Connexions et Liaisons was the theme of the night as the FMBE Awards set off into party and networking mode.
There were several big winners on a night that saw N2O crowned Brand Experience Agency of the Year after a stellar year. Awards night saw N2O also carry off the big £25,000 value prize that is given to the Most Effective Roadshow or Shopping Centre Campaign courtesy of lead sponsor SpaceandPeople with Network Rail.
Powerforce won a coveted Team award for their Haribo and Molson Coors syndicated double act HariMoCo before winning Field Marketing Agency of the Year. They did so with a great client results followed up with an outstanding live question and answer session in front of FMBE’s client-side judges.
Other notable wins saw CPM Ireland sweep 3 golds including Campaign of the Year for their Guinness instore campaign. Their UK counterparts held up well too with an impressive new service provision at key client Asda that won gold in Operational Success.
Abdur Rahman from G2, won product demonstrator of the year for his work with Hisense whilst Caroline Anderson, REL Field Marketing, won the field sales brand ambassador title representing Weetabix. The Weetabix team also carried on their rich tradition of winning gold taking the Tactical ROI title. Agency REL Field Marketing also enjoyed success for a range of campaigns and brands, with a large tally of gold, silver and bronze awards.
Gold for Storey and Sky in the product demonstration Team of the Year was seen as a breakthrough moment by FMBE judges, a new team and reshaped agency, hitting the ground running.
Ireland’s PRL picked up a repeat gold in Product Launch of the Year in what was a very powerful set of results for teams operating in Ireland, including a gold winning promotional vehicle in the stand or display category that eco-toured Ireland for BiOrbic. North of the border, the UK’s Green Field Marketing picked up a gold too, for their work in Northern Ireland with KP Snacks. The campaign won the new consumer/shopper category.
French-led FMBE agency groups also to cheer with multiple wins for Marvesting agency Field Sales Solutions alongside International silver for Marvesting’s Impact Sales and Marketing. Globe Groupe (France) was also present to cheer on UK member N2O for their several wins.
Emotion was high early in the evening as award’s director Frank Wainwright presented a lifetime achievement award to Jayne Thorburn, CEO, Big Picture.
FMBE Awards 2024 Results
Lifetime Achievement Award
Jayne Thorburn, CEO, Big Picture
A: Sales Campaign of the Year sponsored by Bowimi
GOLD Blue Square – EE
SILVER Field Sales Solutions – P&G
BRONZE Powerforce – pladis
BRONZE PRL – pladis
BRONZE Storey – SumUp
How and why
Blue Square’s narrow victory came as the agency delivered as good a justification for deploying skilled sales ambassadors as you are likely to see, with the EE team helping to develop and strategize the home security category for EE.
These are a sales team who are transformative for EE’s business, selling a high value product that also delivers brand loyalty.
Judges did note that this was a home turf sales job – delivered in EE’s own retailers – but that this also showed Blue Square’s importance as nearest partner to deliver a business-critical mission.
Taking silver, the ever-impressive P&G team delivered a flawless product Blitz that showed off this long-standing relationship at its multi-category best.
The Pladis bronze winners really did have very little to choose between them, both being national implementations of the same ABL in stores support campaign for Pladis, one in the UK, one in Ireland.
It was great to see the SumUp campaign entered. This one was the rawest selling campaign, a really effective demonstration of sales efficiency and effectiveness going business to business for the card payment provider.
B: Most Effective Retail Experience
GOLD Link Communication – Mogu Mogu
SILVER N2O – Tesco
SILVER TCC – Samsung
BRONZE Field Sales Solutions – ASICS
BRONZE Fizz Experience – Lindt
How and Why
Mogu Mogu is a sensational product and probably one of the most obvious you will ever find for a sampling experience. You can only work out if you like this chewy drink or not by trying it.
The opportunity to build its consumer base had Link Communication’s hallmarks all over it. Mogu Mogu would be sampled in a big variety of locations and destinations, some less obviously glamorous than others and all chosen for targeted propensity. The immediate sales upturns were supported by long term post campaign success and evidence in terms of store by store datasheets.
Silver for N2O and Tesco Finest showed a very clear process and ROI whilst TCC’s silver with Samsung was the campaign that that drew the most support for creative excellence. One judge praised the ‘superbly engaging instore theatre’.
Bronzes for Field Sales Solutions and ASICS and Fizz with Lindt were both considered excellent use of opportunity by our judges. These campaigns justified the investment very well, the ASICS campaign meeting the challenges of finding success at Sports Direct whilst Fizz rolled out their considerable know how in Costco for Lindt.
C: Field Data Award
GOLD Field Sales Solutions – Gillette
SILVER Cosine – DPD
SILVER REL Field Marketing – Mondelez
BRONZE Green Field Marketing – Royal Canin
This was a brilliant Gold for Gillette and Field Sales Solutions. The comprehensive data shared in this business-critical award entry was unsurprisingly kept confidential.
