Product Sampling Agency.
Executional is a product sampling agency UK brands have booked since 2007. We supply trained sampling staff to put your product straight into the hands of the people who buy it.
Book product sampling staff for a single store day or a national campaign, from 40 UK hubs. If you want the same team across every date, say so and we will quote it that way.
What is product sampling?
Product sampling is a marketing method where a brand gives consumers a free sample of a product to try before they buy. Handed over in person by trained staff, in a place the audience is already shopping, working or passing through, it lets someone try an unfamiliar item and decide on it there and then.The importance of product sampling comes down to trial: many shoppers are more willing to buy something once they have tasted, smelled or used it for themselves.
Checked, Insured & Certified
Right-to-Work documents checked on every person, with Employer and Public Liability cover on every campaign. Food hygiene certification, alcohol licensing, DBS checks and risk assessments available on request.Right-to-Work checked on every person, with Employer and Public Liability cover on every campaign. Food hygiene and DBS on request.
Briefed On Your Product
Your briefing form becomes a tailored document covering the USPs, the target audience and the key messages you want used at the point of handover.A tailored brief covering your USPs, the audience and the key messages used at handover.
In-House PAYE & HMRC
Payroll, tax deductions, National Insurance and HR responsibilities are all handled in house by our own team.Payroll, tax, National Insurance and HR all handled in house.
In Position, On Time
Shift reminders, geo-tagged check-ins and live attendance monitoring, with a project manager on every booking and 24/7 support while a campaign runs.Geo-tagged check-ins and live attendance monitoring, with a project manager on every booking.
Sample products where your customers already are
Get a sampling quote →The setting decides who walks past, whether there is power for chilled products and how many staff it takes to work the space properly.
Whether you are sampling in cities up and down the country or in a single store, staff are matched to the brief from the hub nearest each site.
Choose a campaign type below to see where brands sample products with us, with case studies and practical requirements for each setting.
01
Sampling in supermarkets
A trolley away from the shelf, where the buying decision gets made.
Read more →
02
In store product sampling
Department stores, beauty halls, travel retail and food halls.
Read more →
06
Why brands trust us with their product sampling marketing
Good sampling is not handing things out. It is starting the right conversation and giving somebody a reason to remember the brand after they have walked off. The benefits of product sampling come from those thirty seconds, not from the sample.
Consistency is what product sampling marketing is paid for: the same energy at four in the afternoon as at ten in the morning, from the first conversation of the day to the last.
We turn hesitation into trial
Handing it over is the easy part. Our teams answer the question that is holding somebody back, so they try the thing they were about to walk past.
We listen while we sample
Our teams spend the day in front of real buyers and hear what they ask, what lands and what makes them hesitate. If you want that captured, it can be built into bespoke reporting, quoted as a paid extra.
We connect trial to purchase
Trial and the till sit a few steps apart. Our teams make the next step obvious while the interest is still warm, before the intention has time to fade.
We focus on the right people
Targeted product sampling is not a setting you switch on, it is the pitch and the hour. Our teams are briefed on who to approach, so fewer samples go to people who were never going to buy.
We make the brand memorable
People often remember how they were spoken to for longer than what they were given. A warm, informed thirty seconds is more likely to be repeated and mentioned at home.
Read about our recent sampling campaigns
Some of the best product sampling campaigns we have staffed, from single store days to national runs.
See all recent work →
See our sampling staff in action
Three campaigns, three very different rooms, one job: put the product in a stranger’s hand and make them glad it happened. Watch how a team opens a conversation with somebody who was only walking past.
30,000 samples, three centres
Fruit and oats handed out with vouchers and a VR experience across Lakeside, the Metrocentre and the Trafford Centre.
Read the campaign →Finish lines and fan zones
Chilled pots put into the hands of people who had just earned them, worked across a run of UK sports events.
Sports event sampling →Desk beers, floor by floor
A multi-location run through London workplaces, delivered floor by floor at the hour people were actually at their desks.
Read the campaign →What our product sampling clients say.
How to hire product sampling staff.
Product sampling UK wide, from a single store to a national campaign, with one team to deal with throughout. Four steps, and most of the work sits with us after the first two.
Send the brief
The product, the locations, the dates, the hours and how many people you want at each. Tell us if you are sampling products that need to stay cold or need a licence, so it is priced in from the start.
