Box subscriptions are hot right now, delivering monthly surprise packages for every passion, from Korean beauty products (Mishibox) to reading (Cozy Reader Club) to dog treats (BarkBox). A new subscription box launched this week aims to put some “me” back in the meeting professional’s day.
Profboxes, a subscription box for event professionals, is the brainchild of Brittany Ryan, global marketing communications manager for the Sensors and Specialist Components division at TT Electronics. Ryan spends a lot of her time in the meeting professional role, planning the division’s global trade shows and quarterly sales meetings, and running the global TT University program, so she understands planners’ challenges.
“As a corporate meeting planner, I realize that event professionals’ jobs are often very stressful,” says Ryan. “Planners make magic happen, sometimes without clients or managers ever even knowing the work it took to achieve such great results. Profboxes provides event professionals with the continual monthly thanks and celebration that they deserve.”
The products, loosely falling into five categories—organize, mobilize, socialize, harmonize, and energize—are intended to improve planners’ daily lives, celebrate their accomplishments, and perhaps connect them with vendors they may want to use for their own events.
In the October box, for example, subscribers will receive a mini planter desk accessory, a workout hand towel, a cocktail mixer, mini lip balm and bath salts set, eucalyptus wipes, and a sea salt dark chocolate bar. The suppliers, says Ryan, are “all community-oriented and produce high-quality products.” One example is the Riviera Towel Company, which donates proceeds to marine protection organizations such as the Coral Restoration Foundation.
Ryan also hopes to use Profboxes to develop an online community of planners, sharing their ideas, challenges, and behind-the-scenes moments. “We want to share the strenuous moments as well as the beautiful end results,” says Ryan. “Our subscribers are a supportive group of event professionals who share their ideas, challenges, and creativity with one another. On social media, we highlight real event professionals in their real settings. We want to capture ‘a day in the life’ of a planner, whether that's in their home office, in travel mode, or meeting with a client.”
Profboxes cost $44.95 a month, with discounts for longer subscriptions.
