On Me introduced a redesigned gift builder on June 15, 2026, adding occasion-specific covers, voice recordings and video to the messages accompanying its digital cards. The update changes the presentation of a gift rather than where its monetary value can be spent. [S01]
The distinction is central to the business decision. Sending value digitally is a functional transaction. Persuading someone to choose the same platform for the next birthday or thank-you depends on whether the experience feels distinctive enough to remember.
A gift experience built around spending choice
On Me combines personal messages with cards organised around interests and selected groups of merchants. Its company story describes an ambition to make the context around a gift part of the product, rather than requiring a sender to guess one exact item the recipient wants. [S03]
The cards are issued by Sutton Bank under a Mastercard licence and can be used at participating merchants, subject to restrictions. On Me also discloses that it may receive a commission when a gift is redeemed with a partner merchant, without reducing the recipient’s value or increasing their price. That identifies a commercial connection between gifting and subsequent merchant spending. [S01]
What the sender can now add
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| Element | Announced capability |
|---|---|
| Card cover | Choose a design for the occasion |
| Written or spoken message | Type, speak or record a voice message |
| GIF | Search the available library and attach a selection |
| Video | Add a video directly to the gift note |
The new formats give the sender more ways to make a card recognisable as a personal gesture. A spoken thank-you or shared video can explain the occasion without changing the amount. For On Me, that is a route to differentiation that does not require increasing the funded balance.
Commercially, the hoped-for sequence is straightforward: a sender creates a memorable gift, the recipient uses it, and one or both return for another occasion. More repeat use could reduce the need to acquire every transaction through paid promotion. The release provides no repeat-purchase or acquisition-cost data to show that this has happened.
Personalisation brings a visibility decision
On Me’s terms distinguish gifts deliberately designated public from private gifts and let recipients remove their identifying information from a public gift. Adding a recording does not itself make the gift public. Those controls matter more when the content contains someone’s voice, image or a personal story. [S02]
Richer messages also require effort. A sender in a hurry may prefer a short note, while an employer distributing many rewards may not want a recording for each recipient. The builder therefore has to add expressive options without making a simple purchase feel laborious.
The business question is not whether video can be attached to a gift, which the update establishes. It is whether enough people value that extra presentation to choose On Me again. The announcement gives no conversion, redemption or sales comparison for the new formats, so emotional appeal remains the product proposition rather than a demonstrated financial outcome.
In this article
Emma Carter
Emma Carter covers retail, e-commerce and the gift card shopping experience for Gift Card News.