EW Issue 4 August-September 2026 | Page 19

Case studies

Powerful mouthto-mouth marketing cocktail for drinktec in Munich

How word-of-mouth marketing agency Snöball helped drinktec drive 4,145 new registrations with peer referrals
Mobilising industry speakers Eight-six speakers were mobilised with a 22.7 % share rate Example: Meet Gustav Bien, an industry speaker! He is set to speak at drinktec 2025. He gets a personalised toolkit from Snöball through which he can promote his session and invite his network to attend.
Event overview Leading trade fair for the beverage and liquid food industry drinktec, organised by YONTEX, it is held every four years at the Messe München exhibition centre in Germany. The 2025 edition, held 15 – 19 September, drew 58,281 visitors from 164 countries( with 70 % from international markets) and 1,117 exhibitors.
To boost their organic reach and amplify pre-event engagement, YONTEX partnered with international word-of-mouth marketing platform, Snöball to activate attendees and speakers as peer advocates.
Most event marketing budgets go toward reaching new people, but the people who already said yes to your event sit on something more valuable: trusted networks full of peers who look exactly like your ideal attendee. drinktec 2025 leaned into that. Instead of only buying reach, they made it easy for attendees, speakers, and exhibitors to invite their own networks, each with a personalised share card and referral link. The people closest to the event did the rest.
The result? The campaign mobilised 28,687 participants, driving 4,145 additional sign-ups to the event. Nearly half of everyone who clicked a referral link went on to sign up.
How they did it Snöball executed a multi-touchpoint peer-to-peer campaign starting 10 September, 2025, running three reminder campaigns( eight, four and two weeks out, and 48 hours before the event) timed to key pre-event moments.
Attendees and speakers each received personalised share cards and referral links tailored to their role, keeping engagement consistent from campaign launch through event day.
The campaign enabled sharing across 17 social channels, with LinkedIn as the top platform; 48,620 emails achieved a 62.8 % open rate and 37.1 % click rate. Post-event‘ Save the Date’ and on-demand campaigns sustained engagement. There were also tracked shares, referral traffic, and conversions in real time via Snöball’ s dashboard.
Mobilising participants In all, 28,000 + attendees were mobilised with a 4.53 % share rate Example: Meet Rick, a beverage & liquid food industry professional! He just signed up to attend drinktec 2025. Rick is instantly shown a personalised share page with 17 + social channels to invite peers and spread the word.
Above: Sabrina Kreuzer
Below: The Snöball effect
The Snöball effect Peer-to-peer marketing campaign performance: LinkedIn led at 60.8 % of all social shares, followed by WhatsApp( 10 %), Facebook( 7.3 %), Email( 6.8 %), and Instagram( 5.2 %) across 17 channels. Advocates generated 1,581 shares and 8,547 referral visits, driving 4,145 registrations to the event. 48.5 % Click-to-sign-up rate 60.8 % LinkedIn share rate 62.8 % Email open rate 37.1 % Click rate“ drinktec is built around international exchange, business conversations and meaningful networking across the global beverage and liquid food industry,” said Sabrina Kreuzer, online marketing manager, YONTEX.
“ Creating connections before the event even begins adds real value for exhibitors, visitors and speakers alike. With Snöball, we were able to provide an easy-to-use, branded communication tool that enabled our community to start conversations ahead of the show,” she added.
“ What stood out most was the strong level of organic amplification and interaction generated through personal posts. It clearly showed how powerfully the industry responds to authentic, community-driven communication – and how effectively this type of networking support can extend the impact of event marketing beyond traditional channels.” EW www. exhibitionworld. co. uk Issue 4 2026 19