In silver, DPD and Cosine showed how a seminal year in their ongoing relationship responded to the dramatic upturn in parcel delivery as online sales expanded. Cosine Connect was used to build dynamic segmentation using physical and telephone calls to help DPD keep its brand on top a rapid expansion.
Silver for REL and Mondelez was also a segmentation piece, showing how sales were driven through an opportunity driven call file. Increasing sales whilst reducing costs showed a next level upgrade for the team and brand.
The bronze winner was another call file optimisation, in this case one that required an expert audit of sales locations for Royal Canin a product that thrives from vet sales and recommendation.
D: Most Effective Instore Marketing sponsored by TeamHaven
GOLD CPM Ireland – Diageo
SILVER Blue Square – HP
SILVER Powerforce – Nestle Purina
BRONZE g2 – Android
BRONZE REL Field Marketing – Mondelez
Judges universally enjoyed the seamless presentation of CPM Ireland’s successful Six Nations story with Guinness.
This was strategically brilliant with Guinness 0.0 being a huge win on its own as the team showed exactly how the rugby tournament and its trophy are used to help Guinness emerge less set back than other drinks brands by Dry January.
An inventive and invested brand showed how superb all-Ireland field marketing led to outstanding ROI.
Silver for Blue Square and HP was a Curry’s classic as an increase in store calls led to HP Crush reversing industry trends and delivering uplifts vs declining category prospects. It was a thoroughly professional demonstration of using a varied FM toolkit to turn around fortunes in store.
Silver for Nestle Purina was part of an ongoing success story for the brand, the agency and its retailers and wholesalers bringing Felix to the fore using expert store insights.
For g2 and Android success was seen for a complex brand proposition in a caser study that was confidential.
The final bronze was awarded to the ever-consistent REL Mondelez team with an exemplary demonstration of how to win FSDU space in store in the competitive Christmas shopping season.
E1: Most Effective Tactical Campaign (ROI)
GOLD REL Field Marketing – Weetabix
SILVER ExSellence – pladis
BRONZE Field Sales Solutions – P&G
BRONZE REL Field Marketing – Disaronno
REL Field Marketing take some beating in this category and this year’s ROI success with Weetabix proved that once again. The campaign challenged trade and consumers to embrace the hot and cold mile options for the cereal and the resulting activation called upon the established connections and expertise of one of the proven best teams in Field Marketing.
A similar seamless client/agency relationship is also the bedrock leveraged by ExSellence and pladis. In this case the team documented a stock and availability Tactical Blitz that solved numerous issues for the brands involved and a staggering upturn in sales.
In bronze the outstanding sales activation of the multibrand Blitz for P&G with Field Sales Solutions won another accolade. The data confidential campaign certainly impressed judges with its determination to drive ROI to new levels.
Finally, the REL Disaronno team added a bronze commendation in a category where they have often seen success in the past. Disaronno’s drinks require skilled flexibility in order to drive best value from its field team as many of its products have seasonal appeal and windows of opportunity to maximise.
E2: Most Effective Tactical Campaign (Service Led)
GOLD REL Field Marketing – Mondelez
SILVER REL Field Marketing – Henkel
BRONZE Field Sales Solutions – ASICS
The Mondelez team for REL are an unstoppable force. The team continues to beat the odds as opportunities in stores narrow. This Seasonal On Demand team drove incremental sales through increased availability in a tailored 1000 store call file. As is usual with this team the size of the opportunity and the value of the key Christmas and Easter windows to the brand were clearly described and realised.
The new REL Henkel team also got off to a flying start making sure that present wrapping season saw Sellotape as an ever present in the aisles. The sheer numbers of sitings and sales opportunities created was very well received by FMBE judges.
For ASICS, Field Sales Solutions added a bronze showing that an impressive adaptable team that was able to respond quickly to a challenging in store brief at Sports Direct.
F1: Team of the Year (FMCG, Merchandising and Sales) sponsored by Movista
GOLD Powerforce – HariMoCo
SILVER Field Sales Solutions – Gillette
BRONZE REL Field Marketing – Brewdog
BRONZE REL Field Marketing – Weetabix
What a great competition this was, proven teams showing that they had taken on new challenges and ramped it up, alongside a Brewdog team that is emerging as another REL classic.
In the end it proved to be a well-timed return for Powerforce and the Haribo and Molson Coors syndicated offering called HariMoCo, now a two-time gold team winner. This was the winning crew from 2022, now showing the benefits of such ambitious yet solid foundations.
It was silver for Gillette, a team that uses the P&G support and works that successfully for the unique challenges of the razor blades market.
The two bronzes for REL teams, Brewdog and Weetabix both offer really compelling teamwork. The bronze win is an addition to the most glittering of FMBE trophy cabinets, the ever-impressive Weetabix team. The Weetabix Team had realised the end of an eight-year partnership cycle with a One Team initiative that showed how previous successes had now channelled even greater unity.
