Promotion agency Switzerland: how to find the right partner

According to the commercial register, 87 promotion agencies are active in Switzerland. Maybe 15 of them have an in-house staff pool. And even fewer can tell you at the end of a campaign how many qualified contacts you actually had. The shortlist is smaller than you think.

Even so, brand managers still face the question: which agency fits? This guide gives you clear criteria so you can make the right call.

What a promotion agency actually does

Sounds simple. It isn't. A good promotion agency is far more than a staffing provider that puts people behind a stand. It's a strategic partner, logistics expert and data source in one. The agency has to understand why you're sampling, not just where and when.

The services of a full-service promotion agency typically include: concept development and campaign planning, location analysis and permit management, recruitment, training and deployment of promotion staff, materials production and logistics, on-site execution and quality control, reporting and performance measurement. Depending on whether you're planning a single action or a national campaign, you need a different depth of expertise.

Important: not every agency offers everything. Some are specialised in sampling, others in merchandising, others in events. Clarify up front what you actually need.

7 criteria for choosing the right promotion agency

Forget glossy pitch decks. These seven criteria show you whether an agency can deliver.

Criterion	Why it matters	How to check
In-house staff pool	Quality control, reliability, experience	Ask about pool size and turnover
Industry experience	Knows permit processes, retail partners, audiences	Request 3 comparable case studies
Transparent reporting	No data, no ROI proof	Ask for a demo dashboard
Permit management	Missing permits = campaign aborted	Ask who handles it and what's included
Logistics capability	Cold chain, storage, restocking	Ask about warehousing and transport fleet
Regional coverage	Local teams instead of imported promoters	Ask where the agency has its own teams
References with numbers	Anyone can show nice photos	Demand KPIs: contact counts, conversion, ROI

You can lift this checklist straight into your next briefing. Any agency that answers all seven points concretely belongs on your shortlist.

Why in-house staff makes the difference

The biggest difference between promotion agencies? Some have in-house staff. Others book freelancers via platforms. Sounds like a detail. It isn't.

In-house staff means: the agency knows its people. It knows who communicates well, who has food sampling experience, who is multilingual. Briefings stick after the first deployment. Promoters know the brand and the standards.

The freelancer model works like this: the agency posts a job on a platform. Whoever accepts first gets the gig. Briefing happens on the morning of the deployment. The promoter has never seen your brand before. Maybe never even done sampling.

We see this regularly when brands switch from other agencies to us. The most common complaint: "the people on site were unmotivated and didn't know our product". That's not a staffing problem. It's a structural problem. PROMOKANT runs a pool of over 2'500 vetted promoters across Switzerland. Every one of them is trained before deployment. And through real-time reporting via kyoX we see live how each location is performing.

The right questions in the pitch

You have three agencies on your shortlist. Pitch day. These ten questions separate the pros from the talkers:

1. How many permanent or regular promoters are in your pool?
2. What does your training process for new promoters look like?
3. Who handles location permits, and is that included in the quote?
4. Can you show me a live reporting dashboard?
5. How do you ensure on-site quality? Are there supervisors?
6. What happens if staff drop out on the day?
7. Do you have in-house logistics or do you work with third parties?
8. Can you name three comparable projects with measurable results?
9. What's included in the quote and what comes as an extra?
10. What's your approach if the weather turns bad?

An agency that gives clear, concrete answers to all of these knows what it's doing. Vague answers like "we'll discuss the details later" are a warning sign.

Red flags: when to walk away

In 20 years of field marketing, we've seen a few patterns. Take these warning signs seriously:

• No case studies with numbers. Anyone can show nice photos. If an agency can't say how many contacts it generated on a comparable campaign, it probably wasn't really involved.
• Suspiciously low prices. If a quote sits 40 percent below the others, staff are being shortchanged. Promoters under CHF 30 per hour are either inexperienced or not properly employed. Either way, a problem.
• No reporting in the offer. If the only deliverable after a campaign is photos and a two-page report, the agency has no control over on-site quality.
• Subcontractor chains. You hire agency A, which hires agency B, which books freelancers through platform C. In the end, nobody knows who's on site.
• No permit expertise. If the agency says "you'll need to handle permits yourselves", a core capability is missing. In Switzerland, permit management is decisive.

How the collaboration runs

You've chosen an agency. What happens next? A typical project flow looks like this:

Weeks 1 to 2: briefing and concept. You share goals, budget, target audience and preferred locations. The agency builds a concept with location recommendations, staff planning and a cost breakdown. At PROMOKANT you receive the quote within 48 hours.

Weeks 3 to 4: preparation. The agency applies for permits, recruits and trains staff, organises logistics and produces materials. This is the phase that separates good agencies from bad ones.

Week 5+: execution. The campaign runs. A supervisor coordinates the on-site teams. You watch the reporting dashboard in real time as the campaign performs. Adjustments (more staff, location switches) can be implemented day by day.

After the campaign: review. You receive a detailed report with all KPIs: contact counts, distribution volumes, audience split, location performance, photo documentation and recommendations for the next campaign.

Looking for a promotion agency that delivers all of this? Let's talk about your project. We'll give you an honest read on whether and how we can help.