Impactful,
Innovative &
Interdisciplinary:
Identifying Field
Marketing
Welcome
Dear Readers,
There are no television series about the Mad Men (and women) of the seemingly less glam-
orous relatives within the marketing family, as Field Marketers busy themselves not only
with creative ideas, but with the practical implementation of ideas which requires attention
to lots of details and interdisciplinary expertise.
As the stories of Field Marketing are not just told on a single Madison Avenue, but at millions
of retail sites at once, they do have a common and harmonized narrative, yet are manifold
and personalized, which becomes a challenge for re-telling and research.
This probably explains why most initiatives to define and charter Field Marketing have been
pushed by Field Marketing professionals themselves (as is the cause with this paper) rather
than Field Marketing establishing itself as a topic of interest and research in academia.
In the past 15 years, Field Marketing agencies have built international multi-country busi-
ness entities, Field Marketing clients — at least on local levels — have come to embrace Field
Marketing for long-term strategic solutions, Field Marketing services and how they are deliv-
ered have significantly evolved. So we thought it about time for a survey and paper on this
interdisciplinary, interconnecting, international, and still invisible discipline.
Our thanks go to everybody who contributed, by being available for discussion, and extra
special thanks go to all the colleagues in Field Marketing agencies who took the time to par-
ticipate in the online survey.
We hope you will find helpful information, insights and inspiration, and are looking forward
to any of your questions and suggestions.
Yours sincerely,
Sarah S. Auer
Managing Director COMBERA GROUP
Every part of this upcoming trilogy deals with a different aspect or topic and can be read
and used consecutively as well as stand-alone:
Part II, Influences, Interactions & Innovations: Framing Field Marketing Across Europe,
is based on the results of an online survey with 59 Field Marketing agencies from 28 coun-
tries, and delivers insights into the capabilities and services within the frame of retailers’
and manufacturers’ pre-requisites, as well as an evaluation of the impact of current devel-
opments—retail restrictions, international projects, shopper marketing, online/mobile pro-
motions, plus crowdsourcing and other trends—on budgets and services as seen by Field
Marketing Agencies.
Part III, Innovation Integration & Implementation: A Glimpse @ the Future of Field
Marketing, is taking a glimpse at future needs and requirements in a shopper centric envi-
ronment powered by digitalisation and technology. Part III looks at Field Marketing as a
Glocal Business, New Alliances and Strategic Partnerships.
June 2016
Schwanthalerstr. 2
D-80336 Munich
www.comberagroup.com
This definition sketchily mentions core activities, plus one distinguishing factor from other
marketing disciplines: Field Marketing is about services executed physically by people.
Field Marketing is about Not only does Field Marketing include both sales and marketing, outsourced
personal interaction, and its Field Marketing also always had stakeholders both from the sales and/or
DNA consists of two strands: marketing departments on its clients’ side. During the course of time this
sales and marketing. evolved to include trade marketing or today shopper marketing as well as
even IT, and evermore increasing procurement. Field Marketing has always
been part of the evolution of structures/functions and roles on the client side and for better
cooperation it constantly evolves into mirroring clients’ departments, functions and roles.
With the rise of modern retail, sales has essentially become a B2B business3, mainly man-
ufacturers applying external field forces to cover retail stores in order to secure distribu-
tion and placement.
The marketing or promotional part largely coincides with the rise of modern retail4 and
can be considered to be B2C marketing due to direct interaction with shoppers (on behalf
of manufacturers or retailers).
There is no common standard wording for Field Marketing or Field Marketing disciplines/
activities across Europe. While for example in Western Europe BTL (below-the-line) is asso-
ciated with advertising and describing the creative and conceptual part of promotion activ-
ities, large parts of Eastern Europe also define the services involving people interaction as
BTL. And even the word Field Marketing itself in combination with a country name often-
times does not deliver search results on Google, while distribution, sales, merchandising
or promotion combined with country name do.
Accordingly, local business associations or organizations come in a lot of guises as well, usu-
ally with a sub-discipline allocated to a larger local marketing association (most often direct
marketing). In fact, research shows only three countries are combining the sub-disciplines
2 Williams, A. and Mullin, R. (2008) The handbook of Field Marketing: A complete guide to understanding and Outsourcing
face-to-face direct marketing. London: Kogan Page Publishers., p.3
3 While the classical “travelling salesman” declined latest since the 1970s, of course there still are door-to-door activi-
ties, with direct sales and delivery to consumers, the most famous and most international probably being the Avon
lady. However, the majority of activities today is done in retail, and door2door is probably the discipline most affected
by ecommerce.
