world class platform like Ovation’s to the US market.”
About Ovation Incentives
Ovation Incentives is a technology-enabled business services company focused on delivering multi-country reward and incentive solutions for HR and channel sales environments. For more information visit: http://www.ovationincentives.com
