Trade marketing

The ranking of the best trade marketing agencies

Independent ranking: Sortlist does not rank itself, and agencies cannot pay for their position in this ranking. Sponsored agencies are shown separately and clearly labelled.

Nicolas Finet

By , Co-founder & CEO of Sortlist · · How we ranked

Grazia Communications is no. 1 because it has the highest rating of the five scored agencies (4.92/5) on a solid review base (16 reviews).

No. 1 by score: Grazia Communications

Grazia Communications scores 72/100: 4.92 out of 5 from 16 reviews. It is a 10-person Milan communications agency that builds bespoke communication strategies, with over two decades of experience in luxury, beauty and related sectors.

  1. 1
    Grazia Communications logo

    Rank 1: Grazia Communications

    72/100

    • 4.92/5 (16 reviews)
    • Milan, Italy
    • from €5,000
    • 10 people
    • 0 published projects in this service

    Ideal for a luxury or beauty brand that needs a communication strategy around its retail presence, with projects from €5,000.

    Bespoke communication strategies, with two decades in luxury and beauty

    Why #1?

    • Grazia Communications is no. 1 because it has the highest rating of the five scored agencies (4.92/5) on a solid review base (16 reviews).

    Score breakdown: rating 100/100 · review volume 73/100 · published work 0/100

    Less suited if you want in-store activation at volume: only 3 of its 16 reviews mention retail or promotion work, and its profile lists no published trade marketing project.

    View Grazia Communications’s profile

The 5 agencies with the highest score

Yellow shopping carts and stacked yellow baskets in a store
Trade marketing is judged at the shelf and the till: ask how results are measured there.Photo by Sóc Năng Động on Pexels (Pexels License).

Sorted by score. The “reviews about retail or promotion work” column shows how many of each agency’s reviews describe it: the score measures overall track record, that column measures specialisation.

trade marketing agencies worldwide with the highest Sortlist score
#AgencyScoreRatingReviews about retail or promotion workFrom
1Grazia Communications – Milan · Bespoke communication strategies, with two decades in luxury and beauty72/1004.92 (16)3 of 16€5,000
2Gotoclient – Barcelona · B2B online marketing and lead generation, sales-oriented, at mid-market prices68/1004.89 (26)7 of 26€1,000
3Agence Massaï – Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois · Integrated agency and studio: consulting, production, media and medical education50/1004.81 (32)2 of 32€1,000
4D-IMPULSE – Isneauville · Predictive marketing, digital marketing and web development, B2C and B2B45/1004.78 (45)3 of 45€1,000
5Steffen und Bach – Berlin · Berlin communication agency built around inspiring people22/1004.72 (17)2 of 17€1,000

Score of the 5 highest-ranked agencies

Score out of 100 for each agency, calculated from rating (50%), review volume (30%) and published projects (20%).

  • Grazia Communications72
  • Gotoclient68
  • Agence Massaï50
  • D-IMPULSE45
  • Steffen und Bach22
Show the data as a table
Categorypoints
Grazia Communications72
Gotoclient68
Agence Massaï50
D-IMPULSE45
Steffen und Bach22

How the score is calculated

A market stall with lemons, limes and spring onions and handwritten price tags
Each score can be reproduced from the data on the agency’s profile.Photo by Matt Webster on Pexels (Pexels License).

Of the 150 providers Sortlist lists for this search, we evaluated 146 profiles (the first pages of the listing). 46 have at least 3 verified reviews, and 5 of them also have at least 2 reviews that mention retail, promotion, in-store or distribution work: those are scored. The 4 sponsored agencies (Square Marketing and Bright8 and ADRENALINSKY Werbeagentur GmbH and InBold) paid for visibility and are excluded.

A script calculates the score out of 100 with the same formula for every agency: average rating (50%), number of reviews on a log scale (30%) and projects published in the service (20%). The order is never adjusted by hand.

Independent ranking: Sortlist does not rank itself, and agencies cannot pay for their position. Listing order and sponsored placements play no part.

Reviews come from verified Sortlist clients. The 14 other agencies on the listing appear in the link list. A high score reflects track record, not that the agency is the best fit for your specific project.

Other agencies evaluated (14)

Agencies on the Sortlist listing that are not in the table: they have a lower score or do not meet the criteria.

Promoguy.nl · Off The Beaten Track Communications · united communications: PR & Digital Marketing Agency · InterTeam Marketing · thinknewgroup · Dark Horse · DAS KARTELL GmbH · PRINZIP E GmbH · DRIZA · Brainartist GmbH · Lemon Brand Medien & Marketing · Digital M · WACHTER PARTS · The Creative Unit

About the author: Nicolas Finet

Nicolas Finet

About the author:

Co-founder and CEO of Sortlist. An entrepreneur passionate about B2B marketing and about helping companies grow, he has been connecting companies with the right marketing agencies across Europe since 2014. His focus: digital strategy, business development and scaling B2B marketplaces. He oversees this methodology and the data behind every Sortlist ranking.

LinkedIn · X (@nifinet)

Struggling to choose? Let us help.

Post a project for free and quickly meet qualified providers. Use our data and on-demand experts to pick the right one – then hire them and take your business to the next level.

Post a project – free

Frequently asked questions

How much does a trade marketing agency cost?

Of the 142 agencies evaluated worldwide, 142 state a minimum project budget and 101 start at €1,000. That is the entry point for a first project, not a monthly fee: ask for a quote broken down by line.

What should I ask a trade marketing agency?

Which retailers it has activated and with what result, how it measures sell-out (sales at the till) rather than sell-in, who negotiates in-store placement, how field teams are recruited and trained, and the cost per store visit.

Why can a generalist agency rank first?

The score rewards rating, number of reviews and published projects, not specialisation alone. To see who is most specialised, read the reviews column: Gotoclient (7 of 26) has the most.