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From a position of relative obscurity only a decade ago, open-end investment funds, or unit trusts as they are commonly described in the UK, have emerged as the fastest growing savings vehicle by net asset value in several of the EEC countries and today constitute an important sector within the institutional investment industry. In 1964, there were only one hundred open-end funds invested in financial securities, i.e., stocks and shares, in all Europe, but by the end of 1975, there were approximately six hundred funds in the EEC alone, open to the public with a combined net asset value close to _GCP_10,000 million. While this rate of growth and development of open-end funds has had a significant effect on portfolio investment through their deployment of financial resources with ramifications for European capital markets[1], this article is concerned with the marketing activities of funds in the mobilisation of mainly private savings in a market traditionally dominated by the large investment institutions such as insurance companies, savings banks and investment companies. This article therefore concentrates attention on the promotional aspects of open-end funds registered and sold in the countries of the EEC with comparisons made on an inter-fund and intercountry basis. Analysis is centred on their development from the early "primary" marketing methods that were applied in some countries so vigorously in the 1960s towards the present sophisticated "secondary" methods which have evolved as funds have moved towards maturity providing wide ranging financial, savings and tax planning services within an increasingly competitive overall market structure in savings instruments. This study only includes those countries in the EEC with developed investment fund industries: Britain, Germany, France, Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg. Denmark and Ireland are excluded on grounds of the... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]