F2: Team of the Year (Retail Training and Demonstrating) sponsored by Movista
GOLD Storey – Sky
SILVER g2 – Android
SILVER Fizz Experience – Costco
BRONZE REL Field Marketing – Adidas
The Sky and Storey team’s emergence heralds the arrival of a new force in field marketing as the agency, once a digital offshoot of Retail Marketing Group is delivering full field work, in this case representing Sky’s Glass TV sets in Curry’s. This was a really compelling story that showed the trust and connection build between agency and client with a group that really supported each other. There were accountable and successful results from right across the team that showed a clear strategy for all parties – brand, agency, store and customer.
G2’s powerful Android team show flexibility and outstanding communications skills in this confidential entry.
The Costco team revealed the intricacies of their Special Events Division giving a big picture overview of how the popular team operates, from training through to delivery, as well as insight into how specific brands – such as Josef Siebel footwear benefit from it.
For REL the Adidas team continues to build momentum. Successful in this category last year, this is a team that covers a lot of ground per individual and is deeply engaged with the brand delivering a brand message that is often technical with high intensity and success.
G: Most Effective Sponsorship Activation sponsored by Troxy
GOLD Circle – Costa
SILVER We Are Collider – Red Bull
BRONZE TRO & Fuse – PepsiCo
Circle’s brand activation for Costa and Carfest is one of those ‘under the radar’ brand experiences, by which we mean it is so good the brand engagements and the Festival are natural and seamless. This is heartland stuff for Costa, the brand in customer reconnection and retention mode. The job at Carfest is to be ubiquitous, via sales locations, stage promotions, product placements and event media. It achieves this through the Costa and Circle team backing themselves to leave no touchpoint under energised. The entry celebrated year 3 of this activation – showing the value of consistency. “While in year one of our partnership only 28% of visitors said that they were a Costa loyalty member, this has increased to 89% of those surveyed in 2024.”
Post event survey data really helped the case for Costa:
“86% of those surveyed said they had visited a Costa Coffee store more than 3 times in the 6 weeks post the event. A cross reference of those loyalty customers who use their loyalty card at the festival shows an increased purchase rate in-store over the four weeks post event.”
Red Bull’s investment into eSports sponsorship is continuing to make these energetic games arenas a valuable part of the brand’s engagement armoury. These are events with lively IRL audiences and huge online appeal. In this entry judges saw the lines that join creative strategy to logistical delivery at the brand’s League of Their Own, League of Legends invitational in Germany. We Are Collider takes on this in an overarching capacity, ensuring that the strategy delivers on its promise.
Red Bull’s attitude to these events is one where event excellence comes first and the benefit to brand is strategic.
“The moment you stop worrying how you can sell cans and be most fit for the brand, but instead focus on what you know people WILL LOVE TO SEE, because you would love to see it, success follows if you have the right people working side by side.”Christian Hesse, Global Head of Gaming Events at Red Bull.
A mix of 5000 tickets sold to the event and 2.5 million online viewers surely me the ‘love to see’ ambitions.
The bronze winner came to Trafalgar Square to deliver the 2024 Champion’s League activation for Pepsi, a great chance to entertain the mix of local and travelling fans at this festival of football. The agency collaboration between TRO and Fuse is one that FMBE has seen and admired before and this thoroughly professional outing delivered a classy, well-presented and high numbers activation that had the fans queuing to take part.
Impressive reuse, recycle and reward data showed a step change for how an FMCG brand can go about these activations.
H: Most Effective Roadshow/Shopping Centre Campaign sponsored by SpaceandPeople
GOLD N2O – P&O Cruises
SILVER Blue Square – Samsung
BRONZE Circle – Subway
BRONZE We Are Collider – Pokémon
This brand experience chose to focus four weeks of activity across 2 premium locations, Bluewater and Westfield shopping centres, putting its investment into a quality build and highly engaging stand that was appropriate for a luxury cruise experience.
Judges loved the way in which this activity proved the value of location choice, slick technology and vibrant ambassadors to bring to life a brand operation in a sector which is not frequently seen in shopping centre brand experiences.
It will be fascinating to see what this team does with the unique prize that comes with this category, £25,000 in space courtesy of Network Rail and SpaceandPeople.
The silver winner ran gold really close. This was the campaign that saw the space prize won by Blue Square in winning gold in 2023 redeemed at London’s King’s Cross with Samsung. It was just one stop in one of the most comprehensive product tours we have seen in years. This roadshow, for Samsung’s AI powered tech, saw the entire nation engaged by one of two touring battle buses with highly engaging brand ambassadors tailoring visits to the interests of their visitors.
Headline results:
- Two experience buses deployed nationally
- 21 locations visited | 82 live days
- 4.8 million reach | 58k average reach per live day
- 29k bus interactions | 3.5k average interactions per live day
- 7.2k coffees served | 88 average coffees served per live day
Bronze saw the emergence of a new agency brand team with Circle taking Subway on a national tour. The tour proved was extensive – 35 locations 2,659 miles travelled 44,092 hot, freshly prepared samples distributed. There was a 3.4 million social reach
Bronze was also awarded to We Are Collider and Pokémon, with an incredibly popular short and sweet trans-European pop up.