4 Both in Eastern and Western Europe: while in Western Europe the rise of modern retail begins late 60s and massively
through the 70’s, in Eastern Europe modern retail starts in the 90’s.
The majority of field In all three countries field sales, merchandising, and promotional activi-
Marketing agencies provide ties (sampling, demonstrations) as well as audits/mystery shopping are sub-
full service activities. sumed under the umbrella of field marketing8. While there are many sector
or skill-set specialists (or specialists in certain categories) in Field Marketing,
a majority of Field Marketing agencies across Europe regardless of what wording for the dis-
cipline they use, are full service agencies, providing more than three services9 out of these
four sub-disciplines—sales, merchandising, promotion as well as auditing/mystery shop-
ping—as part of their core activities10.
Field Marketing not only historically evolved with the rise of modern retail, Field Marketing
has constantly been adapting to changes and (r)evolutions in retail, meaning subsequently
the service requirements either asked for from retailers themselves or required/allowed
from manufacturers by retailers.
5 Home—SORAP—Syndicat des Professionnels de l’action Commerciale terrain (2014) Available at: http://www.sorap-field-
marketing.com/ (Accessed: 29 February 2016). The word Field Marketing appears in the English version only, and while it
is aligned in the webpage name, in the written definition part it is stated “that SOARP has brought together the main serv-
ice providers in sales and field marketing.
6 295399, 0316—(2016) Dutch Field Marketing” association. Available at: http://www.dfma.nl/ (Accessed: 29 February 2016).
7 Welcome to FMBE (2009) Available at: http://fieldmarketing.com/ (Accessed: 29 February 2016). Previous championing for
UK Field Marketing was done via the FMC (Field Marketing Council) as part of the DMA (Direct Marketing Association).
8 While in the Netherlands and the UK these services are part of the core-disciplines, in France auditing and mystery shop-
ping are filed under additional services.
9 According to the online survey on average agencies provide 3,34 services out of these 4 core services.
10 The extent to which each service type is provided may vary though (due to local retail structure, as well as background
and proclivities of founders/owners).
These services include checking availability, doing regular re-ordering, taking care of pla-
nograms, training store staff on new products or activities, spending time on approaching
shoppers, plus in all cases collecting data.
However, Field Marketing has never exclusively depended on modern retail, Field Marketing
has also always branched out into other channels like HoReCa, convenience or even whole-
sale as well as highly specialized B2B trade.
In addition to defining Field Marketing along the lines of disciplines or activities or subserv-
ices, an advanced approach is to define Field Marketing by the solutions provided:
Field Marketing
Solutions
AVAILABILITY
Field Marketing is about availability: ensuring that the right product or service (and visibil-
ity/promotion material) is available in right amounts at the right place(s) at the right time.
Depending on channel or channel structure this is achieved by sales and merchandising
activities or a combination of both including the education of store staff.
ACTIVATION
Field Marketing is about activation: promoting a product or service in the right channel to
the relevant target group in order to support sell-out. This is achieved by samplings of flyers
or products, tastings, demonstrations, and offering promotional savings or educating shop-
pers, either in-store, via retailer car-park events or high-traffic (event) locations.
ENGAGEMENT
Field Marketing is about engagement with a brand or service on the customer side (cus-
tomer in this case can be store staff as well as consumers), making a brand or product tan-
gible, providing information/education, creating an experience by interaction, with the pur-
pose of store staff and/or consumers sharing this experience with others. This is achieved
through experiential as well as training/education activities.
IMPLEMENTATION INSIGHTS
Field Marketing is about insights into on-site implementation: blending data collection11 with
mystery shopping, pilots, trials, and test scenarios, as well as analysis and consulting, Field
Marketing provides insights into operational as well as business intelligence.
11 Outlet-classifications (census) and on-site facts (on-shelf availability, place, space, price, activation and compliance) are
originating from Field Marketing’s own need for proof of success and sustainability.
Taking into account 419 internationally operating clients mentioned by Field Marketing
agencies on their webpages12 or announcements in trade magazines and clustering the cat-
egories and sectors these clients belong to, there are three main sectors deploying Field
Marketing agencies: F&B (Food and Beverages), CE (Consumer Electronics) and Beauty Care.
