Field marketing: Field marketing leagues

The headlines have been dominated by the argument over whether

experiential campaigns - the use of roadshows, sampling and other
face-to-face activity to engage consumers on behalf of a brand - has
evolved into a discipline in its own right, or whether it should
continue to sit under the umbrella of field marketing. The debate was
crystallised in the formation of the Live Brand Experience Association
(LBEA) late last year, an organisation independent of the sector's other
trade body, the Field Marketing Council (FMC).

The relative arguments on both sides have been played out regularly in
the trade press, but the problem is essentially one of definition. Field
marketing is defined not by the activity agencies undertake, but by the
way in which their business is conducted - it is the use of staff to
represent a brand 'in the field', a concept that has grown to cover a
disparate set of activities. Experiential work is just one way field
staff can be used; there are also more traditional field marketing
activities such as retail audits, merchandising and direct sales.

The industry's internal wranglings should not be overplayed. Several of
the biggest agencies, such as CPM, Momentum and FDS, have experiential
divisions that operate alongside their more traditional field marketing
activity. And the LBEA, despite attracting more than 30 members, does
not enjoy unanimous support from experiential specialists. One agency
yet to sign up is RPM, one of the biggest dedicated brand experience
shops. Managing partner Hugh Robertson is concerned that the body is
compromised by having among its backers media owners - the companies
that control the space on which the activity takes place - as well as
the agencies that buy the media. 'The LBEA needs to have a single aim,'
he argues. 'The fact that it is a mixture of owners and buyers means
there are multiple aims.'

Emerging discipline

The issue the industry faces is that a significant number of agencies
believe they have developed brand experience work into a marketing
discipline in its own right. They emphasise its creative, brand-building
role compared with the technology-driven activity of agencies whose
focus is to ensure brand visibility and availability. So far, only a
handful of agencies are members of both the FMC and the LBEA.

'Traditional field marketing is concerned with sales, merchandising,
product availability and compliance, traditionally within the sales
function,' says Tim Harper, head of field marketing at Momentum. 'Brand
experience is about awareness and trial - the marketing function. Some
companies that historically have been called field marketing agencies
are able to do both, but increasingly there are two camps.'

It is no surprise that some traditional field marketers are reluctant to
see experiential become a specialist activity, as it is a sector that
has caught the attention of clients eager to find a way to engage with
consumers as traditional media fragment. The past year has seen leading
FMCG firms experiment with the medium in campaigns. Unilever placed live
activity at the heart of its Dove haircare products strategy, with a
'Hair histories' tour through agency iD, while Procter & Gamble hired
LoewyBe and Lime to organise a Pampers 'World of babies' roadshow to
give parents an idea of what it is like to be a baby.

While some in the industry dispute whether total spend on face-to-face
activity has risen, few deny that there has been a shift of budget from
basic sampling to more sophisticated brand experience work. Many
specialist agencies have seen significant growth in turnover over the
past year and are bullish about their outlook. According to research
commissioned by iD and conducted by HPI Research, published exclusively
in Marketing (2 June), 49% of senior marketers who have used brand
experiences plan to raise their spend on the medium.

As budgets have grown, rather than being hired on a tactical basis at
short notice, many agencies are now involved strategically at a brand's
planning stage. 'In the past we used to speak to brand managers,' says
LoewyBe managing director Sharon Richey. 'Now we speak to marketing
directors.'

The expansion has been helped by interest from retailers keen to improve
the shopping experience. Argos allowed experiential activity in its
stores for the first time last year as part of a campaign run by i2i
Face to Face Marketing to promote the Senseo coffee system. Sainsbury's,
meanwhile, has hired Carbon Marketing to run a summer experiential
initiative promoting its own-label products.

'We have seen an overall increase in the number of retailers using
experiential marketing as part of their media strategy,' says Joel
Kaufman, managing director of Leeds agency Link Communications, which
conducted a campaign for Travelocity featuring actors playing air
guitar. 'They are keen to interact and engage with the customers on a
deeper level than just offering a place to shop. Some of the more
educated retailers now want to excite and entertain customers to win
brand loyalty.'