We Are Collider created a Poké Post mailing office – designed to look like a Post Office with strong Pokémon branding and festive touches – staffed by fan favourites Pikachu and Eevee alongside a team of trained brand ambassadors
These were truly catch them while you can brand experiences, popping up for just a single day in each of these locations across Britain, France and Germany : Edinburgh, Cardiff, Lyon, Paris, Munich, Berlin, Bochum and London.
I: Most Immersive Event (Mass Consumer) sponsored by DNA Recruit
GOLD Circle – Costa
SILVER N2O – Dr Pepper
BRONZE Promohire – Netflix/The Witcher
This was a gold/silver battle that could have gone either way pop up events that shared the ambition to stir up brand and product passion for these drinks’ brands.
The gold winner edged it, embracing brand immersion and dwell time as Costa launched its hot milkshakes.
The event, that took over a store location in London’s Brunswick Centre, Bloomsbury, encouraged dwell time with gameplay activities, playful props and star quality samples in a pop up that channelled influencer marketing as well as direct to consumer.
For Dr Pepper N2O delivered multiple fun engagements and costume capering in a celebration of weirdness and misfits, successfully reaching some big (confidential) numbers for the Zeroooo brand.
Taking bronze, we saw how a touring ice cream van for The Witcher made headlines of its own as the van and its dark ice creams played on the imaginations of an eager public. The van encouraged passers-by to stop and talk about the upcoming Netflix production. The van was allied to a roadshow that also bewitched visitors with a maze to go around furthering the brand engagement and increasing in depth dwell time at prime locations. The look and feel of the Witcher was brought expertly to life.
J: Most Immersive Event (Controlled Audience) sponsored by DNA Recruit
GOLD RPM – Guinness
SILVER 2Heads – Qatar Airways
BRONZE Circle – CCEP
BRONZE N2O – Tesco
This ambitious sounding winner is solidly grounded in years of joint agency brand collaboration, making it possible. The task – to create Guinness Matchday football fanzones across key locations in Nigeria and Kenya whilst delivering multiple quality bar experiences across a broader region of Africa including Uganda, Ghana and Tanzania
- 1.1 million fans experienced Guinness Matchday
- Matchday = #1 trending topic in Nigeria
- Over 500K bottles of Guinness sold
- 592M earned reach
- 3,600 bar activations
- 19% social share of voice
- Kenya received 45 million social impressions, with 940 earned social mentions
- Nigeria had over 6K direct consumer reach
Judges loved the way in which this campaign effectively laid the foundations for a much more viewable sports and Guinness combination across a continent, into the future.
The silver winner was a great justification of experiential design and went on to win gold in Cat Q.
Bronze#1 saw recognition for an ambitious hybrid event upgrade for CCEP’s 16 UK Coca-Cola brands with #togetherfest by agency Circle.
Bronze#2 was accorded to N2O and Tesco, for its extensive Santa’s Grottoes. Judges saw this as being a logistically exemplary imagining of one of the all-time classic experiences given brand relevance by one of the few family brands that would have the capacity to do so UK-wide.
K: Most Effective Integration/ Amplification
GOLD PrettyGreen – Hasbro Playdoh
SILVER Hopper and Clarion Communications – Aldi
BRONZE N2O – TRESemme and Superdrug
Sometimes our judges rally around the obvious match between product and solution because the obvious solution – done well – delivers results. That was the case with this gold winner linking a hand’s on product with a hand’s on experience in classic style. After all, making imaginary food out of Play-Doh has long been a game play staple and Pretty-Green’s Restaurant of Imagination gave families exactly that, a kitchen cookalong experience.
This was a polished press, talent and influencer led event that laced in some nice creative ideas including Play-Doh meals made real
Silver in category went to a team with one of the top reputations in brand experience marketing and was also a restaurant event. Event agency Hopper teamed up with regular partner Clarion Communications and team Aldi for this Pigs in Blankets (PIBS)Christmas celebration, championing this seasonal special.
For guests, and hour of eating the festive treat included the talking point of a Push for PIBS reorder button.
Media delighted in this campaign.
For TRESemme, a new beauty range was given a start without brand preconceptions as the unbranded Salon X popped up to deliver hair treatments and serums to pre-booked guests with the product reveal – Lamellar Shine – post-experience and available at event partner Superdrug. Social media was influencer led, and consumer driven making for great online intrigue and content.
L: Most Effective Use of Digital or Tech sponsored by Arcstream
GOLD We Are Collider – Red Bull
SILVER PrettyGreen – Hasbro Furbies
BRONZE Blackjack Promotions – Avolta
BRONZE N2O – P&O Cruises
In a strong category overall, gold in this one was one of the easiest to award as the winning campaign was a large-scale tech driven even for a very online connected product and audience.
