Highlights from the Swann/Food and Grocery Council 2009 salary survey - marketing roles have regained some ground this year.

In particular mid and lower level brand manager roles have jumped, but this is partly caused by a trend to ‘total cash rewards’ (without even a car allowance being indicated as part of a package). This is a logical and long overdue move for many companies where vehicles or allowances have been attached to roles where they no longer have any relevance.

After a big jump in Total Cash component for Sales & Trade Marketing roles in 2008 the numbers have levelled off in 2009. The position of Category Manager is still a highly variable role across businesses and we suspect has many different interpretations. The most senior sales roles have taken a bit of a hit on bonuses – perhaps the impact of retailer trading terms plus tighter markets in 2008 coming through.

The effect of the trend to car allowances or in many companies a ‘total cash package’ is apparent – even in many traditional ‘car as a tool of trade’ roles at management level (e.g. National/Regional Sales Manager). We noted the impact of rising petrol prices likely to impact this since the 2008 survey and it appears to have done so.

Territory Managers/Sales Representatives show a jump this year (but really only for those north of the Bombay’s). Bonuses appear down though, as do numbers of roles, as companies focus on employing less people but of better

quality and struggle to balance their activity/resourcing with differing trade demands across the two groups.

Doing more with less appears to be a continuing flavour.