LUXEPACK LOS ANGELES | Xinyi Liu Portfolio

LUXE PACK LOS ANGELES • EVENT MARKETING

Repositioning and growing a declining, beauty-concentrated show through brand, design, and campaign work.

Role

Marketing Assistant

Timeline

Jan 2026 - March 2026

Team

LuxePack USA

Tool

Excel, Event Maker, Hubspot, Canva, Adobe Creative Suite, CapCut, LinkedIn Analytics

←

+ 25.3%
Pre-registration YoY

+ 19.5%

Attendance YoY

Event

Overview

CONTEXT

LUXE PACK Los Angeles is a leading B2B trade show for luxury packaging. As part of a two-person U.S. marketing team, I supported integrated event marketing across social media, email campaigns, website updates, and campaign coordination for the 2026 LA edition, contributing to stronger pre-registration and attendance growth.

THE 2025 CHALLENGE

After 7 editions, LUXE PACK Los Angeles is well-established as the West Coast’s premium packaging event but faces positioning challenges due to declining attendance and narrow sector focus.

▾ 11.1%

Pre-registration Decrease

7,949 → 7,063

50%

Concentrated in Beauty

cosmetics-perfumes

▾ 14.5%

Attendance Decrease

5,201 → 4,446 unique visitors

2026 OUTCOME vs 2025 BASELINE

Pre-registration Growth

7,101 → 8,898

+25.3%

Attendance Growth

3,706 → 4,429 unique visitors

+19.5%

Two new sectors

Skincare & Haircare

29% + 9%

What 2025 Revealed

Three business problems shaping the 2026 marketing strategy.

2025 PROBLEM

BRAND IDENTITY

Design

Diluted identity, and hard to navigate

Co-location with MakeUp dilutes the brand, and 84.9% of first-timers struggled to navigate the show.

2025 PROBLEM

BRAND & POSITIONING

Brand

The current value proposition is misaligned with attendance need

Sold as global, all-sector premium. It delivered 96% beauty ( beauty-heavy) and NPS fell from 52 to 30 (exhibitor's less agile offer).

AUDIENCE GROWTH

Campaign

2025 PROBLEM

Indie and emerging brands are the real growth engine

75% of registrants are indie / SME founders, not the legacy names the show was built around.

View the full 2025 analysis SWOT · MARKET · SURVEY · THE BIGGER OPPORTUNITY

▼

EXTERNAL & INTERNAL, SWOT ANALYSIS

External Analysis

U.S. packaging market by 2030

$254B

from ~$180B today

Indie beauty growth YoY

+15.7%

outpacing broader beauty sector at 9.9%

Consumers prioritising eco packaging

42%

recyclable & compostable preferred

Consumers prioritising eco packaging

42%

recyclable & compostable preferred

Internal Analysis

L.A. packaging sector 2021–2023

+28%

$8.2B revenue · 1,500+ active companies

Visitor NPS

29.5

52.2 in 2024 ↓↓

Different LP companies

1,153

1,213 in 2024 ↓

SME & startups

75.5%

vs 24.5% legacy brands

Brand conversion rate

≈51%

870 attended of 1,718 registered

Cosmetics focus

90%

Exhibitor market — beauty-heavy

POST-SHOW SURVEY

Visitor Survey Comments

↓

Visitor NPS Summary

NPS halved (52 → 30) ↓↓

Realigned

the Positioning

BRAND

Solves · promise vs reality (96% beauty, NPS 52→30)

Our team rebuilt the value proposition, mission, and vision around indie and creative brands. This helps set a clear target audience, the direction every other move aimed at.

Positioning: Before

Current Value Proposition:

LUXE PACK is the globally renowned business-to-business trade show destination for packaging innovation, design, and trends across all premium industries. The newest addition, LUXE PACK Los Angeles, brings together the top primary and secondary packaging suppliers with today's growing and leading brands and retailers to facilitate all packaging projects. Supercharge your packaging development projects and forge invaluable connections at the highly anticipated West Coast industry event.

Current Mission:

LUXE PACK Los Angeles’s mission is to unite brands and innovative packaging manufacturers, igniting creativity, advancing sustainable practices, and providing a prestigious global stage for the industry’s most cutting-edge solutions. The event aims to facilitate packaging development projects, foster invaluable connections, and drive transformative change within the packaging industry.

Current Vision:

The vision is to serve as the premier business-to-business destination for packaging innovation, design, and trends across all industries—including beauty, skincare, wine & spirits, fine foods, and fashion—by inspiring distinctive packaging design, sustainability, and digital innovation. LUXE PACK Los Angeles aspires to be the leading platform where emerging and established brands can source creative, sustainable, and trend-setting packaging solutions that help them stand out in an evolving consumer landscape.

