TTMC's telemarketing expertise and advanced campaign analytics drive record registrations for Hyve’s Breakbulk events.

Hyve Group plc is a next-generation events business, powering global industry communities and creating platforms for progress. Its goal is to connect whole industry ecosystems through unmissable in-person events, online platforms and hyper-productive facilitated meetings.

Within the Hyve Group, the Breakbulk team provides events, media and insights to professionals specialising in project cargo and breakbulk transportation and logistics, including project owners, carriers, shippers, freight forwarders and heavy haul specialists.

Project background

Telemarketing had always been a crucial channel for driving visitor acquisition for the Hyve team. Whilst they had a provider in place, they felt there was room for improvement in terms of service, transparency, and outcomes. Having put out a tender, Hyve were impressed with the credentials, experience and sector knowledge demonstrated by the Telemarketing Company (TTMC), and the breadth of the agency’s skillset. As a result, they extended the tender beyond visitor acquisition, to include exhibitor lead generation and qualification, as well as visitor conversion (calling registrations pre-event to minimise drop-out). As transparency was a high priority, Hyve were particularly impressed with TTMC’s real-time reporting, which offered levels of insight around campaign performance they had not previously seen.

Following the tender, TTMC was appointed as a recommended telemarketing provider for the Hyve Group, tasked to support their global events programme.

Campaign objectives

Following the agency’s appointment, TTMC was immediately engaged to support a series of events across the fashion, home and shipping sectors. This included the Breakbulk programme, specifically Breakbulk Middle East, a free-to-attend event and the fastest growing in the region and Breakbulk Europe, a paid event which is the largest global industry event and the flagship in the brand’s portfolio.

The objective for both events was to re-engage past attendees, highlight the unique benefits of attendance and present a refreshed proposition to build interest and drive registrations.

Project execution

Contact lists were provided by Breakbulk which included previous event attendees, companies in the breakbulk, shipping, and project cargo industries. The audience was split into two segments:

1. Lapsed – previous attendees who didn’t attend last year.

2. Last year’s attendees, not yet registered for this year’s event.

The first phase of calling focused on Breakbulk Middle East. Agents were assigned whose tone and style would align with the Breakbulk brand and included a multilingual agent to handle calls in Arabic and French. A briefing covered the key messages and unique benefits of attendance such as networking opportunities, sector insights and access to an impressive roster of exhibitors housed within a new exhibition hall. As prospects had already attended the event, they were aware of the brand and the event broadly, but agents needed to present a refreshed agenda highlighting live content, fringe events, and specific sessions such as Women in Breakbulk and Education Day.

The second phase of calling for Breakbulk Europe followed a similar pattern but with the additional requirement of selling paid tickets. Given the cost associated with attendance, agents received a detailed brief on the value proposition and were trained to handle common objections, including any concerns raised about ticket prices. Agents were able to highlight the early-bird offer (€295 vs. €400 at the event) to secure registrations but focused also on tailoring a compelling proposition, bringing to the fore the specific benefits that addressed each prospect’s individual interests to drive conversions.

The Hyve team was provided with access to TTMC Connect, the agency’s real-time reporting portal, which alongside regular reviews and communication, created a strong feedback loop between client and agency. Hyve were extremely impressed with the visibility and ease of use provided by the portal dashboard, which enabled them to see the live status of campaign performance and results at any point in time. Call recordings and live call listening, particularly in the early stage of the engagement, enabled the team to assess performance and adjust the programme as needed.

Calling lists included global data and were therefore segmented by time zone, with country-specific focus lists to optimise the calling schedule. An export of current registrations was shared daily by the client and cross-referenced with calling lists so that calls could be prioritised to maximise conversion. Diarised call backs were made to those who expressed intent but had not yet submitted their registration to check on any outstanding issues and guide them through the process.

Whilst the primary objective for both events was to secure registrations, it was important also to understand and capture any barriers to registration to feed the strategy for future events. Agents promoted the programme as a whole and where prospects weren’t available to attend specific dates or locations, they shared details of alternative events to feed the pipeline. Any additional leads such as enquiries about exhibiting were forwarded immediately to the client to action.

Results

Hyve have been very impressed with the quality of TTMC’s delivery, their transparency, and the flexibility of their approach and the agency is now well established as a strategic partner supporting the global events programme.

TTMC’s visitor acquisition campaign for Breakbulk Europe delivered at 126% of target, contributing to the total of over 11,000 attendees. The event was deemed a resounding success, achieving an 8% increase on the previous year and a 68% increase in ticket revenue. A significant 39% of attendees have been first time visitors. The full marketing campaign for Breakbulk Middle East delivered an 11% increase versus the prior year and over 7000 registrations, re-engaging a substantial number of lapsed attendees and re-connecting with those who attended in the previous year.

The campaigns have not only driven attendance and engagement for both events but also increased awareness and interest in the Breakbulk brand, setting the stage for future events.