Experiential shops have also started to push the medium away from its
base in FMCG and food and drink into new client sectors. Automotive
marketers have proved receptive, with Ford last month announcing a UK
'WRC City Tour' to exploit its involvement in the World Rally
Championship. Another area of opportunity is product demonstrations,
especially for complicated technology products - a shift away from field
marketing's traditional role as a direct prompt to sales.

Lime has worked with British Airways on educating customers about its
online check-in service, and LBEA chairman Matthew Bending believes this
is one of a host of possible applications. 'There is massive untapped
potential,' he says, pointing to areas such as telecoms and government.
'Brand experience can work for any service or product - you are engaging
with the customer one-to-one.'

This optimism stands in stark contrast to the views of many agencies
with a traditional field marketing focus, where the mood is downbeat.
The sector has prospered in recent years on the back of heavy investment
in sales teams by utilities firms, but this business has fallen away
recently, and there are growing fears that a clampdown on credit card
offers will also have a negative effect on the industry. DVC Sales,
which three years ago decided to focus on contract selling, is looking
to broaden its business as this sector declines. 'Things will be tough,'
admits joint managing director Gary MacManus. 'We believe face-to-face
contract sales cannot survive as a solus offer.'

The high-street slowdown is also expected to take its toll. 'The primary
reason growth is harder is that our industry relies heavily on the
retail sector, and anyone who reads a newspaper knows that retailers are
struggling,' says Mike Hughes, managing director of CPM UK, the biggest
agency in the field marketing sector. 'This results in price and margin
pressure on their suppliers, who are our clients and who, as a result,
pass that pressure on to us as an industry.'

Pressure on margins, combined with the industry's increasingly high
barriers to entry, as agencies develop high-tech reporting systems, is
expected to act as a spur to consolidation in this area of field
marketing. But there are fears that agencies need to do more than just
get bigger; they need to provide an added-value service or risk
squeezing margins further. The effect of that would be to force down
salaries, compromising the quality of agencies' most valuable asset -
their field staff.

'We are in danger of becoming a product-led business, not an added-value
one,' warns DVC Sales' MacManus. 'As the big players take over the
smaller players, there is a fear that they will switch selling
themselves at an hourly rate rather than on the value they add.' This is
a view shared by CPM, which has taken steps to build a strategic
consulting function. 'We see this being a core part of our offering to
clients,' says Hughes.

Shifting focus

It is not all doom and gloom among traditional field marketing shops,
though. Agencies such as Headcount have succeeded in taking the skills
of field marketing away from its FMCG base with work for the government
(see case study, page 43). And some agencies have been recording rapid
growth. PMI, which posted 64% turnover growth last year, has been a
particular success. The agency's focus has been on ensuring in-store
product availability and retailer compliance with promotions. These are
growing concerns for manufacturers, as many multiples have started to
cut their own staff numbers, limiting the manpower in stores. PMI has
also successfully sold itself to clients such as Red Bull as a
strategic, long-term partner rather than a short-term, tactical
option.

PMI is one of several shops pioneering web-based reporting systems that
combine data gathered by its staff with independent sales information.
This year it launched a scheme for Heinz that uses the manufacturer's
sales data to identify problem areas in individual stores, then sends in
the agency's staff to rectify it at once. What's more, priority is given
to the bestperforming products. 'We can focus on areas that will have
the biggest impact,' says PMI's managing director, Gail Tunesi. 'It is a
simple concept, but it needs leading-edge technology.'

According to Nick Fennell, managing director of field marketing
consultancy Archway Management, agencies should be looking to this sort
of system to prove their value to clients. 'There is a real opportunity
to move onto the next stage of marrying individual stores' EPOS data to
field teams' objectives and implementation reporting,' he says. 'It is
no longer how you report data, but what you do with it.'

Another traditional field marketing agency enjoying healthy growth is
REL, which in the past year has experimented with a different business
model to the rest of the industry by having a retailer, rather than a
supplier, as its client. This is not a new set-up for activities such as
product demonstrations, but REL has worked with Sainsbury's on
compliance and availability work across the retailer's weekly
promotions. Instead of working for the manufacturers whose products are
featured, REL represents Sainsbury's, and suppliers have to go through
it.