Positioning: After

New Value Proposition: Solution-driven value and business outcomes

LUXE PACK Los Angeles is the West Coast’s premier platform for creative brands to discover, customize, and source creative, sustainable packaging solutions. We connect forward-thinking makers with agile suppliers, foster a vibrant community that amplifies brand stories, and accelerate growth. Through a vibrant mix of exhibition, storytelling, and community experiences, the event empowers brands to stand out, scale responsibly, and connect with the people shaping tomorrow’s consumer landscape.

New Mission: Specify brands + respond to suppliers' pain point (flexibility)

To empower both legacy and emerging brands by providing unparalleled access to flexible, sustainable, and creative packaging solutions. LUXE PACK Los Angeles fosters a collaborative community where discovery meets business, enabling iconic leaders and new visionaries alike to drive the future of packaging innovation on the West Coast and beyond.

New Vision: From event to growth engine + full value chain delivery

To be the leading catalyst for brand growth—supporting both legacy icons and emerging disruptors—by reimagining how packaging inspires, connects, and sustains. LUXE PACK Los Angeles sets the standard for agility, eco-consciousness, and authentic storytelling in the global packaging industry.

THE SHIFT

From 2025

To 2026

AUDIENCE

All premium industries, leading brands

→

Creative brands, legacy and emerging

IDENTITY

A global premium destination

→

A West Coast creative community

VALUE

Facilitate packaging projects

→

Discover, customize, source, and grow

SUPPLIERS

Not addressed

→

Agile, flexible, low MOQs

ROLE

An event

→

A growth engine for brands

THE PURPOSE

Gave the sales team a target

Sales

A clear "who we're for" tells recruiting which exhibitors to chase and which to skip, and opens the pitch to new sectors like food and wellness.

Gave every channel one story

Marketing

Every channel now speaks to the same idea, creative, flexible, growth, so social, email, and web read consistent and reinforce each other.

Helped the right people select

External

Exhibitors see if it fits and what they gain. Visitors know what they'll find. Media & PR get a sharp, consistent line.

Unify the brand's

visual system

DESIGN

Solves · diluted identity

A template system from scratch

There were no templates when I arrived. I designed and unified all visuals under @LUXEPACK_official.

LA BRAND GUIDELINE

1. Invitation (before / after)

Before

A flat, static text card announcement.

After

a branded invitation with clearer hierarchy and an emotional, on-brand feel.

Before

After

2. Exhibitor Showcase (before / after)

Before

A logo wall on a white background.

After

Added brands' iconic products, unified in LPLA's colors. Used the category strip (beauty, tech, game, finance...) to showcase the bigger point: not a beauty-only show anymore.

Before

After

3. Countdown (before / after)

Before
Visually inconsistent, with different layouts, type treatments, and color styles across the series.

After

Explored three visual directions and selected the version marked with 💗 because it best captured the energy of the show floor.

Before

After

4. Conference & Speakers (before / after)

Before

Inconsistent layouts and visual styles, so the conference content felt less connected as a series. The hierarchy was not always easy to scan quickly.

After

Designed a flexible layout that works for one speaker or a full panel. The hierarchy is easier to scan and more consistent as a series.

Before

After

I also created a unified PowerPoint template for the conference sessions.

These are used on-site to create a more professional presentation experience for speakers and attendees.

One consistent identity across every touchpoint, and the team could now produce on-brand content faster.

An AI-rendered 2.5D floor plan

fixes · navigation

Innovation

I transformed a flat technical floor plan into an intuitive 2.5D isometric map using an AI-assisted workflow. The redesigned map was used in the event newsletter to improve attendee navigation and make the space easier to understand before arrival.

I first isolated the selected exhibition area and color-coded key structures to give the AI a clearer spatial reference.

PROMPT FOR AI

Create a 2.5D low-angle isometric 3D render of an exhibition floor plan.

IMPORTANT:

The layout, box positions, sizes, spacing, and proportions must EXACTLY match the provided bird’s-eye 2D floor plan reference.
Do NOT rearrange, reinterpret, simplify, or approximate any layout elements.
All pink architectural shapes must match the exact footprint and geometry of the reference image.
All purple booth blocks must match the exact positions, groupings, and relative sizes of the reference layout.
Do NOT include any blue grid lines or additional floor markings.

Camera & style requirements:

Low elevation 2.5D isometric perspective (~25° angle, not high bird’s-eye)
Orthographic-style lens (minimal perspective distortion)
Soft studio lighting from upper right
Soft, subtle shadows cast toward bottom-left
Clean matte material
Pastel pink architectural volumes
Lavender booth blocks
No labels, no text
Minimal white background
High resolution, crisp edges

Keep the rendering style soft, minimal, and consistent —

similar to a modern pastel architectural visualization.

