Cobra Group (Marketing)

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Cobra Group is a sales company specialising in a variety of direct marketing strategies, including event marketing, community based selling (commonly known as door-to-door) and business-to-business promotions (business based door-to-door).

It operates a franchise system based on multi-level marketing. The company was founded by Chris Niarchos in a flat in Manly, Australia. The company then expanded internationally with headquarters both in Sydney and London.^[1] , setting up several independent subsidiaries in over 24 countries. It is affiliated with DS-MAX.^[2]

In the UK the company has provided direct marketing for a number of companies including npower.^[3]

1 Specialist divisions within The Cobra Group
2 Structure
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Specialist divisions within The Cobra Group

Allsports Direct (Sports club memberships and fund-raising)

This involves selling raffle tickets or scratchies for the majority of AFL clubs on game-day as well as Surf Life Saving pledges and Paint-ball promotions.

Appco Direct (Service-based industries such as telecommunications, energy, security, etc)
Granton Direct (Targeted local area marketing)
Pro-Sales Direct (Discounted consumable products)
Support Direct (Professional independent fund-raising in the not-for-profit sector)
Credico Direct (Specialist financial services group)

[edit] Structure

The Cobra Group marketing strategy is selling face to face with customers via door-to-door, in store, shopping centres and other venues, for commission only pay. It is a spinoff of DS MAX, and has proved highly controversial, being investigated by the Daily Mirror for its unconventional practices.

The basic structure of the company is akin to pyramid selling, although there is no initial buy in. The company does not offer salary and agents are paid on a commission basis only. Agents are classified as Independent Contractors and thus self employed with average working hours. The Cobra Group uses a pyramid-style heirarchy where every contractor begins at the bottom selling door-to-door or businesss-to-business under the supervision of a 'Leader' or 'Team Leader'.

The Heirarchy is as follows: