Montgomery Events Asia
Generating Exhibitor Leads for Two Niche B2B Exhibitions Across Southeast Asia
Background
Background
Montgomery Events Asia organises Ocean Connect Asia (OCA) and Digital Construction Asia (DCA), two co-located B2B exhibitions held at Sands Expo & Convention Centre, Singapore.
Ocean Connect Asia is Southeast Asia's dedicated platform for marine, hydrographic, ocean science and uncrewed technologies, bringing together solution providers, researchers and maritime decision-makers from across the region.
Digital Construction Asia focuses on accelerating digital transformation within the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) sector, spotlighting technologies such as AI, BIM, Digital Twins, GeoBIM, Robotics and Smart Construction.
Both events serve specialised, professional audiences where relevance and credibility carry far more weight than volume or reach alone.
The Challenge
The Challenge
Montgomery Events Asia needed to generate exhibitor enquiries and stand bookings for both the 2026 editions of OCA and DCA within a lean media budget across three Southeast Asian markets and two distinctly different industry verticals.
The core difficulties were threefold:
These are not general trade shows, as OCA targets hydrographic surveyors, marine technologists, offshore operators and ocean science specialists. DCA targets BIM managers, construction directors, infrastructure engineers and AEC digital leads. Reaching the right people required precision, because broad targeting would burn through the budget on irrelevant audiences and dilute the campaign's credibility.
With limited media spend, there was no room for an extended testing phase or wasted impressions on poorly qualified audiences. Every campaign element needed to earn its place.
The client entered the engagement with a clear expectation: Google Display campaigns should consistently deliver CTRs in the region of 4% to 4.3%.
Our Approach
Our Approach
Brew developed and managed an integrated digital advertising strategy across Google Display, Meta and LinkedIn, structured in three phases across the January to March campaign window.
The strategy was built around a simple principle: get the right message in front of the right professional, at the right stage of their decision-making process.
Our full scope of services throughout the campaign would include:
Phase 1: Awareness and Audience Building
In niche B2B sectors, cold audiences rarely convert on first contact. Before asking anyone to enquire or book a stand, we needed to establish that these events existed, what they stood for, and why they were worth paying attention to. January was about building the foundation, generating qualified site traffic that could be retargeted later, and seeding event awareness across the right professional communities.
What we did:
LinkedIn played a specific role that Facebook and Google cannot replicate: targeting by job function, seniority and industry simultaneously.
For DCA, we reached Engineering, Construction, IT, and Project Management professionals at Manager, Head and Director levels. For OCA, we focused on Engineering, Operations, and Research functions, specifically within Maritime, Offshore, Energy and Research industries. This precision ensured that impressions were not wasted on adjacent audiences who would never become exhibitors.
The creative approach across all channels was deliberately non-promotional. We led with who the event is for, what attendees gain, and why the content is relevant to the industry right now, instead of pricing, urgency, or generic event hype.
Ad creatives for Digital Construction Asia, positioned around practical skills, networking, and thought leadership, to resonate with decision-makers across the region.
Cross-industry professionals connect across the co-located events, a turnout shaped by Brew's coordinated approach to multi-phase audience acquisition.
Phase 2: Consideration and Early Commitment
By February, we had an audience that had been exposed to both events. The objective shifted from awareness to consideration: moving professionals from passive awareness to active interest.
At this stage, content needed to go deeper: what specifically would they see, hear and gain from being present as an exhibitor?
What we did:
February produced the campaign's strongest single-channel performance. DCA achieved a Google Display CTR of approximately 20% during this period; a result that reflects both the quality of the audience built in January and the relevance of the creative to a segment actively seeking digital construction solutions. Even OCA, serving a more niche audience, maintained solid engagement through this phase.
Retargeting was central to the February strategy. Rather than continuing to reach cold audiences, we concentrated budget on users already familiar with the events, reducing friction and increasing the likelihood of conversion. For a niche exhibition, a warm audience is significantly more valuable than a large one.
Brew crafted ad creatives for Ocean Connect Asia, leading with the event's focus on marine technology and professional community to establish immediate relevance with a specialist audience.
Industry experts take the stage at the event, engaging an audience built through Brew's targeted digital outreach.
Phase 3: Conversion and Final Push
March was the performance phase. Audiences had been built and warmed. The remaining task was to convert interest into action: enquiries, stand bookings and registrations. With deadlines approaching, urgency became a legitimate creative lever, and remarketing intensity was raised accordingly.
What we did:
Throughout all three phases, ongoing optimisation ran in parallel: keyword refinement, audience exclusions, ad scheduling improvements, creative refreshes and structured messaging enhancements. These were not set-and-forget campaigns. Weekly performance monitoring informed weekly adjustments, and monthly reporting translated data into strategic recommendations for the following period.
Buyers and exhibitors engage in high-value conversations across the show floor, reflecting the quality of audience Brew's digital targeting was built to attract.
Results
Results
The campaigns delivered strong engagement across both exhibitions, with performance building steadily from January through March and peaking during the final push ahead of each event.
Digital Construction Asia saw the strongest audience resonance of the two campaigns, with engagement climbing notably higher during February, a clear signal that the messaging landed well within the AEC and built environment community.