Projection mapped ceremonies, LED screen delivery, multiple stages, presenter booths and relays to massive live online audiences were all part of the required remit for the League of their own event. Tech was further used for the 7000 strong live audience equipped with interactive LED bracelets that let up when key gaming moments occurred.
Next to the winner some sweet and well-judged uses of technology impressed. The silver was awarded to an interactive giant Christmas Tree made out of Furbies by PrettyGreen for Hasbro and a small-scale augmented reality treasure hunt delivered to holiday maker families at Avolta’s Duty Free by Blackjack.
Finally, the tech aspect of the roadshow and shopping centre gold winner campaign delivered a further bronze award in this category to N2O and P&O Cruises. An AI driven digital quiz rewarded participants with personalised holiday recommendations at the end.
M: People-Powered Campaign or Event sponsored by Staffwise
GOLD Elevate Global – Olympics
SILVER HEL’s – Waitrose
BRONZE N2O – Tesco
Winning gold it was impossible not to admire the solid delivery of business across multiple brands that led to Elevate becoming such a key partner for key stakeholders and brands at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Elevate Global France played a pivotal role in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, partnering with top brands to deliver exceptional experiences across various venues before and during the event. The agency provided over 1,000 event staff covering around 15,000 shifts, ensuring smooth and memorable moments. Clients included VISA, Toyota, Coca-Cola, Samsung, and Nike. Our Brand Ambassadors were on the ground at airports, hotels, stadiums, fan zones and key locations like the Toyota House and throughout the Coca-Cola’s Olympic Torch Relay.
For Waitrose – and agency We Are Collider – Hel’s has provided staff across the years for this growing and pivotal landmark food and drink festival in London. The Hel’s team are vital in delivering a true on brand experience in the challenging live event environment meeting and surpassing the expectations an exacting audience.
The 2023 Waitrose Winter Food and Drink Festival brought together 180 suppliers, offering 180,000 samples of food and drink to more than 7,000 guests over three live days. Alongside the introduction of several exciting new areas, including a Cheese Room, Christmas Room and Sip and Putt Golf Experience, the layout of the event was adapted with suppliers split into zones such as the Beer & Cider Halls, Wine Vaults, Mindful Drinking Den and Spirits Lounge.
For Tesco’s Christmas Grottos 21 N2O teams visited 150 stores over 336 days of activity. That included auditioning and casting 300 Santas and elves.
N2O’s warehouse team hand-wrapped 89,000 presents based on age and children’s needs, colour-coding each one to ensure the experience was highly personalised.
N1: Brand Ambassador of the Year
Field Sales and Merchandising
GOLD Caroline Anderson – REL Field Marketing, Weetabix
SILVER Simon Griffiths – Field Sales Solutions, P&G
BRONZE Neil Larmour – Green Field Marketing, KP Snacks
BRONZE Zara Saleem – Field Sales Solutions, Ferrero
A golden winner from a golden team that annually trains and delivers consistency, success and passion.
Caroline’s team set an incredible benchmark, and she surpasses them in every measure!
Coverage 5.48 calls per day vs team average of 5.28
Fixed Points Per Call 39.10 vs team average of 35.24
Availability 96.8% on exit vs team average of 96.1%
Compliance 95% on exit vs team average of 90.8%
The entry even showed how Caroline’s store agreements distressed key competitors, Kelloggs and Nestle, such was her commitment and connection.
The entry showed the REL Impact well – Caroline had not thrived with the same energy in previous FMCG sales roles prior to joining Weetabix.
Simon Griffiths was only narrowly outpointed in the battle for gold vs sliver. The Gillette Development Manager grew with the ramped up Gillette team in 2023-2024. He has been a lead performer consistently in that team across 5 years.
Neil Larmour’s 7-year stint in field sales for KP Snacks in Northern Ireland has made him a lynchpin of that team and brand’s performance with evidence suggesting that his extra leverage and success has been built through a special ability to build and develop unique store developments.
Zara Saleem joined the Ferrero Impulse Channel Team in May 2022, having previously been a buyer for a local convenience/supermarket store in Harrow. Her entry data was marked up as confidential.
N2: Brand Ambassador of the Year
Product Demo, Training, Experiential
GOLD Abdur Rahman – G2, Hisense
SILVER Tom Severs – Powerforce, Lenovo
BRONZE Molly Ofori-Mensah – HEL’s
Helping to deliver the Hisense brand as a recognisable household name, Abdur’s success follows sales gold winning success for the broader team in 2023. Th entry was confidential.
Silver winner Tom Severs proved that success can come after a steady start. He joined Powerforce in October 2020 on Lenovo’s Virtual Product Centre Team and then went through a redundancy process in May 2023 during an RFP, and transferred to the field team as maternity cover, before joining the team on a permanent basis in December 2023. Judges loved the way he has since focused on helping build team momentum and trains new members of it.
Bronze winner Molly Ofori-Mensah’s successes have come through 8 years of brand ambassador and team leader activity. She has a portfolio of clients including OVO Energy where she has developed into an operations manager from her BA work.
