Hardly a day goes by without a field marketing agency launching a shiny innovation for checking that stores are stocking brands in the right way. They are handing their agents PDAs, tablets and smartphones to record data and photograph merchandising on shelves. They have launched web-based training programmes for agents and online portals where brands can see how retailers are treating their products.
This technology is transforming the industry. As many of the easier tasks, such as stock-checking, are now automated, margins for these services are falling. The agencies are therefore under pressure to offer higher-margin consultancy work.
Amateurs vs professionals
One development that could turn the industry on its head is the iPhone app Field Agent. Anyone with an iPhone can earn small cash sums by visiting stores, taking pictures of and recording simple information about the way products are displayed. They upload the data for analysis by brand-owners, then wait for the next job alert. This threatens to put agents out of work, as the technology undercuts the cost of dedicated field marketing workers by 50%.
However, wary marketers believe brands need trained people, who know what they are looking for, to visit the stores. This helps build relationships with retailers and is invaluable in resolving problems. Doubts remain that using members of the public for stock-checking is very reliable.
Nevertheless, since its launch in September 2010, the Field Agent app has been downloaded onto 10,000 iPhones in the UK and has about 1000 regular users. It enables brands to upload tasks - say, to check 100 Sainsbury's stores to see whether a particular DVD is being correctly displayed on promotion. The job is then sent to all users of the app near the target stores, based on information provided by the iPhones' geolocation technology. The brand may offer £5 to anyone who goes to the store, takes a picture of the display and answers a few simple questions, such as how many products are on the shelf. Feedback can be received within minutes of a job being sent out.
Fast and cheap
The system is gradually being taken up by brand-owners and field marketing agencies who believe it is a fast and cheap option - it can cost about £10 per store visit, as opposed to between £20 and £25 per visit to hire agency personnel.
Neil Gibson, head of marketing at soft-drink brand Vimto, had not heard of Field Agent before being contacted by Marketing, but says it sounds like a good idea. He believes innovative technology has significantly boosted the service field marketing agencies offer. 'A lot of them are using hand-held units, which are great at generating data rapidly and accurately. You can look at a report on the same day,' adds Gibson. 'When we relied on paper reporting, you just didn't get that speed of response.'
Heinz customer development controller Kathryn Purchase, meanwhile, says the app is fine for certain limited operations, especially where field marketing agencies struggle to make a return, such as stock-checking.
She adds a proviso, however. 'Photographs and insights in isolation do not deliver results. To drive value, insight needs to be turned into an action plan. Where in-store interventions show return, it is essential to build relationships at store level.'
Purchase is one of many in the industry who claim brands need trusted field agents in face-to-face relationships with retailers.
'Technology will improve (our) relationships (with) our field agencies,' she adds.
'It opens up new ways of working, such as sharing live in-store insight, updating briefs in real-time and providing field teams with specific action plans for each store. It will also reduce the time between identifying an issue and discussing this with retailers.' Crucially, she insists: 'This technology does not change the core role of field teams to drive in-store execution.'
Sufficient numbers
This view is shared by Martin Ryan, managing director of CPM, the UK's biggest field marketing agency, which has worked with Field Agent. He worries that services such as this can struggle to sign up sufficient numbers to carry out tasks, though he concedes that this may be resolved as more people download the app.
Ryan points out that traditional field marketing services, such as auditing, now account for just 15% of CPM's business. The majority of its work is further up the value chain, offering consultancy and running outsourced sales forces.
In addition, there is a concern that Field Agent results cannot be trusted, as it employs anonymous members of the public. Gary Mac Manus, managing director of agency Reach, says: 'You have to trust the source of your information. The client has very little control over those that use it, and in the end we refused to work with it.'
It has undoubtedly worked for some, however. Poster-site manager Primesight used Field Agent to check that 2933 sites on Network Rail land complied with health and safety rules. Primesight operations director Paul Daniels describes the app as 'quick and reliable'. He claims the way in which the questions are posed and the use of photographs, which include data on the locations where they were taken, mean that answers are easily checked.
Field Agent UK managing director Steve Weston says the system can run in tandem with human agents as a way to cross-check their work. He believes there is an opportunity for it to take a slice of hundreds of millions of pounds' worth of business, from field marketing to mystery shopping.
It is clear, then, that, as in any industry being changed by technology, field marketing is reinventing itself to find higher-margin ways to offer services to customers.
FIELD-MARKETING INNOVATIONS
- Heinz customer development manager Kathryn Purchase says: 'We are constantly looking at how we can work differently through technology and digital platforms. For example, how we can use social media at a local level, developing downloadable point-of-sale material, or Paypoint digital coupons and in-store receipt tagging to drive visibility of promotions.'
- CPM has created an Android app for those of its agents who work occasionally on its Disney account. The platform allows them to log their work and receive briefings.
- Reach has created an app called iConnect for agents. The company's managing director, Gary Mac Manus, says the app, which runs on Android and will soon be available on the iPhone, is used mainly for mystery shopping and product recalls. It is currently used by 800 agents.
- REL has created a smartphone and tablet app for data capture that works offline - useful in stores where mobile reception is poor or non-existent. It also has a customer web-reporting portal that gives brand-owners secure access to information.
The viewer is presented with a dashboard containing commentary, results and photos. Data and results are updated automatically and presented in the form of tables and graphs giving information on SKUs and other results. Raw data and photographs are available to download via the portal.
Jobs can be booked overnight, as REL can brief tactical workers 24 hours a day when they log in to its online booking and communication tool myPortal. Meanwhile, its MyAcademy interactive training tool lets it train and brief teams remotely.