Phil Taylor, a divisional director at the agency, believes the contract
reflects the growing clout of the supermarkets. 'The power rests with
the retailers,' he says. 'They do not want lots of agencies coming into
their stores to do this work at different times of the week. They want
fewer people.'

Contrasting approaches

Not all grocers are using their power in the same way. According to
Julia Collis, sales and marketing director at Headcount, Tesco is less
concerned with the number of agencies that visit its stores and is
putting pressure on manufacturers to take steps to ensure product
availability. 'Tesco doesn't care who is ensuring availability as long
as it isn't paying for it,' she says.

Despite the pessimism of some agencies, Alison Williams, chairman of FDS
and the Field Marketing Council, believes that a downturn across the
marketing sector could benefit the discipline, as marketers will focus
spend on more accountable media. 'Field marketing comes into its own in
a recession because the return on investment is so clear,' she says.
'Clients will look for accountability.'

The issue of return on investment (ROI) is another point of difference
between the traditional agencies and the experiential specialists.
According to CPM's Hughes, ROI is old news for traditional field
marketing agencies, which need effective models in place just to
compete. 'You have to provide proof of a return and do so scientifically
to be in the game,' he argues. 'It has become a fact of life.'

In contrast, proving return on a client's investment is still very much
a live issue among the specialist experiential shops, in part because
objectives such as building loyalty or changing perceptions of a brand
are more difficult qualities to measure and turn into hard sales data.
This will be crucial if brand experience is to grow in the long term.
'Evaluation is becoming more important year on year,' says LoewyBe's
Richey. 'As clients spend bigger budgets, bigger questions are being
asked of our industry, and there is a greater need to prove ROI.'

This is an area several agencies are seeking to develop. LoewyBe is
working with external research companies to build such an ROI model, as
are Theatre and i2i, which last year tripled its investment in campaign
evaluation.

The problem is that, although clients are asking for proof of return,
there is no agreed method of measuring it. The LBEA's Bending argues
that this is the major challenge facing the sector. 'ROI is going to be
one of the key levers in getting new entrants into the market,' he says.
'But too much research at the moment ends up as a case study for the
agency rather than a case for the industry. We are trying to establish a
generic research template so that people who want to commission such
evaluations don't have to reinvent the wheel.'

Paul Ephremsen, managing director of iD, agrees there is no quick
solution. 'ROI is the one area everyone in the experiential sector wants
to talk about, but a reality check is called for,' he says. 'Due to the
complexity of the activity we run, and the fact it is rarely run in
isolation, it is impossible at present to give a true singular ROI
figure. More realistically, we can start to measure facets of activity
and the effect they have on sales, customer perception of a brand,
loyalty or even brand awareness. This is about building a picture over
the coming years that starts to prove the effectiveness of experiential
marketing.'

Another key issue is who pays for the research. While several clients
have raised their experiential budgets in recent years, many still take
the view that the level of spend on this sort of campaign is not high
enough to justify expenditure on exhaustive research. As a result, many
agencies offer to split the costs of research. 'I would like clients to
invest more in evaluation,' says Rob Quinn, managing director of
Theatre. 'It can be disappointing when they overlook quality evaluation
measures in favour of some marginal extras to the campaign. They should
set aside some of the budget, and we would contribute too.'

Tough evaluation

Muller, which has worked with Theatre on some experiential activity, is
one client that is investing in research - a project described as a
'work in progress' by Muller category controller Anthony White. 'It is
difficult to measure,' he admits. 'We are doing data capture, then
phoning up people who have been sampled to ask about their purchasing
behaviour afterward.'

For many on the traditional side of field marketing, there is a further
challenge for the experiential shops: to fully integrate their
brand-building work with the traditional field marketing agencies'
in-store activity. They argue that there is no point raising interest in
a brand if there is not enough product on store shelves to meet the
increased demand. 'There is not a lot of working together,' says PMI's
Tunesi. 'I would like to see the experiential specialists working more
closely with traditional agencies. The product has to be there to
purchase.'

