MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 4, 2026--
With combined business spend on loyalty, employee recognition, and channel incentives projected to exceed $80 billion by the 2030s, the incentive industry is entering a period of rapid scale and strategic pressure.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260422729016/en/
In response, the Incentive Marketing Association (IMA) launched a new suite of resources designed to help incentive professionals navigate an environment that’s becoming more specialized, fragmented, and central to business performance.
“It’s not just more money coming in—it’s more complexity,” said Vince Chiofolo, President of the Incentive & Engagement Solution Providers (IESP). “Buyers are demanding programs that evolve fast, integrate deeply, and feel personal at scale. These new tools were built for that.”
IMA’s Suite of Tools Includes:
New Industry Report — Inside the Incentive Buyer’s Mind
Drawn from insights of 50+ program owners, the report from Inside the Incentive Buyer’s Mind breaks down the changing expectations of today’s buyers. This report will help:
EngageIQ — The First AI Assistant Built for Incentive Education
Now live via ChatGPT integration, EngageIQ answers real-time questions about segmentation, program design, reward models, and strategy logic.
EngageIQ brings structure to the conversations around recognition, loyalty, and incentives, and puts credible, focused knowledge within reach.
Motivation Insiders Podcast Relaunch
A sharper, more frequent series focused on the voices moving the industry forward—from practitioners and platform leaders to marketers and incentive buyers. Each episode on the Motivation Insiders Podcast brings together experts to discuss different aspects of behavioral science and how you can use them to improve your incentive and recognition programs.
Global Insights on Incentive & Recognition
The IMA Global Incentives & Recognition Report consolidates insights from executives and companies for industry professionals seeking a better understanding of the global landscape of incentive and recognition.
The report offers a focused lens, providing structure, depth and actionable insights across regions and roles. This forms a structured and scalable knowledge base—designed to deliver both global comparability and local relevance.
Recognition Professionals Certification
Built on Recognition Professionals International’s (RPI) 7 Best Practice Standards® and supported by decades of research, the CRP designation establishes you as a leader in the art and science of employee recognition.
Access all the tools at www.incentivemarketing.org.
Incentive Market Set to Surpass $80B by 2030s — IMA Launches Tools to Help the Industry Keep Pace
U.S. forces on Monday launched an effort to guide commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz, where hundreds have been stuck since the Iran war began.
Two American-flagged merchant ships have “successfully transited” through the critical waterway, the U.S. military said. Separately, the U.S. military denied Iran’s claims that it struck an American Navy vessel southeast of the strait.
Iran handed over its latest proposal for negotiations with the U.S. to mediators in Pakistan, Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported Friday. Trump subsequently said he’s “not satisfied” with it, but did not elaborate on the proposal’s apparent shortcomings. The shaky ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran has lasted for three weeks.
Here's the latest:
European leaders on Monday said President Trump’s snap decision to pull thousands of U.S. troops out of Germany came as a surprise but is a fresh sign that Europe must take care of its own security.
The Pentagon announced last week that it would pull some 5,000 troops out of Germany, but Trump told reporters Saturday that “we’re going to cut way down. And we’re cutting a lot further than 5,000.”
He offered no reason for the move, which blindsided NATO, but his decision came amid an escalating dispute with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz over the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, and Trump’s anger over European allies’ reluctance to get involved in the conflict in the Middle East.
▶ Read more
The U.S. stock market is holding tentatively near its record heights Monday, while oil prices climb with uncertainty about when oil tankers can resume crossing the Strait of Hormuz and restore the world’s flow of crude. Dueling claims about a possible Iranian strike on a U.S. Navy vessel in the strait heightened the tensions.
The S&P 500 slipped 0.1%, coming off its latest all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 216 points, or 0.4%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was up 0.1%.
The action was stronger in the oil market, where the price for a barrel of Brent crude climbed 2% to $110.37 and briefly topped $114 during the morning. Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz due to its war with the United States has kept oil tankers pent up in the Persian Gulf and away from customers worldwide. That in turn has sent the price of Brent soaring from roughly $70 per barrel before the war.
▶ Read more
Rubio will travel to Rome and Vatican City this week in a bid to ease rising tensions between the Trump administration and Pope Leo over U.S. policies, particularly with Iran.
The State Department said Monday that Rubio, a devout Catholic who’s visited Rome and the Vatican at least three times since becoming Trump’s top diplomat, would be in Italy on Thursday and Friday.
“Secretary Rubio will meet with Holy See leadership to discuss the situation in the Middle East and mutual interests in the Western Hemisphere” the department said. “Meetings with Italian counterparts will be focused on shared security interests and strategic alignment.”
The trip comes as Trump has criticized Pope Leo, the first American pontiff, for his stances on the Middle East and elsewhere and posting social media images likening Trump to Jesus Christ.
The disruption of the waterway has squeezed countries in Europe and Asia that depend on Persian Gulf oil and gas, raising prices far beyond the region.
Trump has promised to bring down gas prices as he faces midterm elections this year.
The U.S. has warned shipping companies they could face sanctions for paying Iran for transit of the strait. It has enacted a naval blockade on Iranian ports since April 13, telling 49 commercial ships to turn back, U.S. Central Command said Sunday. The blockade has deprived Tehran of oil revenue it needs to shore up its ailing economy.
U.S. officials have expressed hope the blockade forces Iran back to the negotiation table.
The U.S. military said Monday that two American-flagged merchant ships had successfully transited the Strait of Hormuz and Navy guided-missile destroyers in the Persian Gulf were helping to restore shipping traffic. It separately denied Iran’s claims to have struck an American Navy vessel.
The announcement came a day after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a new initiative to help guide ships through the critical waterway for global energy. Iran has effectively closed the strait since the U.S. and Israel started the war Feb. 28, rattling the global economy.
The U.S.-led Joint Maritime Information Center has advised ships to cross the strait in Oman’s waters, saying it set up an “enhanced security area.” U.S. Central Command didn’t say when the Navy ships arrived or when the merchant vessels departed.
It was unclear whether shipping companies, and their insurers, will feel comfortable taking the risk given that Iran has fired on ships in the waterway and vowed to keep doing so.
▶ Read more
President Donald Trump and Donald Trump Jr. step off from Marine One upon their arrival on the South Lawn of the White House, Sunday, May 3, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
President Donald Trump walks from Marine One to board Air Force One at Ocala International Airport, in Ocala Fla., Friday, May 1, 2026, after speaking at an event in The Villages, Fla. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
President Donald Trump steps off from Marine One upon his arrival at the South Lawn of the White House, Sunday, May 3, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
