Driving Deeper Connections: How Subaru and Gifts for Good Reimagined Customer Appreciation

Known for its guiding Love Promise and dedication to positively impacting the world, Subaru has cultivated a distinctive ethos that resonates deeply with customers who share the brand’s commitment to community, adventure, and environmental stewardship.

Subaru's Love-Encore program is a complimentary, personalized follow-up session for new owners, designed to help them better understand their vehicle's advanced features. Typically scheduled 14 to 60 days after purchase, it's a one-on-one appointment with a Subaru Delivery Specialist to answer any questions and customize settings, ensuring each owner feels confident and gets the most out of their new car.

Subaru previously relied on a gas gift card to draw customers back for their Love-Encore appointment—a courteous perk, yet out of sync with the brand’s purpose. The old incentive felt generic, offered no customer feedback, and failed to leave a lasting impression.

Subaru needed a reward that echoed its values, provided measurable engagement data, and sparked tangible good.

That’s when they reached out to Gifts for Good.

Gifts for Good collaborated closely with Subaru to design a thoughtful gifting experience on its GIFTforward platform, offering customers a choice of gifts that truly mattered.

The curated selection was designed especially for the Subaru customer – an individual who typically cares about giving back, ethical products, pets, and the outdoors.

Physical gifts with purpose include:

• Branded Merchandise: Useful, high-quality items like mobile chargers, pouches for car essentials, wooden stickers, outdoor-themed tote bags, and pet bandanas (with matching owner bandanas… as nearly 50% of Subaru owners have pets!)
• Unbranded Merchandise: To ensure gifts are genuinely wanted and used, reducing waste.
• Unique Items: A keychain that comes with the exact coordinates of a tree planted in the customer's honor, and stylish Subaru-branded socks that support LGBTQ+ lives, launched for Pride Month.
  

Charitable Impact options:

• Alignment with Subaru's Pillars: Contributions to nonprofits tied to Subaru's core values: Subaru Loves to Help, Subaru Loves the Earth, Subaru Loves to Care, Subaru Loves Learning, and Subaru Loves Pets.
• Tangible & Measurable: Instead of a generic dollar amount, customers fund specific and measurable causes like "eight months of school supplies for children in need" (resonating strongly as many Subaru customers are teachers) or "six rides to treatment for cancer patients" – a poignant link to the vehicles they drive.
• Community Focused: Support extends to impactful nonprofits like Old Skool Cafe in San Francisco, which provides vocational training to at-risk youth. A visit by Subaru executives to this nonprofit deeply resonated with their personal experiences. The program also supported survivors of the 2025 Los Angeles fires, directly aiding a community in one of Subaru's largest customer zones.

After the success of the pilot program, Subaru launched the program nationally.

Jacob Flagg, Subaru of America - National Owner Education Training Manager

A cornerstone of the enhanced Subaru Love-Encore program is its revolutionary approach to packaging, a detail that perfectly encapsulates Subaru's "Loves the Earth" pillar and Gifts for Good's B Corp ethos.

The challenge was twofold: Subaru desired branded packaging for its customer gifts, but with items shipping from six different fulfillment locations, consistency was a logistical hurdle. Furthermore, both organizations were committed to minimizing environmental impact.

The solution emerged through proactive innovation and a stroke of serendipity.

Jenise Steverding, Chief Impact Officer at Gifts for Good, was exploring sustainable options within the B Corp community when she encountered a new reusable mailer bag concept. Intrigued, she immediately reached out, setting in motion the adoption of what would become a key packaging solution.

This new bag was a game-changer. It offers a resealable closure and, ingeniously, a prepaid return label integrated into its design. Customers receive their gift, and then, with a simple refolding of the bag, drop the empty mailer into any USPS mailbox to be returned to Gifts for Good for reuse. This "reduce, reuse, recycle" model (the bags are also recyclable at their end-of-life) was a perfect fit.

Subaru was enthusiastic about the prospect of being the first major national brand to implement such a system, recognizing a strong alignment with their environmentally conscious customer base.

Custom tech solution for verifying a Subaru customer's Vehicle Identification Number

To uphold Subaru's commitment to reaching every new vehicle owner, a secure alternative to email delivery of the gift redemption experience was essential.

Working with Subaru's IT team, Gifts for Good devised a way to validate customer eligibility via their VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) as soon as the customer completes their Love-Encore visit at the Subaru retailer.

This solution empowers Subaru Delivery Specialists to personally guide customers while they are still at the retailer and provides an engaging closing activity at the end of their Love-Encore visit. It also eliminates email deliverability as a barrier, ensuring a direct and reliable pathway for every new owner to feel celebrated – regardless of inbox issues.

Fulfillment collaboration with Goodwill Southern California

The commitment to creating impact extends to the very last step of the customer's journey: fulfillment. All physical gifts for the Subaru program are picked and packed in partnership with Goodwill of Southern California. This collaboration is both natural and meaningful, as Subaru already held a strong relationship with Goodwill nationally, sharing a commitment to creating valuable employment opportunities within the community.

The partnership does more than ensure efficient delivery; it provides dignified employment for individuals overcoming significant barriers to work, including those without housing or emerging from incarceration.

This model creates a powerful circular impact, where a gift from Subaru not only delights a customer but also directly supports a community member on their path to economic independence.

Michael Anderson, Subaru - Minneapolis Training Manager

Custom gifts for the Subaru Love-Encore program

The transformed Subaru Love-Encore program has been a resounding success:

• Deepened Customer Connection: The choice-driven, values-aligned gifts resonate profoundly. Subaru now sees an influx of heartfelt thank-you notes through the GIFTforward platform, providing direct insight into customer appreciation.
• Enhanced Brand Loyalty: By offering gifts that reflect what Subaru stands for, the program strengthens the bond between the brand and its community.
• Measurable Impact: Early data (even from the pilot) showed strong engagement with charity impact options. The most redeemed charity gifts include hours of care for rescue animals, rides for cancer patients, and months of school supplies. Physical gifts have also provided significant impact, with over 5,200 hours of employment provided to artisans with barriers to safe, dignified work.
•  Data-Driven Insights: Subaru now has invaluable data on customer preferences and engagement, allowing for continuous program refinement.

The partnership between Subaru and Gifts for Good shows corporate appreciation transcending the transactional. By aligning with core brand values, offering genuine choice, and embedding social and environmental impact into every step, Subaru has created a program that not only delights customers but also actively contributes to a better world – a true reflection of the Subaru Love Promise.

Read the official press release announcing our partnership with Subaru of America.