This is not a problem the experiential shops recognise. Theatre's Quinn
argues that the level of co-operation 'depends on the relationship with
the client and the structure of the client', and in particular how
closely together a manufacturer's sales and brand teams work.

The issue is significant, as it shows how inwardly-focused some of the
debate has been: agencies have been arguing about their roles within the
industry rather than presenting a united front to clients. Archway's
Fennell believes the intensity of the debate has hindered the sector's
development. 'The industry should park the inward-facing politicking and
grasp the opportunity to show brand owners its ability to co-ordinate
the delivery of an integrated trade- and consumer-facing brand message.'
It is a view shared by FDS' Williams. 'Agencies have been so protective
of their own areas that they have not been putting forward the case for
the industry,' she argues.

Williams points to the FMC's successful lobbying of the government for a
change in a ruling connected with the European Agency Workers Directive.
The directive would have changed the classification of temporary staff
provided by field marketing agencies, with the result that wages would
have rocketed. As both sides of the industry are dependent on field
staff, it would have hit businesses across the board. 'It is a shame
there couldn't be more cohesion,' she adds. 'There is so much common
ground in terms of employment and legal challenges.'

What is clear is that both sides of field marketing have work to do to
prove their value to clients. After a year of intense debate, many in
the industry are hoping the next 12 months will be somewhat quieter -
for the sake of both camps.

THE SARBANES-OXLEY EFFECT

For US-owned companies restricted by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act on financial
reporting, we have used Companies House data provided by Willott
Kingston Smith. In most cases the latest data available was for the 2003
financial year. All Sarbanes-Oxley-affected companies are listed under
their group names and not their subsidiaries. Financial data could not
be found for the following agencies: SIG (formerly Ellert Field
Marketing), Haygarth, Lime (part of Publicis Groupe) and Instore Field
Marketing (a division of WH Smith).

CASE STUDY - DEFRA

Headcount is an example of how traditional field marketing agencies are
looking to expand their business into new client areas. It has become a
COI roster agency, and its work for the government has included a
biosecurity initiative for the Department for the Environment, Food and
Rural Affairs (Defra).

The activity, launched in February, set out to remind the farming
community how to prevent the spread of disease. With the 2001 outbreak
of foot-and-mouth disease receding in people's memories, Defra wanted to
maintain awareness of biosecurity regulations that remain in place in
livestock markets, on farms and on livestock vehicles through a
re-education programme.

Teams of consultants targeted livestock markets to remind farmers of the
regulations and hand out leaflets containing further information and
Defra contact details where required. They had to observe best-practice
biosecurity, ensuring their clothes were free of animal excreta before
arriving and departing the markets, and disinfecting their footwear and
vehicles before leaving an area in which there were animals.

As the subject matter was sensitive, consultants were trained to
understand the farmers' perspective and to communicate the message in
gentle terms.

The campaign visited 78 markets, with consultants approaching more than
10,000 people.

