Article actual date: Nov 26, 2020

Overview

Being one of the first international trade exhibitions to open in Asia, THAIFEX — Anuga Asia is currently the leading annual international trade fair for food & beverages, food service technology and retail & franchise in Asia. Numerous industry professionals have used this increasingly successful platform to meet and establish new networks within the F&B industry for heightening their business success.

THAIFEX — Anuga Asia 2020 Hybrid Edition was a 5-day onsite event held from 22nd September 2020 to 26th September 2020 in Bangkok, Thailand. The show attracted an impressive turnout of over 800 exhibitors and more than 21,000 visitors from all over the world either onsite or virtually. These figures show us the resilience of the F&B industry and we are grateful to be given the opportunity to partner with THAIFEX (again) for the 4th edition. The 2020 event edition is particularly special. Jublia was engaged to power the very first hybrid event format of THAIFEX.

Jublia Hybrid Event Platform

For years, THAIFEX prided itself on the organisation of a vibrant trade show. Due to the strict Covid-19 measures this year, their event concept needed a strong and credible pivot. We are tasked to deliver a full hybrid event experience that unified the onsite and virtual business matching experience of buyers and sellers in attendance.

Attendees were given the ability to arrange onsite meetings as well as virtual meetings through the Jublia platform. This helped facilitate relevant business meetings between local attendees and international attendees (who otherwise would have no way of getting matched since they couldn’t travel to Thailand for the show).

The organisers of THAIFEX were very commendable in their efforts to streamline both the onsite and online experience for their customers. This led to the creation of a special business initiative that was crafted with the objective of achieving positive participation ROI for the attendees. Exhibitors were provided the opportunity of maximum reach and exposure of their brands and products through the virtual event platform, at the same time, buyers were able to source from an extensive range of products from trusted brands.

The Results

1. Attendee Activity
   Over the brief campaign period of 4 weeks, more than 60% of the attendees were active participants on the virtual platform. Together over 6,500 unique meeting requests were initiated with the F&B vertical of Sweets & Confectionery receiving the most search interest.
2. Business Meetings
   Over 500 1-to-1 business meetings were arranged across the days of the event. Interestingly, the number of virtual meetings was 8 times higher than the number of onsite meetings. This was a huge validation of concept as the organisers of THAIFEX pivoted to this new hybrid format.
3. Customer Sentiments
   THAIFEX concluded with a resultant positive Net Promoter Score (NPS) that saw over 70% of the attendees indicating a positive experience. Moreover, our platform scored an 80% satisfaction rating with feedback on ease of use being one of the top most recurring comments.

Feedback

The platform provided an easy and convenient way to source for the most suitable supplier to one’s company requirements, without having to be physically there at the event.

- Myanmar Distribution Group (Buyer)

This platform allows me to effectively explore and network with new suppliers, hence providing new assortments for my company.

- Brave Tristar (Buyer)

I really love using this awesome networking channel. Moreover, the quality of buyers that attended this event were of standard.

- Everbest Soya Bean Products (Exhibitor)

Key Takeaways

The future of events is face-to-face and will always be face-to-face. Knowing this, event organisers in this new business climate need to employ the use of the right digital tools to best achieve these objectives and the intended results. THAIFEX took a small risk to spice up their event this year with hybrid event formats, and the result numbers truly speak for themselves. We are grateful to Koelnmesse for believing in us and the vision we have to better engage all types of attendees (virtual or onsite) despite any circumstance. We wish that more event organisers would follow suit, pivoting their events business to become more Covid-resilient.

Speak To Us!

If you would like our team to assist you through your hybrid pivot for 2021 simply reach out to us at info@jublia.com or speak to anyone whom you’re in touch with from Jublia. We are ever ready to be your guide through these challenging times for our industry.