Ocean Connect Asia delivered consistent, reliable engagement throughout the campaign, a solid result given the more specialised and inherently smaller marine and ocean technology audience it was targeting.
Three factors drove consistent above-benchmark performance across both campaigns.
Our Approach
When Collectius came to us with significant gaps in their SEO expertise and online visibility, we tailored a comprehensive approach that was designed to overhaul their digital presence and drive measurable improvements. Here's how we proceeded:
- SEO Audit: An on-page and off-page SEO audit was conducted to identify areas for improvement
- Google Search Console Installation: Google Search Console was installed on the Collectius website to monitor and track their analytics
- Digital Content Strategy: We produced a digital content strategy pack to help Collectius enhance their SEO goals
- Backlink Acquisition: Backlinks were purchased to improve Collectius' domain ranking Keyword Research: Extensive keyword research was performed to align content and SEO strategies with relevant search trends
Comprehensive SEO Audit
We initiated our process by conducting a detailed SEO audit for Collectius. This audit was crucial in pinpointing several critical areas where the company was underperforming.
Key issues we found included suboptimal keyword utilisation, missing meta descriptions, and poorly optimised content that wasn't fully aligned with target search queries.
Having identified areas for improvement, the Brew team worked with Collectius’ web development team to implement these fixes.
Following the initial SEO audit, we conducted a focused technical SEO audit for Collectius. A technical SEO audit is a thorough examination of a website’s technical infrastructure as it relates to its visibility and performance in search engines.
It evaluates several key elements, including site architecture, page speed, mobile-friendliness, indexing, crawlability, security, and use of technologies that may impact search engine access and efficiency.
This was a critical step to ensuring that the website’s infrastructure met modern search engine standards, which is pivotal for improving search rankings and user experience. Our audit revealed several key technical issues that needed immediate attention:
Slow Loading Speeds: We identified that the Collectius website had slower than optimal loading times. Slow speeds can significantly affect user experience and negatively impact search engine rankings. To address this, we optimised image sizes, minimised the use of blocking JavaScript, and implemented more efficient caching policies to enhance page load performance.
The Lack of a Sitemap: The absence of a sitemap was another critical gap. Sitemaps are essential as they help search engines more intelligently crawl the site and understand its structure. We created and submitted a comprehensive sitemap to Google, which facilitated better indexing of the website’s pages.
Mobile Optimization: Our audit also found that Collectius’ website was not optimised for mobile users. The Brew team provided detailed guidance to Collectius' web development team on best practices for mobile optimization going forward. This included advice on implementing accelerated mobile pages (AMP), optimising button sizes and touch targets, and ensuring text readability without requiring zoom.
Tracking & Monitoring of Collectius’ Web Performance
To better monitor and track the effectiveness of our strategies, we installed Google Search Console (GSC) on Collectius’ website. GSC allows us to gain valuable insights into the site's traffic, search performance, and any crawling errors, thereby enabling us to make data-driven decisions.
With data from GSC, we can identify which pages are performing well and which might require further optimization. This helps us refine SEO strategies and target specific issues with precision.
Digital Content Strategy
Recognizing the importance of content in SEO success, we crafted a comprehensive digital content strategy pack specifically tailored to Collectius' needs.
This strategy involved developing four customer personas and two end-user personas, representing the diverse segments of Collectius' audience. These personas helped us understand the distinct needs, behaviours, and preferences of different user types that interact with Collectius' services.
From this foundation, we were able to pinpoint the types of content and topics that would resonate most strongly with each persona. Leveraging these insights, we developed a series of SEO-optimised articles.
Each article was carefully written by our copywriter who made sure that keywords used were relevant with Collectius’ offerings and aligned with the interests of potential clients.
Taking this approach allowed us to attract more organic traffic to their site and significantly enhance visibility for these targeted search terms.
Backlink Acquisition
To strengthen Collectius’ domain authority and improve their search engine ranking, we strategically acquired high-quality backlinks. This effort was aimed at boosting their profile against competitors and increasing the trustworthiness of their site in the eyes of search engines.
Through our targeted backlink acquisition efforts, we gradually improved the organic traffic to Collectius' site.
As their domain authority increased, so did their visibility in search engine results, leading to more visitors naturally finding their way to the website without the need for paid advertising.
This steady increase in organic traffic not only enhanced their online presence but also contributed to higher engagement and conversion rates.
Outstanding SEO Results for Collectius
Our comprehensive SEO strategy delivered impressive results for Collectius, significantly enhancing their online visibility and search engine performance. Here are some of the key achievements:
Significant Traffic Growth
Over a period of six months, we achieved more than a 60% increase in organic traffic to Collectius' website. This surge in visitors was a direct result of our focused improvements in SEO practices and content strategies.
Expanded Keyword Reach
There was over a 70% increase in the number of organic keywords that Collectius ranks for on Google. This expansion in keyword coverage helped broaden their visibility and reach a wider audience interested in debt collection and financial services.
Top Rankings in Local Searches
Collectius' website achieved first-page rankings on Google's Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) for targeted searches in Singapore and Malaysia. Ranking on the first page for relevant searches significantly boosted their brand's visibility and accessibility in these key markets.
