Side by side
| Product sampling | Performance Sampling | |
|---|---|---|
| What you buy | Staff, a table, product handed out | A sampling operation, a film crew, mobile billboards, and an edit team |
| What you get back | A sample count and photos | Paid-ready video ads and a testing library built from filmed real trials |
| Where it happens | Wherever the booth fits | On the streets around the stores that carry you |
| The content | None, or a recap reel | Real first-trial reactions cut into ads, every month |
| Media attached | None | Driver-mounted mobile billboards in the same neighborhoods |
| What the work captures | Samples distributed | Filmed real trials, mobile-billboard moments, and paid-ready creative |
| How finance sees it | Awareness, first to get cut | Reusable creative built from a live sampling operation |
See one in the wild
A real first trial, filmed on the street with the billboard in the shot. This is what your media buyer gets to test.
See the ads this producesWhat product sampling gets right
The instinct is correct and always was. A taste beats a claim. If your product wins the moment someone tries it, getting it into hands is the highest-converting thing you can do. Product sampling has survived a century for that reason.
Where it breaks
It breaks at the moment after the taste. The person walks away, and the brand has nothing: no footage, no audience, no way to carry the moment into paid media. The spend ends when the event ends. That is why sampling budgets get cut first when money is tight.
What Performance Sampling adds
- The camera. Every real first reaction becomes an asset you can run as a paid ad, so one sampling day keeps working for a month.
- The billboard. Lumix mobile billboards ride through the same blocks, so people see the brand before, during, and after the taste.
- The operation. Permits, food-handler certifications, insurance, cold chain, cleanup. Done properly, so it can be done repeatedly and at scale.
- The creative. Filmed real trials are cut into paid-ready ads, with the mobile billboard carrying the brand through the same neighborhood.
Want to see the whole system in eight minutes?
Watch how it worksWhen plain product sampling is still the right call
If you only need trial at a single event, have no paid media running, and are not in retail yet, a simple sampling team is cheaper and enough. Performance Sampling earns its cost when you have ads to feed and shelves to defend.
Who should switch
Brands spending $25K a month or more on paid who are running out of winning creative, and brands entering or defending retail doors who need to walk into the buyer meeting with proof.
Read the full definition: What is Performance Sampling? New to the idea: What is street sampling? Watch how it works and apply See the ads this produces See the packages
Questions
Is Performance Sampling just product sampling with a camera?
No. The camera is one part. It also includes the permitted sampling operation, mobile billboards in the frame and in the neighborhood, and an edit team producing paid-ready ads every month.
Is Performance Sampling more expensive than product sampling?
Per day, yes. The added cost covers filming real trials, mobile billboards, and editing the footage into paid-ready creative. Product sampling produces a sample count.
Can I keep my current sampling agency and add this?
You can, but the content depends on the sample. The footage, the billboard placement, and the permits have to be planned as one operation, which is why we run all of it.
What creative deliverables are included?
Sample & Scale includes 40 street sampling videos and 20 paid-ad deliverables a month. Retail Velocity includes 60 street sampling videos and 40 paid-ad deliverables a month. Both are built from filmed real trials.