Field Marketing is used As stated previously the majority of activities is in FMCG and happens
across all industry sectors, across modern retail, but there are enough examples across sectors that
locally and globally, by require specialist know-how (i.e. parts of healthcare/pharma, commodities/
clients of all sizes. energy, travel).13
Client size as such does not matter, Field Marketing is used by local, national, regional or
multi-national clients the like, the difference here mainly exists within the scale.
The services required from Field Marketing agencies vary according to clients’ needs and
retail structure/channel on local level. Most clients do not only have outsourced one type
of service, but usually apply outsourcing across all diverse service types (sales, merchan-
dising, promotion, auditing, etc…).
12 Sources for client names published were both international and local webpages of the main European Field Marketing
groups/networks offering full service Field Marketing,—COMBERA Group, Cosine (European clients), CPM (European cli-
ents), EFMP, SIG and SSI—during September 2015.
13 In an addition to full service Field Marketing agencies there are sector- or skill-set specialists providing outsourced serv-
ices. These are not included in this survey.
Internationalisation was driven by clients asking for identical service levels in neighbour-
ing countries (countries belonging to the same regional cluster on the clients side), in other
parts, this was driven by Field Marketing agencies themselves in an attempt to make the
most of an European Community common market or by staking claims in newly emerging
markets in Eastern Europe.
It is not surprising then that 97% of all agencies that answered to the survey question “Do
you think it is an advantage to be part of a multinational group/network?” stated “yes”14.
Looking at service types apart from merchandising, auditing was among the first activities
to be more harmonized and outsourced on an international scale.
Looking at sectors IT and Consumer Electronic companies were pioneers in international
harmonization, rather than Food and Beverage companies. For the simple reason: “We do
not need to come in different varieties, we simply need to translate our user manual into
many languages”, explains a White Goods executive.
Today in the age of the connected, knowledgeable and ever more empowered consumer,
products, brands and services are no longer necessarily local/national but in principal glo-
bally accessible. And this gives a decisive push on clients’ sides, to increase their interna-
tional harmonization efforts, sharing and applying cross-country best practice, re-defining
processes and business models, adding efficiencies, searching and embedding international
strategical and preferred suppliers.
14 This question was the last one in the survey and not mandatory which explains that a couple of participants skipped.
However the answer prevailant is yes, even in those cases when a Field Marketing agency is not associated with an inter-
national group or network.
An Estimated
Industry Size of
an Invisible Market
Even on country levels there are no robust figures available for outsourced Field Marketing.
In parts this is due to the definition challenge, in part the cause is the invisibility factor.
The value of Field Marketing in the UK alone in 2005 was estimated to be 770 Mio BP/ 997,3
Mio € 16; French Sorap estimates 310 Mio € for 201217, the Dutch organization gives no fig-
ures at all.
Management ratios along the line field/KAM spends do not differentiate between insourced
and outsourced, while marketing spends include also all communication budgets.
Figures on Outsourcing or BPO are not limited to Field Marketing but include facility man-
agement and IT spends.
An educated guess based on the figures provided by the online survey comes to the conclu-
sion of an industry size across Europe exceeding 3.200 Mio €. 18
15 Cosine Group and CPM Group both have presence outside of Europe as well. Figures based on publicly available informa-
tion (2015).
16 Williams, A. and Mullin, R. (2008) The handbook of Field Marketing: A complete guide to understanding and Outsourcing
face-to-face direct marketing. London: Kogan Page Publishers; p.7.
17 Home—SORAP—Syndicat des Professionnels de l’action Commerciale terrain (2014) Available at: http://www.sorap-field-
marketing.com/ (Accessed: 29 February 2016).
18 The 59 responses to the turnover categories result in a cumulated turnover of up to 785 million €. Originally identified
were 171 Field Marketing agencies. 59 out 171 agencies are 35%. 785⁄35×100 = 2.243 Mio €. If we assume that 171 agencies iden-
tified online make around 70% of the existing Field Marketing agencies, we derive at 3.204 million €.
If you want to find out more, please get in touch directly or follow the other 2 papers com-
ing soon:
Part II, Influences, Interactions & Innovations: Framing Field Marketing Across Europe,
is based on the results of an online survey with 59 Field Marketing agencies from 28 coun-
tries, and delivers insights into the capabilities and services within the frame of retailers’
and manufacturers’ pre-requisites, as well as an evaluation of the impact of current devel-
opments—retail restrictions, international projects, shopper marketing, online/mobile pro-
motions, plus crowdsourcing and other trends—on budgets and services as seen by Field
Marketing Agencies.