O: Most Effective Local or Small Scale Campaign
GOLD N2O – Made by Mitchell
SILVER Blackjack Promotions – Avolta
SILVER Top Notch Sales – Navson
BRONZE Green Field Marketing – Edward Dillon (Hennessy)
This winning quartet of campaigns showed an excellent standard achieved across the category.
Made by Mitchell is the brand mega-influencer and make-up virtuoso Mitchell Halliday (known on the social influencer scene as Mmmmitchell). In recent years we have seen a few beauty sector influencers launching products directly to their following and this launch showed that in allegiance with the very well connected N2O. The result – an impressively hands on Boots launch of a product using very tight budget control. The ROI justifications of this one were regarded as category defining – though sadly the results were provided under confidentiality.
The silver for Avolta was a second success for the airport augmented reality treasure hunt that impressed with its engaging use of tech and the moreso in every effective use of budget.
Even after the gold and first silver winner had been declared a second silver was inevitable… Top Notch’s work at wholesale and distribution for water brand owner Navson saw just £11K spent on highly effective depot coverage and van sales across six months.
For Hennessey in Northern Ireland, Green Field Marketing furthered their agency credentials for driving product availability across the nation – in this case on a minimal budget focussed on core independent off-licences.
P: Product Launch or Relaunch Award sponsored by Blooming Fabulous Flowers
GOLD PRL – Lucozade
SILVER REL Field Marketing – Haleon (Sensodyne)
BRONZE Circle – Costa
BRONZE N2O – TRESemme and Superdrug
PRL has a great track record in this category, but this year’s winning entry was different from some of their past submissions as the Blucozade launch overcame multiple challenges through product availability.
Jessica Pritzel- Brand Manager Lucozade Energy testified “PRL’s ability to seamlessly coordinate with various retail partners and ensure continuous brand representation across multiple locations has been invaluable. The increase in customer engagement and sales figures post-implementation is a testament to the impact of their efforts.”
Sensodyne Clinical White was REL Haleon Strategic team’s greatest ever NPD launch, delivering £231.7k incremental sales. This launch impressed with professionalism and detail across a large retailer base. A campaign focus on smiling selfies gave the whole launch an uplifting feel.
The bronze winner for Costa focussed on the power of brand experience for a flavour relaunch, a black cherry hot chocolate that had been much missed by fans after discontinuation in 2022. Eye catching cherry installations and a surreal Mr Cherry character made sure this relaunch was playful and engaging.
The TRESemme launch also impressed in the amplification category as a hair salon product was launched using an unbranded experience called Salon X.
Q: B2B/B2E Event of the Year
GOLD 2Heads – Qatar Airways
SILVER Circle – CCEP
SILVER Settimo Piano – Acinque Energia
BRONZE Willow Park – Cisco
Gold for 2Heads and Qatar Airways was a prestige unveiling at Farnborough that has a very distinct audience to impress, including internally, with the company CEO and attendant royal connections travelling to see how successfully a luxury product could be imagined at a pop-up event.
GCEO Engr. Badr Mohammed Al-Meer set out his own and the brands expectations: ”Qatar Airways has once again raised the bar for its award-winning product, the Qsuite. We look forward to welcoming media and partners to our stand throughout the week to experience the future of business class travel with the World’s Best Business Class onboard the World’s Best Airline.”
Whilst a polished design was expected, our judges felt that this was an experience that engaged multiple stakeholders successfully.
In silver, the hybrid event for 18 Coca-Cola UK brands impressed again after also scoring highly in Immersive Event.
Italian agency Settimo Piano returned to FMBE with a deeply immersive medieval-styled teambuilding experience for Acinque Energia. A fully costumed banquet was the immersive highlight at the 15th Century castle, complete with medieval entertainment, jesting and music.
Recounting 2 years of activation for Cisco at the Presidio trade event in the US, Willow Park told how they build a conversational environment that delivers for the brand and impressed the venue:
Kellie Hoppe, Senior Program Manager, Presidio gave the events exceptional praise: “Willow Park has been the best company I’ve ever had the chance to work with for a conference event in my 12+ years of experience. Their attention to detail is unmatched and truly extraordinary. Seeing their vision come to life with Cisco Perk and then exceeding expectations this year is what made the booth the buzz of the entire show floor. The booth last year, hands down, was the best I have seen in this industry.”
R: Consumer/Shopper Connection Award
GOLD Green Field Marketing – KP Snacks
SILVER N2O – Tesco
BRONZE Circle – Subway
The first year for this category and the winner was one that used a number of field marketing techniques – merchandising, compliance, sales, store training and consumer and trade sampling to show how to maximise of the products presence and sales store by store.
Judges noted that 13 years of agency and brand working together had led to a confident proposal that won and established new planogram implementations in new stores whilst delivering a store loyalty programme to extend the likely impact. The activity also leant on the brand’s sponsorship of cricket’s The Hundred to further the link between front of mind and front of store.
