Retail and convenience store sampling is an effective way to secure new retail space. And securing retail space requires clear proof of volume potential. For senior grocery stakeholders, high street consumer metrics are not enough. Branded sampling activations must prove direct merchant buy in and immediate checkout sales velocity.
During the nationwide Pringles x Burger King flavour launch, iMP Experiential & Product Sampling created a dual channel B2B and B2C roadshow. By pairing an eye catching, in-house wrapped retro ice cream van with stock tracking, the campaign established a blueprint for large scale FMCG product sampling.
Category buyers need verifiable volume metrics to justify shelf allocation. And this roadshow recorded strict unit distribution data across every trade and retail environment to guarantee total transparency.
The operational logs track exact stock depletion per site, confirming rapid product turnover at target storefront footprints.
Chicken Royale tubes sampled:
Bacon Double Cheeseburger XL tubes sampled:
iMP Experiential & Product Sampling delivered a high-impact UK tour for Burger King x Pringles, bringing two iconic brands together through a bold, retro-inspired sampling campaign. Kicking off at Whoppercon in Manchester on Tuesday 21 April, the activation ran from 1st May to 25th May, travelling from Edinburgh down to London.
At the centre of the campaign is iMP’s fully wrapped, vintage ice cream van – a creative execution designed to stop people in their tracks while delivering high-volume product distribution in busy, high-footfall locations. Across the tour, 15,000 samples were placed directly into consumers’ hands, showcasing two new flavours: Chicken Royale and Bacon Double Cheese XL.
The campaign leant into the power of collaboration, combining the cultural weight of Burger King with the recognisable, playful identity of Pringles. The result is a simple but effective format. Delivered by iMP for Mercieca, the activation reflects a continued focus on impactful, results-driven experiential where strong creative meets disciplined execution.
“This is exactly the kind of collaboration that cuts through – two massive brands, a clear idea, and a format that just works. It’s bold, it’s simple, and it gets product straight into people’s hands at scale,” said David Gibbons, Managing Director at iMP.
Morning schedules from 9am to 12pm focused heavily on independent trade networks. So deploying teams inside premium trade environments like Parfetts, Bestways, UWS, and Dhamecha Foods placed the product in front of regional shop owners and convenience buyers. Providing live sample trials alongside key margin profiles allowed field teams to secure instant orders. And independent merchants routinely bought stock directly from the depots to mirror the activation inside their own independent locations.
So, afternoon deployments from 2pm to 5pm shifted directly to consumer facing convenience storefronts. This meant activations across premier symbol group outlets intercepted the high footfall post school rush, with peak engagement hitting between 3pm and 4:30pm. Plus, parking the vehicle within close proximity of the store entrance increased store footfall, generating immediate rate of sale increases for host retailers.
The main visual asset was Vanessa, our vintage Ford Transit ice cream van modified and wrapped entirely in house. In addition we used bold “Burger King but Pringles” branding to generate high visual impact during high profile industry events like Burger King WhopperCon. And output service hatch and custom sound systems maintained high crowd energy, causing participating stockists to amplify the tour across their own corporate social channels.
Get in touch with us to discuss planning and delivering your next branded retail sampling campaign.
Positioning a branded activation directly on the storefront footprint intercepts consumers immediately before the point of purchase. By handing a physical sample and a trackable discount voucher to the consumer outside the entrance, the field team creates an immediate psychological trigger. This direct engagement increases footfall into the host stockist and converts initial product trial into an immediate checkout transaction, rapidly inflating the store’s baseline rate of sale during the activation window.
High street sampling focuses purely on high volume consumer distribution within open public spaces, which requires complex local authority permits and standard ambient handling. Convenience store product sampling operates within a tighter physical retail footprint and requires explicit alignment with both symbol group head offices and individual store managers. The logistics must support dual channel metrics, balancing rapid consumer hand to hand distribution with morning trade wholesale depot activations to secure independent retailer buy in.
Wholesale depot activations target independent shop owners, cash and carry buyers, and symbol group managers between 9am and 12pm when they are actively sourcing stock. Providing these commercial decision makers with live product trials and margin information drives immediate wholesale order conversion on site. This trade integration ensures that when consumer facing afternoon sampling kicks off at 2pm, the surrounding local convenience stores are already fully stocked to meet the synchronised surge in consumer demand.
Our internal logistics desk monitors field operations in real time to manage live site variables smoothly. If a scheduled wholesale depot or retail footprint presents unexpected access restrictions, the team reallocates assets immediately. We pivot by extending afternoon convenience store schedules into full day operational blocks running from 10am to 5pm, or by rerouting our promotional fleet to secondary independent wholesale hubs within the same regional cluster to ensure total contract volume delivery without stock spoilage.
A data driven campaign requires exact field logging over subjective feedback to validate marketing expenditure for category review decks. Brands should track total volume depletion via precise case counts per site, wholesale depot conversion percentages, and localised in store sales uplift against baseline regional performance. Integrating trackable on pack QR codes or digital coupons allows brand managers to measure exact long term digital redemption rates and sustained purchase intent.
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We partnered with iMP Sampling & Experiential for a summer campaign with one of our clients, and we couldn't be happier with the results. They executed a total of 42 in-store events nationwide, and their team's expertise in sampling and experiential marketing truly shone through. The staff were great at engaging with customers and helping us to achieve our goal of increasing footfall and participation at each event.
Account Director, CreativeRace
Hiring iMP for an event I was leading on for a new client was a great decision. They turned around a high quality sampling event and promo vehicle with a very short turnaround time, and their staff on the day were incredibly enthusiastic and professional. They made the process easy and the client very happy, we'll definitely be working with them again.
Brand Director, Lee Kum Kee
David and team at iMP are the real deal - kind, personable, dependable, professional, and offer a craftsmanship that rivals any agency I've encountered in my career. We will absolutely be using iMP again for any future UK activations (if they will have us) and highly recommend for any companies seeking an incredible experience - ESPECIALLY if you're a US-based team like us, and need an expert on location.
Brand Director, Life360
Had a wonderful experience working with David and the whole iMP team for an event this summer! David went above and beyond to help wherever possible and the branded ice cream van turned out beautifully. Hope to work with iMP again soon!
Brand Manager, ETTG
We worked with iMP on stands for two different events and were thrilled with the quality of the items we received. The team executed our brief to a fantastic standard, working to a tight turnaround to deliver all materials required for both events, and were extremely supportive and quick to respond to any questions we had throughout the process. Thank you iMP for your work on this project to ensure we had incredible activations at both of our events!
Brand Manager, BOL Foods
We worked with iMP for our event stand and staffing of the Ideal Home Show. David and the team were fantastic, our stand was incredible and we had so many compliments on it. The staff were great, they are really high energy and engaged our consumers at the stand. I would highly recommend if you are looking to run any sampling or experiential events for your brand.
Brand Manager, Snuggledown