Part III, Innovation Integration & Implementation: A Glimpse @ the Future of Field
Marketing, is taking a glimpse at future needs and requirements in a shopper centric envi-
ronment powered by digitalisation and technology. Part III looks at Field Marketing as a
Glocal Business, New Alliances and Strategic Partnerships.
The following list (in alphabetical order per country) of companies offering Field Marketing
service in Europe is neither exhaustive, nor any statement on service quality delivered. The
majority of these companies were identified (and invited to participate to the online survey)
by online searching using English as a language and search words as “Field Marketing” and/
or Field Marketing services like “sales forces”, “merchandising”, “promotion”. Less than
ten percent of these companies were identified through being named as a local competitor
by participants. Nevertheless it’s quite an impressive list demonstrating that there is a large
number of providers across all territories.
AUSTRIA
CGK Livemarketing www.agenturcgk.at
Die Agentur mobiletouch austria gmbh www.mt-dieagentur.at
Merchandising www.merch.at
Plus Promotion Sales www.pluspromotionsales.com
prosam Marktservice GmbH www.prosam.at
ReAct www.react.co.at/de
Unicomdirect www.unicomdirect.at/site
BALTICS
3T www.3tbaltic.eu/en
Audis www.audis.lt/apie_mus
Eugesta www.eugesta.com
Galley Group www.galley.lt/#/intro
Partizanas partizanas.lt/
Sakalas www.sakalas.eu/en/page2
Sanitex www.sanitex.lv
Sorbum Group www.sorbum.eu
BELGIUM
CPM Belgium www.be.cpm-int.com/fr/home
PSLIVE BELGIUM www.psliveglobal.com/be
SIG Belgium www.serviceinnovation.com
Thau bvba www.thau.be
WFM People Belgium www.wfmpeople.be
BULGARIA
Merchandiser service Ltd www.merchandiserservice.com
Profi Merchandising Ltd www.merchandising.bg
CROATIA
5D www.5-d.hr
COMBERA PKK d.o.o. www.pkk.si/hr
CZECH REPUBLIC
4P&P, spol. s.r.o www.4pap.com
Advenio ww.en.advenio.eu
PPM Factum www.ppmfactum.cz
Promoteri EU www.promoteri.eu
Sales House www.saleshouse.eu
DENMARK
EventForce Retail www.eventforce.dk
In-Store www.in-store.dk
PSLIVE COPENHAGEN www.psliveglobal.com/dk
RELATION MEDIA www.relationmedia.dk
FINLAND
Johdin www.johdin.fi
Papua www.papua.fi/fi/etusivu
IROKEESI OY PS Live Global ww.psliveglobal.com/be
FRANCE
CPIGLOBAL www.sigeurope.fr
CPM France www.fr.cpm-int.com/home
Daytona www.daytona.fr
DMF Sales & Marketing www.dmf.fr
Impact Sales & Marketing www.agence-impact.com
MGS Sales & Marketing www.mgs-sam.fr
Optimark www.optimark-fr.com
Penelope www.penelope.fr/services/presentation
PSLIVE FRANCE www.psliveglobal.com/fr
RMASA www.rmasa.com/cms2
GERMANY
Baron www.barongmbh.com
C-House www.c-house.de
COMBERA GmbH www.combera.com
COMBERA Handelsservice www.combera-handelsservice.com
Competition Partner www.competition-partner.de
Cosine www.cosinegermany.com
CPM Germany www.de.cpm-int.com/home
FMS Field Marketing & Sales Services GmbH www.fieldmarketing.de
Pact Communication www.pact.de
SIG Deutschland www.sig-germany.de/startseite
TMS Trademarketing Service www.tmsgmbh.de
GREECE
Chapter 5 www.chapter5.gr
MSPS www.msps.net
Powerteam www.powerteam.com.gr
HUNGARY
Creatam www.createam.hu
HPS www.hps.hu
Lauritzen www.lauritzen.hu
POP www.popkft.hu
Trade Monitor www.trademonitor.hu
IRELAND
Contract People www.contractpeople.com
CPM Ireland www.cmpireland.com
FMI—Field Management Ireland www.fmi.ie
ITALY
Consulmarketing www.consulmarketing.com
DP&V Associati www.dpv.it
Inventa (CPM) www.inventacpm.it
Praesidium www.praesidium.it
PSLIVE ITALIA www.psliveglobal.com/it
Field Marketing Service Instore SRL www.in-store.it