Get the costing
Fully itemised, with day rates, hours and on-costs broken down and no hidden fees. Usually back within hours.
Match and brief
Once the quote is signed off, an account manager is assigned and our operations team matches staff on skills, experience and location. Your briefing form becomes the tailored brief every person works from.
Run the campaign
A project manager is on every booking, with 24/7 support while it runs. Billing is agreed in your quote before the work starts, and bespoke reporting can be added as a paid extra.
Sampling staff agency
Get a fast, itemised quote for sampling staff
If you are comparing product sampling companies, ask for the detail. Tell us the locations, dates, hours and headcount, and the quote comes back fully itemised.
Or call us directly on 0113 479 0075 or 0203 026 1069
Start your quote here
Two minutes to fill in. The more detail you give, the more exact the quote.
Product sampling agencies FAQs
The questions we get before a first booking: what it costs, how far ahead to commit, who arranges the permissions, and what you actually get back at the end. They are the same questions worth putting to any product sampling agencies you are comparing.
How much does a sampling campaign cost?
It depends on the brief. There is no single day rate: what moves the number is how many people, how long the shifts run, which city, whether anything needs to stay chilled, and whether a council licence applies. Every quote is fully itemised and shows the day rates, hours and on-costs separately, so you can see exactly what you are paying for.
How far ahead should I book sampling staff?
The staffing is rarely the constraint. Permissions are. A council licence or a shopping centre pitch can need weeks, and the best summer dates go months ahead. For anything on private land or needing a licence, start early. For a straightforward retail booking, short notice is usually workable.
How do I choose where to run a sampling campaign?
The best product sampling campaigns start with the audience and work backwards to the postcode. Who you need decides the setting, the setting decides the hour, and the hour decides how many people it takes to work it properly. A commuter with four minutes wants something they can take and go; a shopper with an hour will stand and talk. The same product can do far better on a busy Saturday concourse than on a quiet Tuesday high street. The strategy is yours: tell us who you are after and where, and as your brand sampling agency we staff it to that brief.
Do you arrange permissions?
Yes, if you need us to. Quite often the brand or its agency arranges permissions directly. Where we arrange council permissions for public space, costs differ from council to council and are listed alongside the staffing on your quote.
What makes a product sampling campaign work?
Three things, in order: the right place for that audience, enough people to work the footfall properly, and a team that is still saying the same thing at four in the afternoon as at nine in the morning. Under-staffing a busy site is a common and costly mistake, and one of the first things to raise with product sampling companies before you book. Both sampling guides go through this in detail.
How do you choose product sampling staff?
As a sampling staff agency, we have every booking reviewed by our operations team rather than filled automatically from a rota. People are matched on skills, experience and location, drawn from the hub nearest the site. Right to work and ID are checked for everyone, and DBS, food hygiene, alcohol licensing and risk assessments are all available on request.
What reporting do I get afterwards?
Reporting is bespoke and a paid extra. It is built around what you need, agreed before the booking is confirmed and included in your tailored quote. We can work in your own systems, or build reporting forms of our own and share them back.
Can you run a nationwide campaign?
Yes. We work as a product sampling agency UK wide, from forty staffing hubs, with teams coming from the hub nearest each site. If you are comparing product sampling agencies, London is quoted the same way as anywhere else. The same goes for sampling staff: London, Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds bookings all run on one process. For city by city detail, see our pages on event staff London, event staff Manchester, event staff Birmingham and event staff Leeds. Billing is agreed in your quote before the work starts.
How is this different to a product demonstration?
Trial is the objective when sampling products: the item goes into the consumer's hand and they decide for themselves. Product demonstration shows the product working, which suits anything that needs explaining before it makes sense. Merchandising is the shelf-side job around both, covering display, stock and compliance. Plenty of briefs use two of the three on the same day.
Which products work best?
Anything where one try settles it, which is where the best product sampling ideas usually start. Food and drink is the obvious case, and food hygiene certification is available on request for our food sampling staff. Chilled works fine anywhere with power or insulated storage. Beauty, health, household and pet products all do well. Where a physical sample is not practical, teams hand out trial vouchers, app codes or sachets instead, and unstaffed formats are covered on sampling bins.