Silver in the category went to N2O’s relaunch of Tesco Finest which used a full instore armoury to make sure that the brand truly resonated with shoppers. An elevated sampling campaign hit 300 stores over 1,841 days, taking over the car parks, foyers and aisles with strategically placed, impactful, eye-catching high-end displays designed to entice shoppers with freshly cooked Finest food.
The campaign, which also hit Tesco HQ to gain employee advocacy showed the coherent relationship between Tesco and its chosen sampling provider.
Bronze in the category went to Circle for their nationwide roadshow for Subway, a tour that had also pleased judges in the roadshow category. Inventive digital engagement also extended the consumer participation beyond the roadshow.
S: Most Effective Stand or Display Unit sponsored by WM Design
GOLD Promohire – BiOrbic
SILVER PRL – IDL
SILVER Sketch Events – Autograph Collection Hotels
BRONZE N2O – P&O Cruises
BiOrbic was an eco-friendly BioBus that needed to travel the length and breadth of Ireland. The aim was for visitors to learn more at the push of a button, leave the bus with a better understanding of the bioeconomy, and hopefully be inspired to make small, everyday changes.
To drive the message home, the BioBus itself would need to run on clean energy. BiOrbic felt that buying a new vehicle would increase their carbon footprint, so instead, they wanted an ‘upcycled’ solution that could be converted to run sustainably. They also needed the exhibit to be made from eco-friendly materials and designed to be as modular as possible, in case they wanted to use it for a permanent display later on.
The bus excelled in its objectives, reaching every county and delivered powerful messaging to a mix of people that ranged from school children to prominent politicians.
Silver was also in Ireland – an instore display for Irish Distillers that drive whole new categories of shopper across a portfolio of brands.
A further silver was awarded to a beautifully crafted and interactive luggage set that created intrigue and engagement for Autograph Hotels at King’s Cross.
Finally, the stand created by N2O for its gold winning shopping centre campaign for P&O Cruises gave exactly the right vibe for visitors and enabled the brand to drive customer connection and ROI.
T: Operational Success of the Year sponsored by PromoLogistics
GOLD CPM – Asda
SILVER N2O – Tesco
BRONZE Powerforce – Castrol
The gold winner saw a new Asda team delivering a whole new level of instore media for brands. The award entry showed how branded bays and aisle takeovers are being delivered in Asda by CPM’s Twilight Team. Judges loved the way this team functions to provide extra opportunities for brands to stand out in Asda. Details of the entry paper are confidential.
The silver winner was also for a supermarket. The entry showed off the scale of operations required to provide Santa’s Grottoes nationwide at Tesco for Christmas 2023.
The bronze winner showed how Powerforce continues to lead an international activation for Castrol – details are confidential.
U: Professional Agency Management Award
SILVER Green Field Marketing
Two stunning winners taking gold and silver in a very close head-to-head. Field Sales Solutions won gold showing how far the agency has moved forwards alongside the greater opportunity now that it is properly invested in the ambitions of the Marvesting Group. There were many achievements across the business but notably
“In September 2023 we were awarded a Ecovadis Platinum Award – putting the Group among the top 1% of companies in the same sector of activity. Such an achievement will be paramount going forward, and core to our CSR/ESG programmes and key to new business partnerships going forward.”
For Green Field Marketing the silver winning entry showed the upturn in fortunes since the management buyout of the agency.
The MBO was in 2021. By year’s end 2023 that now showed:
- Turnover +31%
- Head Office Headcount + 38%
- FT Field Headcount +27%
V: Best Continuing/ Long Term Sports, Music, Entertainment Campaign or Strategy
GOLD We Are Collider – Red Bull
SILVER Circle – Costa
A great Gold Vs Silver battle saw Red Bull’s investment in eSports take on Costa’s 3-year success build at CarFest. Both teams had previously gone head-to-head in sponsorship activation with gold in that one gong to Costa.
The ongoing category reversed there fortunes largely because of the sheer volume, commitment and ownership that Red Bull has used to bring about success in eSports, with event support by We Are Collider.
Judges agreed that the challenge put down by the category – to show off the value brought about by long term strategic investment – had put off many potential entrants as such sustained excellence is rare. These two entries more than rose to the challenge and showed explicitly why the brand and continued to invest in same agency partner understanding that they were creating a special event series together.
W: Campaign of the Year sponsored by Elevate
GOLD CPM Ireland – Guinness
SILVER We Are Collider – Red Bull
BRONZE RPM – Guinness
The gold winner does what surprisingly few field marketing campaigns ever do and bought the sponsorship strategy to life with every negotiated and agreed advantage instore. The sporting festival of the 6 nations, Ireland’s most iconic FMCG and the shopper fanbase of both were brought together for outstanding results.
The silver winner was the most comprehensive winner of our digital and tech category yet seen. Judges loved A League of Their Own for the blend of large paid ticket enthused live audience, vast online audience and how the tech helped deliver to their exacting expectations. The entry also gave our judges insight into the pure event passion at Red Bull a brand that is truly founded on emotions.