FINAL OUTCOME

Grew the audience and drove sign-ups

CAMPAIGN

Solves · attendance -17%, audience outgrew the offer

Social Media

REACH

TARGET AUDIENCE

A highly visual community of luxury packaging professionals, including brands, suppliers, designers, founders, and decision-makers.

POSITIONING: Structured as a global magazine of premium packaging.

All editions post under one umbrella identity (@LUXEPACK_official). I planned LPLA's content within this framework.

WHAT the content, two tracks

Editorial Credibility

Recurring magazine columns

Industry trends and foresight
Exhibitor and maker spotlights
Sustainability and innovation

Campaign Conversion

Event milestone content

Registration and program
Who's coming and speakers
Countdown and final CTA

WHERE the platforms

Instagram

Inspiration & desirability

Tone: aesthetic, emotional, editorial. Reaches designers, indie and creative brands.

Business & leadership

Tone: confident, expert, human. Reaches B2B decision-makers and suppliers.

WHEN the rhythm

Pre-show

Build awareness & credibility

Save the Date
Opening of Registration
Who's Coming (collaboration)
Countdowns

Show days

Guide onsite attention

In the Booth
Inside LUXE PACK
Real-time stories
Partner tagging

Post-show

Retain & learn

Only at Luxe Pack
Recap & aftermovie
Thank-you
Survey for next show

WORKFLOW

Posts were scheduled during peak professional browsing hours (9:00–9:30 AM or 4:00–6:00 PM) in the event’s local time zone to reach B2B audiences when they are most active.

Caption writing highlighting the value of the event (eg. industry insights)

Design post visuals (caousel etc.) make sure the information aligns with caption

Put the canva link and captions into a shared worksheet. Retouch the content based on the feedback

Publishing via HubSpot, with manual tagging of speakers and partners to expand reach

CAPTION STRATEGY EXPLORATION

Example. The Collaboration Post

Prepared 3 caption directions for review, balancing brand credibility, audience pain points, and cross-sector appeal.

Brand Cohesion

Recognition-led hook

"What do L'Oréal, Estée Lauder, and Apple have in common?"✨"

Uses familiar brand names to borrow credibility and position LUXE PACK as a trusted sourcing destination for premium packaging.

From Concept to Shelf

Audience pain point hook

"You’ve got the vision. We’ve got the 'How' 🛠️✨"

Turns a packaging challenge into a clear audience scenario, helping designers and brand teams see LUXE PACK as the bridge from concept to execution.

INSTAGRAM

Cross-Sector Inspiration

Industry variety hook

"What happens when Beauty meets Big Tech?💄⚡️"

Frames the show as a space for cross-industry discovery, where beauty, tech, health, finance, and FMCG brands can find packaging inspiration.

NEXT STEP

The final caption direction reflected the team’s brand and platform priorities. Moving forward, I would suggest testing each storytelling angle through tracking KPIs per platform to support content optimization.

Content Checklist

✅ CTA inside visuals for all carousels

✅ Subtitles on videos

✅ Strong opening slide / hook

✅ Tag exhibitors and speakers

✅ High-quality visuals

✅ Send a post text to sales team so they can also post on their personal Linkedin profile

INSTAGRAM Examples

Pre • Early Awareness

The Invitation

Jan 8

Announce the new edition and open registration.

Pre • Collaboration

Who's Coming

Jan 13

Show the breadth of brands, prove beyond beauty.

Pre • Sustainability

Sustainable Showcase

Jan 26

Spotlight the sustainability program and partnership with the Dieline Award.

Pre • Conference

Education Programs

Feb -- March

Promote expert sessions as a reason to attend beyond sourcing.

Pre • Countdown

1 Month / Week / Day To Go

Feb -- March

Build urgency, push final registrations.

Show days • Onsite engagement

Packsprint Tour

March 4

Drive already-onsite visitors to a key show-floor activity.

Show days • Onsite energy + last-call

Day 2 Live

March 5

Capture the live atmosphere to drive onsite registration and FOMO.

Post • Knowledge & credibility

Exhibitor Interview Recap

March 10

Turn show-floor expert interviews into a shareable knowledge piece.

Post · Engagement

Thank You

March 11

Keep the community warm, tease next edition.

