A new yearlong research project by the Incentive Marketing Association (IMA) found that 77% of global executives in the industry expect the market for incentive merch to either grow or stay the same in the future. Meanwhile, 61% expect growth for the incentive gift card market. And, 34% of executives believe client budgets for incentive marketing will increase in the coming year, while 58% believe they will stay the same.

Those are some of the headline findings from the Incentive & Recognition Insights 2025 report, which synthesizes insights from more than 600 industry executives worldwide. Another key discovering? Some 86% of executives across the globe rate their organization’s recent sentiment on incentive marketing as positive or very positive.

“We ran a comprehensive survey to get hard numbers and benchmarks, and we collected open-ended feedback and regional insights so we could capture the stories and context behind the numbers,” said Fintan Connolly, consultant at Engage Loyalty, research chair and past president of IMA Global.

Indeed, the global report provides an overview of the incentive and recognition market, allowing members of the IMA to share cross-market knowledge. As part of the global report, nine exclusive reports were developed, providing domain and geographic region-specific insights. There are also five industry reports, tailored toward the perspective of each industry’s specific offerings, challenges and trends. These include gift cards, merchandise, solution providers, travel and recognition professionals.

“I was struck by how aligned many of the trends were across all the reports, whether by region or sector,” Connolly said. “For example, the push toward more personalized, digital incentive programs came up everywhere, which tells me these are truly global shifts.”

The report can be downloaded on the IMA website.