Settimo Piano www.settimo-piano.com/ITA
NORWAY
fresh thinking www.thinking.no
Nova Vista www.novavista.no
PSLIVE OSLO www.psliveglobal.com/no
Retail House AS www.retail-house.no
Retail24 www.retail24.no/en
We are live www.wearelive.no
POLAND
ASM Group www.asm-group.com
Cursor www.cursor.pl
Dema www.dema.com.pl/?lang=en
iqfm www.iqfm.pl
MS Service www.msservices.pl
Option One—Sales & Marketing services www.option1.pl
PMICOMBERA—SP. z. o.o www.pmi.pl
PORTUGAL
AVANZA EXTERNALIZACION SERVICIOS, S.A. www.avanzasa.com
BE CHOSEN www.bechosen.com/en/index.html
Dá-me Ideia www.ideiasimples.sapo.pt
Grupo Egor www.egor.pt/en
ROMANIA
BIP www.spargroup.ro
COMBERA Retail www.combera-retail.ro
Fieldstar www.thegroup.ro/fieldstar.htm
FMCG Marketing&Distributie www.fmcgmanagement.ro
Grup Sapte—Marketing and Advertising www.grupsapte.ro
IPP www.ipp.com.ro
Mercury 360 www.mercury360.ro
MIB www.meninblack.ro
MSPS www.msps.net
RUSSIA
Action www.action.ru
Activity Group www.activbtl.ru/about/?lang=en
ITM Integrated Trade Marketing www.itm-gms.ru
NMT www.nmtmerch.ru/
Orange www.orange.co.ru/eng/
Ventra www.ventra.ru/about?lang=en
SERBIA
COMBERA Serbia www.combera.rs
Kreativa Unlimited www.kreativaunlimited.com/en
SLOVENIA
COMBERA P.K.K. d.o.o. www.pkk.si
promina www.pro-mina.si
SPAIN
A Plus www.aplusmk.com
Avanza Externalizacion Servicios, S.A. www.avanzasa.com
expertus www.cpmexpertus.es
Externalia www.externaliaspain.com/es/servicios
Global Field Marketing www.globalfieldmk.com
Grupo A www.grupoa.es/en
Grupo merchanservis www.merchanservis.com/index.html
Grupo Tema www.temapromotion.com/contacto
Grupo uno CTC www.grupounoctc.com
GSS Grupo www.grupogss.com
Primer Impacto www.primer-impacto.com
Promerc www.promerc.com.mx/web
PSLIVE ESPAÑA www.psliveglobal.com/es
Qstaff www.qstaff.es/contacto.html
Winche www.winche.com
SWEDEN
CALIPTUS AB www.caliptus.se
Day maker www.daymaker.se
Ps Event www.psevent.se
PS Live Global www.psliveglobal.com/se
Reduna www.reduna.com/start
Retail House www.retailhouse.se
Sale support www.salessupport.se/sv
SWITZERLAND
COMBERA Schweiz AG www.combera.ch
CPM Switzerland www.ch.cpm-int.com/de/home
Powerforce www.powerforce.ch
Promena www.promena.ch/en
promotion tools www.promotion-tools.ch/en/home
sfm Cosmos www.sfm-cosmos.ch/home.html
USP www.usppartner.ch
TURKEY
CPM Istanbul www.cpmistanbul.com/v3
MAPP Merchandising Group www.mapp.com.tr www.comberagroup.com
UNITED KINGDOM
Cj Retail Solutions www.cjretailsolutions.co.uk
Cosine www.cosineuk.com
CPM UK www.uk.cpm-int.com
Infinite Group www.infinitegroup.co.uk
Inspire Fieldmarketing www.inspirefieldmarketing.com
McCurach www.mccurrach.co.uk
Momentum Instore www.momentuminstore.com
Orchid www.orchid-fm.com
Powerforce Fieldmarketing www.powerforcegb.com
PSLIVE UK www.psliveglobal.com/uk
REL Fielmarketing www.relfm.com
Retail Marketing Group www.retailmarketing.com
Shop Smart Agency www.shopsmartagency.co.uk
SIG www.sig-fieldmarketing.co.uk
Smollan Headcount www.smollan.co.uk
Tactical solutions www.tacticalsol.com
CONTACT:
Sarah S. Auer
Managing Director
Email: Sarah.Auer@combera.com
This publication contains research data and information from a variety of sources, listed in
the footnotes as well as primary data collected in an online-survey. All data and information
were collected, analyzed and edited with due diligence.
This publication contains general information only, and none of COMBERA GROUP GmbH,
its member firms, or its and their affiliated shall be responsible for any loss whatsoever
sustained by any person who relies on this publication.