TOP FIELD MARKETING AGENCIES 1-30

Agency Turnover Turnover % HQ:
2004 2003 chng field
(pounds) (pounds) staff
CPM UK* 71,358,956 72,827,686 -2 734:1800
1 DVC Sales 30,000,000 28,000,000 7 70:950
2 FDS Group 17,288,502 20,051,688 -14 85:851
Momentum* n/a 18,320,000 n/a 200:1000
Headcount Worldwide n/a 13,646,949 n/a 52:550
Field Marketing*
3 REL Field Marketing 11,981,434 10,857,839 10 80:2000
4 PMI Field Marketing 9,200,000 5,600,000 64 60:2500
5 RPM 8,550,000 9,130,000 -6 60:80
6 iD Live Brand 8,009,662 7,360,000 9 50:3500
Experience
7 TRO 7,700,000 6,850,000 12 95:40
8 Pareto Marketing 7,000,000 9,000,000 -22 35:500
9 The Network 6,494,751 4,014,370 62 42:700
10 SMC Field Marketing 6,300,000 5,800,000 9 24:220
11 The Brand Company 6,000,000 6,000,000 0 50:1000
12 Carbon Marketing 5,925,481 4,841,920 22 25:300
13 ODM 5,310,908 4,919,992 8 30:450
14 Blackjack Promotions 5,272,316 4,280,000 23 28:1500
15 Trinity Executives 5,027,000 4,918,000 2 16:340
16 i2i Face to Face 4,954,567 3,335,783 49 20:2500
Marketing
17 Field Sales 4,805,340 4,603,313 4 20:300
Solutions
18 The Blue Water 3,262,857 2,803,635 16 14:150
Agency
19 LoewyBe 3,063,723 2,623,242 17 18:200
20 Adept Field 2,300,000 1,010,000 128 12:120
Marketing
21 Carlson Marketing 2,200,000 1,300,000 69 9:500
Group
22 NOP Field 2,150,000 1,100,000 95 11:5000
Marketing
23 Closer 2,100,000 1,135,000 85 15:170
24 Theatre 2,011,790 69,411 2798 13:1250
25 Candour Event 1,935,807 n/a n/a 18:1750
Marketing
26 Link Communication 1,810,000 1,560,000 16 17:5800
27 MBA Field Mktng 901,263 1,096,044 -18 5:40
28 Elite Promotions 437,042 396,632 10 4:3500
& Events
29 NMS (UK) 363,410 n/a n/a 5:40
30 Method Two 248,000 n/a n/a 8:15


Agency Contract Contract Tactical Tactical
% (pounds) % (pounds)
CPM UK* 80 57,087,165 20 14,271,791
1 DVC Sales 95 28,500,000 5 1,500,000
2 FDS Group 85 14,695,227 15 2,593,275
Momentum* 75 13,740,000 25 4,580,000
Headcount Worldwide 85 11,599,907 15 2,047,042
Field Marketing*
3 REL Field Marketing 80 9,585,147 20 2,396,287
4 PMI Field Marketing 65 5,980,000 35 3,220,000
5 RPM 90 7,695,000 10 855,000
6 iD Live Brand 35 2,803,382 65 5,206,280
Experience
7 TRO 80 6,160,000 20 1,540,000
8 Pareto Marketing 100 7,000,000 0 0
9 The Network 20 1,298,950 80 5,195,801
10 SMC Field Marketing 90 5,670,000 10 630,000
11 The Brand Company 30 1,800,000 70 4,200,000
12 Carbon Marketing 30 1,777,644 70 4,147,837
13 ODM 90 4,779,817 10 531,091
14 Blackjack Promotions 36 1,898,034 64 3,374,282
15 Trinity Executives 70 3,518,900 30 1,508,100
16 i2i Face to Face 10 495,457 90 4,459,110
Marketing
17 Field Sales 84 4,036,486 16 768,854
Solutions
18 The Blue Water 70 2,284,000 30 978,857
Agency
19 LoewyBe 20 612,745 80 2,450,978
20 Adept Field 90 2,070,000 10 230,000
Marketing
21 Carlson Marketing 10 220,000 90 1,980,000
Group
22 NOP Field 77 1,655,500 23 494,500
Marketing
23 Closer 20 420,000 80 1,680,000
24 Theatre 20 402,358 80 1,609,432
25 Candour Event 24 464,594 76 1,471,213
Marketing
26 Link Communication 20 362,000 80 1,448,000
27 MBA Field Mktng 75 675,947 25 225,316
28 Elite Promotions 10 43,704 90 393,338
& Events
29 NMS (UK) 70 254,387 30 109,023
30 Method Two 10 24,800 90 223,200


