The Background
FHA-Food & Beverage is one of Asia’s largest and most influential food and hospitality trade shows, drawing tens of thousands of F&B professionals, exhibitors, and buyers from around the world. Held in Singapore, the event serves as a global meeting point for innovation, sourcing, and partnerships across every corner of the food and beverage industry.
But as competition for audience attention intensified and international travel patterns shifted, FHA needed to get conversion at scale, and quality at source. That’s where Think Orion stepped in.
The Challenge
Across 2023–2025, the goal remained consistent:
Drive high-volume, qualified registrations while improving cost-efficiency across a global audience.
But each year brought a different constraint:
- 2023: New baseline after COVID
- 2024: Bigger ambitions and expanded targeting, with increased creative testing
- 2025: Tighter budget, shorter campaign window, and sharper focus on attendee quality
The Breakthrough
Over three show cycles, we transformed FHA’s digital campaigns into a repeatable, insight-led performance engine, growing smarter each year through tighter geo-targeting, message testing, and channel strategy.
1. Regional Rebalancing: Finding Volume Where It Matters
While 2023 and 2024 campaigns showed that Southeast Asia consistently delivered the strongest ROI, 2025 gave us room to pressure-test new markets.
We allocated part of the budget to expand into Western regions like Europe and North America, not expecting immediate returns, but to gather signals on broader global interest.
The result? Stronger international reach, but higher CPAs and lower conversion intent. These findings didn’t just validate our past geographic bets; they now inform where we’ll double down moving forward. In 2026, that means a sharper focus on high-intent, high-efficiency markets.
2. Messaging Maturity: From “It’s Free” to “Don’t Miss Out”
Early campaigns focused on promoting free access, but being able to lock in on urgency, exclusivity, and perceived value moved the needle more than the price alone.
By introducing time-limited discount messaging in 2025, paired with creatives emphasizing high-profile exhibitors and innovation showcases, we brought CPAs down to the lowest point ever, even in a shorter, lower-budget cycle.
3. Channel Efficiency: META as the Scalable Engine, Google as the Closer
Across all three years, META delivered the highest conversion volumes with standout CPAs, especially when using optimized video and carousel formats for Southeast Asian audiences.
Google Search (especially branded) remained the most efficient channel by CPA, while PMax and Demand Gen campaigns added lift in 2024–2025.
YouTube matured into a viable TOF tool by 2024, particularly in Thailand and Indonesia, where low CPMs amplified awareness pre-launch.
The Takeaways
- Geo-targeting drives ROI
Focusing on Southeast Asia — instead of diluting spend across expensive Western markets — improved both cost per lead and event turnout. - Messaging evolution matters
Free entry wasn’t enough. What worked? Framing the on-site fee as the default price, then using time-limited “discount” messaging to create urgency. - Platform synergy wins
Meta scaled best. Google Search closed. YouTube warmed up TOF. Understanding each channel’s role made our budget work harder. - Smarter ≠ smaller
2025 had less budget, less time, and fewer campaigns, but hit harder than any previous year thanks to focus, optimization, and doubling down on proven strategies.