Guinness came to the fore again in the bronze winning campaign. This one wowed us with the sheer ambition to deliver an accessible entertainment process every Guinness Matchday across a large geographical expanse – a campaign in line with a changing cultural expectation.
X: Field Marketing Agency of the Year sponsored by SpaceandPeople
GOLD Powerforce
SILVER Blue Square
BRONZE Storey
This year’s FM Agency of the Year has a second live online interview round. A team of 7 client judges put themselves forward for a full day of question and answer.
Powerforce went into the interview day not knowing that they had already secured wins in other award categories (to other judges) including Team of the Year Gold.
Agency teams had the opportunity to present directly to our judges within 45 mins in a way of their own choosing whilst remaining open to question and answer throughout. Judges were also pre-equipped with a 3-slide agency overview.
Powerforce took a very confident approach, opening the floor to the judges as soon as the introductions had been made with an ‘ask us anything’ outlook. It was an openness that worked well with the agency giving very open and unguarded answers across the three core pillars of agency business, financial accountability, client relationships and staff capabilities.
Here at FMBE we had debated 2 different ways of scoring the new process, unsure whether to weight each performance based on what we had seen from the agency in the main categories or whether to wipe the slate clean ahead of round two. Having decided on the latter, we did go back and check the former and the scores and agency ranking remained the same.
Taking silver, Blue Square took an opposite approach to the winner with a much more scripted approach ahead of the Q/A. But it was observable that having a positive growth story to tell made the answers to judge’s questions easy to handle.
Consumer electronics specialists have not been the out and out winner of the FM Agency of the Year award since Gekko managed the feat back in the early days of FMBE Awards.
It was interesting to see a resurgence in the sector here with Blue Square followed home by newly emergent agency Storey. Blue Square had already secured gold in the sought after sales campaign category and Storey had announced its return with a gold winning performance with Sky in Curry’s for the retail experience arm of the Team of the Year accolade.
Storey – an agency that emerged as a digital provider – has become the main field operator now ahead of sister agency Retail Marketing Group (RMG). RMG will instead focus on its unique relationship with LG.
Storey’s presentation was very invigorating for our judges. The agency is pledged to work on profit share with its clients making it an aggressively competitive new force.
Blue Square performed especially well to keep the fresh challenge of Storey at bay, standing out for a very front foot forward professional dynamic.
Whilst that left Blue Square as champions of the consumer electronics experts, it still wasn’t quite enough to topple the clear strategy and certification driven process delivered by gold winner Powerforce. Powerforce’s range of clients includes Haribo/Molson Coors, Pladis, Castrol, Lenovo and Nestle Purina, showing versatility and engagement across a range of field marketing techniques.
Y: Brand Experience Agency of the Year sponsored by SpaceandPeople
GOLD N2O
SILVER Circle
BRONZE TRO
BRONZE We Are Collider
Brand Experience Agency of the Year proved to be two races – one for gold vs silver and a bronze contest that ended in a tie.
Last year’s agency champions TRO had an exceptional year delivering big growth numbers and an expanding client base and working cohesively with other agencies including group partners at Omnicom. It was a stellar performance. Judges could see that the case studies that would really allow this dynamic to shine would be for next year after solid foundations this time.
We are Collider has a coming-of-age year with their client Red Bull, a partnership that has got better and stronger. Judges also loved the versatility and imagination shown by this team with Pokémon. The creative drive and energy of We Are Collider is something else and with all pointers now towards further investment in the agency the team are clearly pushing for more success.
For Circle this year was only a fraction off gold with Subway joining the Costa and CCEP success story. The tour for Subway was indicative of a client that is surely going to grow its experiential presence, whilst CCEP continues to further its reliance on the agency. We saw a bit of everything from Circle is year, but perhaps the win with Carfest in sponsorship activation with Costa that saw them at their best, delivering on strategy with energy and purpose, a build in momentum after 3 years of making the connection.
Gold though proved irresistible as N2O used their position of strength in terms of scale to generate more new business opportunities in the year when they became a part of Globe Groupe. The roadshow/shopping centre win with P&O Cruises marked the arrival of a new client in a new sector for N2O whilst the year showed some of their very best work with Tesco. Beauty sector campaign wins – a traditional area of strength for N2O showed off amplification skills with Salon X for TREsemme and a low budget launch for Made by Mitchell. Versatility, growth, financial success and client diversification… this was an outstanding year for the powerhouse agency.
Z: International Agency of the Year
GOLD CPM Ireland
SILVER Impact (France)
BRONZE PRL (Ireland)
This was an incredibly good 3-way contest. The category is in 2 stages, and all of these showed up very well in terms of agency health and management.
So, it was the case studies provided that helped to separate these 3. The gold winner’s work with Guinness was enough, helping CPM Ireland to a third gold win on a stellar night.
It edged out an exceptional event (confidential) hosted by Impact for Intersport and the product launch winner for PRL with Blucozade.