Agency
CPM UK*
Founded 1936. Subsidiary Omnicom Group. Managing director Mike
Hughes. Clients include Asda, Masterfoods, Hewlett-Packard. Member
FMC. www. cpm-int.com
1 DVC Sales
Founded 1975. Privately owned. Chairman Clive Beharrel. Clients
include Britvic, Nestle, Vodafone. www.dvcsales.co.uk
2 FDS Group
Founded 1981. Privately owned. Chairman Alison Williams. Clients
include Interbrew UK, United Biscuits, Asda. Member FMC.
www.fds-uk.com
Momentum*
Founded 1993. Subsidiary Interpublic Group. Chief executive John
Armstrong. Clients include Procter & Gamble, Siemens, American
Express. Member FMC, LBEA. www.momentumww.com
Headcount Worldwide Field Marketing*
Founded 1994. Subsidiary WPP. Chief executive Lynda Edge. Clients
include COI, Centura, Powergen. Member FMC. www.headcount.co.uk
3 REL Field Marketing
Founded 1995. Privately owned. Chief executive Patrick Rooney.
Clients include Waitrose, Sainsbury's, Reckitt Benckiser. Member
FMC. www.relfm.com
4 PMI Field Marketing
Founded 2001. Privately owned. Managing director Gail Tunesi.
Clients include Red Bull, Heinz, Universal Studios. Member FMC,
LBEA. www.pmifm.co.uk
5 RPM
Founded 1993. Privately owned. Managing partner Hugh Robertson.
Clients include Scottish Courage, Unilever, Umbro. www.rpmltd.com
6 iD Live Brand Experience
Founded 1994. Privately owned. Chief executive Paul Ephremsen.
Clients include Unilever, Cow & Gate, Heineken. Member LBEA.
www.idinfo.com
7 TRO
Founded 1982. Privately owned. Chairman Rob Allen. Clients include
BMW, Orange, Vauxhall. www.tro-group.co.uk
8 Pareto Marketing
Founded 1992. Privately owned. Chairman David Whelan. Clients
include Barclaycard, MBNA. www.paretomarketing.com
9 The Network
Founded 1990. Privately owned. Managing director Jane Dyson. Clients
include Daily Mail, Cendant, Kellogg. www.thenetwork-uk.com
10 SMC Field Marketing
Founded 1999. Privately owned. Managing director/chief executive
Andy Shipton. Clients include Barclaycard, MBNA, Royal Bank of
Scotland. Member FMC. www.smcfm.co.uk
11 The Brand Company
Founded 1983. Privately owned. Managing director Gareth Onions.
Clients not disclosed. Member FMC. www.thebrandcompany.co.uk
12 Carbon Marketing
Founded 1996. Privately owned. Managing director Wendy Hooper.
Clients include Alpro, Sainsbury's, General Mills. Member LBEA.
www.carbon-marketing.co.uk
13 ODM
Founded 1999. Privately owned. Managing director Simon Dawes.
Clients include Tesco, MBNA, American Express. Member FMC.
www.odmltd.com
14 Blackjack Promotions
Founded 1994. Privately owned. Managing director Behzad Saednejad.
Clients include BT, News International, BAA. Member FMC, LBEA.
www.blackjack.co.uk
15 Trinity Executives
Founded 1989. Privately owned. Managing directors Sheila Lyons,
Sally Anderson. Clients include Sara Lee, Reckitt Benckiser.
www.trinityexecutives.co.uk
16 i2i Face to Face Marketing
Founded 2000. Subsidiary Geoff Howe Holdings. Managing director
Bruce Burnett. Clients include Arla Foods, Kellogg, Scottish
Courage. www.i2iface2face.com
17 Field Sales Solutions
Founded 2002. Privately owned. Chairman Mike Cottman. Clients
include Cadbury Trebor Bassett, Esso, Transport for London.
www.fssolutions.net
18 The Blue Water Agency
Founded 1996. Privately owned. Managing director David Louis.
Clients include Philip Morris, Post Office, Diageo. Member FMC,
LBEA. www.bluewater-uk.com
19 LoewyBe
Founded 2003. Privately owned. Managing director Sharon Richey.
Clients include Procter & Gamble, Scottish Courage, Danone Waters
UK. Member FMC, LBEA. www.loewybe.com
20 Adept Field Marketing
Founded 2001. Privately owned. Managing director Mark Nicholls.
Clients include Barclays, Centrica. Member FMC, LBEA.
www.adeptfm.com
21 Carlson Marketing Group
Founded 1986. Privately owned. Managing director Frank McCusker.
Clients include Nestle, Crookes Healthcare, London Underground.
Member FMC. www.carlson-europe.com
22 NOP Field Marketing
Founded 2001. Subsidiary GfK. Managing director Alan Holliday.
Clients include Wanadoo, DSG. Member FMC.
www.nopworld.com/fieldmarketing
23 Closer
Founded 2001. Subsidiary Billington Cartmell. Managing director
Belinda Chambers. Clients include Unilever, Green & Black's,
Celebrity Cruises. www.closerto.co.uk
24 Theatre
Founded 2003. Subsidiary Huntsworth. Managing director Rob Quinn.
Clients include Heinz, Unilever Home & Personal Care, Muller.
www.theatrebe.com
25 Candour Event Marketing
Founded 2004. Privately owned. Managing director Paul Cowpland.
Clients include Marks & Spencer, Hallmark, Top Shop. Member LBEA.
www.candourmarketing.com
26 Link Communication
Founded 1997. Privately owned. Managing director Joel Kaufman.
Clients include BBC, The Guardian, STA Travel.
www.linkcommunication.co.uk
27 MBA Field Marketing
Founded 2002. Privately owned. Managing director Michael Bouchier.
Clients include Innocent Drinks, Sony. www.mbafieldmarketing.co.uk
28 Elite Promotions & Events
Founded 1995. Privately owned. Chairman Grahame Albinson. Clients
include Domino's Pizza, Land Rover, The Co-op. www.elitepromo.co.uk
29 NMS (UK)
Founded 1995. Privately owned. Managing director Nigel Carnell.
Clients not disclosed. www.nationalmarketing.co.uk
30 Method Two
Founded 2003. Privately owned. Joint managing directors David
Bailey, Michael Chester. Clients include Port of Dover, Beringer
Blass. www.methodtwo.com

