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'Just smile and look pretty' was once the extent of training for field marketing staff in one-to-one communications with consumers. However, their role in experiential activity is now far more sophisticated, and field staff are being given extensive training so that they properly understand and are able to communicate the marketing message.

This step forward in capabilities has encouraged a major increase in client investment in experiential campaigns, and agencies are working with clients to ensure that field staff are no longer seen as one-dimensional, but rather as interactive ambassadors for the brand.

'Clients are more involved in our processes than they were five years ago,' says Julia Collis, sales and marketing director at Headcount Worldwide, who believes clients now see field staff as an extension of their brand.

'If they help us train our staff properly and immerse them in the brand, it delivers results. Field staff need to be able to think on their feet and react to what the consumer says. To do this, they need knowledge of the client; armed with this they can be a highly effective marketing tool.'

Most field marketing agencies now insist on investment in training from clients, who are increasingly in agreement, buoyed by the results it is delivering. 'It has been proven to work,' says James Moyies, managing director of FDS Group. 'BSkyB has trained 180 of our staff, who we now use repeatedly in our activity for the company. Clients have to take responsibility for giving field staff a depth of brand knowledge, which the agency can maintain and ally to the sales skills we teach.'

Mike Hughes, managing director of agency CPM, says client investment in training has doubled in the past two years, with a senior executive from the brand being heavily involved about 80% of the time. He claims that such expenditure indicates the faith clients have in the discipline.

And it is not just FMCG brands, the traditional users of experiential marketing, that are displaying this faith. At the turn of 2004, CPM worked with The Times on a sampling campaign for the relaunch of its Saturday edition. Despite never having used the discipline in a major capacity before, The Times took what its marketing manager, RJ Stratton, describes as a 'leap of faith'.

The campaign saw more than 300 field staff deliver 180,000 copies of the newspaper to London residents. The results have convinced Stratton of the potential of such activity. 'The key to its success came in the briefing process we went through with CPM. The field staff we used had to personify the brand, so there was a rigorous procedure of making sure they knew exactly what we wanted from them. If we had got it wrong, it could have been hugely damaging, but getting it right had a massive positive impact on our brand.'

Risk aversion

CPM's Hughes is aware of the risk of experiential campaigns, but reiterates the role of training in countering it. 'There are pitfalls. For example, if you are doing sampling for an alcohol brand and hand the product to an underage drinker, you have major problems. This just highlights the need for the correct processes to be put in place at the training stage.'

This emphasis on training has extended the length of time it takes to put together an experiential campaign. Agencies usually seek a two- to three-month run-in time, during which they can locate and train staff. It is a timescale that clients are more willing to work to as they make greater use of the discipline, particularly if the relationship is contractual.

Paul Ephremsen, managing director of iD, says there is a trend toward less sporadic use of field staff. 'Clients have seen the benefits of planning in advance and are moving toward a more contractual relationship with agencies. This is not to say that individual campaigns last longer, just that there is an agreement in place between client and agency that covers a series of experiential projects over a set period of time. It also allows a proper debrief with our staff in the field after the campaign, when valuable brand lessons are learned.'

Ephremsen cites iD's relationship with L'Oreal as a case in point. What began as isolated work on a specific experiential campaign over a couple of months has evolved into a retained agency contract, similar to the way other marketing disciplines are outsourced to agencies.

Contract conditions

Contractual relationships are a positive step for experiential agencies, but this faith has to be rewarded with results. Ephremsen says that while training procedures are now tighter, agencies must move to another level in terms of recruitment if they are to convince clients fully of the marketing benefits of using field staff. 'We need to take the bull by the horns when it comes to the search and selection process of field staff,' he says. 'There is a latent need for a school of excellence that recruits and trains the right people. We are looking at some generic regional training courses for next year and possibly tying up with universities to recruit students.'

Most agencies have revolving staff databases, with some employees signed up to several agencies. These databases are split between people who make a living as field staff, and those who find the flexibility of the role allows them to fit in the work alongside other aspects of their life.

Indeed, field staffing roles are no longer predominantly filled by jobbing students, according to Impetus managing director Gill Dunsford. 'It is crucial that we hire the right people for each campaign and this means we have to look further afield than the student market,' she says. 'For example, we are getting an increasing amount of work aimed at the grey market, so we have been trying to use older sales staff.'

Dunsford points out that there is a cyclical nature to experiential campaigns, with most activity being carried out during the summer. This can cause recruitment headaches, as many experienced staff are already booked up.

Given the amount of investment in training field staff, it is essential for agencies to keep hold of the bulk of their database of employees.

Clients often request certain field staff for repeat use, particularly if they have been part of a previous successful campaign.

'It used to be the case that churn was very high among field staff,' says Mark Meurer, resource and logistics director at RPM. 'However, as an industry we have been able to allow people to build careers in field marketing, rather than it simply filling a gap in their lives before moving on to other employment. A lot of our clients rely on a core team of field staff who have built a huge depth of knowledge on the brand, both in terms of product knowledge and company culture. If we want to retain the client's business, we need to keep hold of the staff.'

The field marketing industry has worked hard to provide the opportunities to build a career. There is now a definite structure in place for field staff to move from brand representative through to regional and national management - a career path that has enabled agencies to retain crucial employees in whose training they and, by proxy, the client, have invested heavily.

There can be little doubt that field staff are now more sophisticated in their approach. An in-depth knowledge of the brand, garnered through detailed training procedures, has ensured that they are well-equipped to interact positively with the consumer, which means that clients are learning to trust the discipline and make a greater investment in it.

AGENCY STAFFING LEVELS

Rank Agency Field HQ Contract Tactical

staff staff (%) (%)

1 Link Communication 6500 12 10 90

2 iD 2900 51 15 85

3 CPM 2647 750 70 30

4 PMI FM 2500 45 50 50

5 FDS Group 1632 105 81 19

6 REL Field Marketing 1500 65 80 20

7 Arc Live 1500 30 50 50

8 Ellert Field Marketing 1015 92 87 13

9 Momentum Field Marketing 1000 200 80 20

10 The Brand Company 1000 50 30 70

11 Virgin D3 1000 23 0 100

12 Pareto Marketing 400 50 80 20

13 ODM 400 27 80 20

14 Trinity Executives 322 15 70 30

15 Carbon Marketing 300 25 30 70

16 Sure Field Marketing 270 18 92 8

17 Headcount Field Marketing 250 45 70 30

18 LoewyBe 250 17 35 65

19 Field Sales Solutions 200 80 85 15

20 SMC Field Marketing 195 20 70 30

21 Raisley 175 10 32 68

22 The Blue Water Agency 154 17 46 54

23 Impetus 150 10 70 30

24 Professional Exhibitions 147 35 80 20

25 Marketing Dynamic Int'l 110 15 75 25

26 The Russell Organisation 80 120 70 30

27 RPM 65 55 99 1

28 Lime 60 11 0 100

29 MBA Field Marketing 58 6 52 48

30 NMS (UK) 50 4 60 40

31 The UK Field Marketing Co 40 7 76 24

32 Gekko Partners 38 9 70 30