* Companies House financial data provided by Willott Kingston Smith on
agencies affected by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act



TOP 10 EXPERIENTIAL AGENCIES

Agency Experien- Revenues
tial (%)

1 RPM 99 8,464,500
2 iD Live Brand Experience 100 8,009,662
3 REL Field Marketing 60 7,188,860
4 TRO 70 5,390,000
5 Carbon Marketing 90 5,332,933
6 i2i Face to Face Marketing 85 4,211,382
7 LoewyBe 75 2,297,792
8 Carlson Marketing Group 90 1,980,000
9 Theatre 95 1,911,211
10 Blackjack Promotions 36 1,898,034

Experiential marketing figures incorporate revenue from roadshow and
other face-to-face work. Excludes Sarbanes-Oxley-affected agencies


TOP 10 TRADITIONAL AGENCIES

Agency Tradit- Revenues
ional (%)

1 DVC Sales 95 28,500,000
2 FDS Group 94 16,251,192
3 PMI Field Marketing 85 7,797,000
4 Pareto Marketing 100 7,000,000
5 The Network 85 5,520,538
6 ODM 100 5,310,908
7 SMC Field Marketing 80 5,040,000
8 Trinity Executives 100 5,027,000
9 Field Sales Solutions 100 4,805,340
10 REL Field Marketing 40 4,792,574

Traditional field marketing figures incorporate revenue from selling,
merchandising, auditing and communication/training. Excludes
Sarbanes-Oxley-affected agencies



TOP 5 FOR GROWTH - BIG AGENCIES

Agency Turnover Turnover %
2004 2003 chng
(pounds) (pounds)

1 PMI Field Marketing 9,200,000 5,600,000 64
2 The Network 6,494,751 4,014,370 62
3 Blackjack Promotions 5,272,316 4,280,000 23
4 Carbon Marketing 5,925,481 4,841,920 22
5 TRO 7,700,000 6,850,000 12

Excludes Sarbanes-Oxley-affected agencies


TOP 5 FOR GROWTH - SMALL AGENCIES

Agency Turnover Turnover %
2004 2003 chng
(pounds) (pounds)

1 Theatre 2,011,790 69,411 2798
2 Adept Field Marketing 2,300,000 1,010,000 128
3 NOP Field Marketing 2,150,000 1,100,000 95
4 Closer 2,100,000 1,135,000 85
5 Carlson Marketing Group 2,200,000 1,300,000 69

Excludes Sarbanes-Oxley-affected agencies