LINKEDIN Examples

Pre • Early Awareness

The Invitation

Jan 8

Pre • Collaboration

Who's Coming

Jan 13

Pre • Conference

Education Programs

Feb -- March

Pre • Countdown

1 Month / Week / Day To Go

Feb -- March

Pre • Sustainability

Sustainable Showcase

Jan 26

Show days • Onsite engagement

Packsprint Tour

March 4

Post · Engagement

Thank You

March 11

Organic Social Media Performance

ALL PLATFORMS

📝 42

Posts Published

👥 33,168

Combined Audience

👁️ 72.8K

Campaign Impressions

INSTAGRAM 25 posts published vs. 32 in 2025

👥 +597

Follower increase

▲ 198% (vs +200)

👁️ 52K*

Impressions

▼ 13% per post

📡 16.6K

Reach

▲ 7% per post

🤝 383

Interactions

▲ 16%

🎯 2.31%

Engagement rate

▲ 39% (interactions ÷ reach)

70-day campaign window, native Instagram insights, compared with the 90-day campaign window in 2025

Top 3 Posts by Engagement Rate

Sustainbale Showcase with Dieline 3.4%

Conference Session by Designalytics 3.4%

1 Month Countdown 3.7%

KEY INSIGHTS:

1. Partner-led features, expert educational content, and timely countdown posts generated the strongest engagement, showing that professional audiences responded best to credible, useful, and action-orientedcontent that offered clear business value rather than general event promotion.

2. With 15% fewer posts, LinkedIn reach increased by 24%, while interactions per post rose by 6.3% and follower growth increased by 34%. The results suggest that a more focused content mix reached a broader professional audience and generated stronger outcomes per post.

Results

8805

Pre-registration

Walk-ins

8898

Total registration

4429

Attendance

Compare to the 2025 edition, the pre-registrations for the 2026 edition increased by 24.7% (7,063 → 8,805), and the total attendance rate rose by 19.5% (3,706 → 4,429), while maintaining a ~50% conversion rate.

Registrations in 2026 showed a more consistent growth pattern across the campaign period, suggesting stronger early engagement and more effective pre-event marketing.

AUDIENCE QUALITY

Decision

Makers

60%

(Founder, VP’s Directors,C&S Level Suite Industry Contacts)

Different Companies Represented

1,141

Top Countries

> United States 45.6%
> Canada 27.7%

> Mexico 25%

We segmented attendees by job title and industry, and measured the proportion of first-time visitors.

First-timer growth +19.0% registrations · +5.9% attendance

The show is broadening into the full beauty ecosystem — Skincare entered as the #1 category (29%), and Haircare at 9%.

There is a balance between product-focused roles (26% Product Development, 12% R&D) and commercial-focus roles (18% Marketing, 17% Sales)

Visitors are arriving with stronger purchasing intent.

STRATEGY 2

Improve email marketing efficiency to drive awareness and registrations

Action 1. Help built a structured email automation workflow to guide customers from awareness to conversion

Email 1

Awareness: The Evolving Packaging Landscape

Content: Market Insights + Push to

https://app.hubspot.com/email/6175528/edit/197256752729/content

Branch C

Registered

Branch A

Opened + or clicked (not registered)

Delay 7 Days

Branch B

No Reaction

Audience

Old visitors 2023 + 2024+ 2025 + Leads

(Excluding: already registered)

Email 1B

Deep Dive Content

Case Studies + Premium solutions

No reaction send to Email 2

Email 2

Experience Next Gen Innovation

LUXE PACK world + dates

https://app.hubspot.com/email/6175528/edit/197262355629/content

Delay 7 Days

Branch A2

Clicked again ->High Intent

Branch B2

Still no reaction

7 days prior to show dates

Branch B3

Light CTA + reminder of event value + Power Hour

7 days prior to show dates

Branch A3

CTA: Register Now

VIP Messaging + Stronger CTA (Last Chance) + Power Hour

Instead of overwhelming users with repetitive messaging, this strategy tailors communication based on user behavior:

• Strong interest → more in-depth information

• Slight interest → light reminders

• Converted users → excluded from further promotional emails

Action 2. To improve conversion across different funnel stages, I segmented audiences and tailored messaging based on their registration status.

1️⃣ Not Registered (conversion)

👉 CTA：Free Show Badge

Target: Non-registered users
Goal: Encourage immediate sign-up

Approach:
• Clear value proposition (“free”)
• Direct and action-oriented

2️⃣ Registered (referral)

👉 CTA：Bring a Colleague

Target: Registered users
Goal: Expand reach through referrals and peer influence

Approach:
• Leverage social and professional networks

3️⃣ US Base (facilitation)

👉 CTA：Confirm Your Free Show Pass

Target: Warm audience (partially engaged users)
Goal: Reduce friction and push users to complete registration

Approach:
• Reframe action from “register” → “confirm”
• Create a sense of progression and low effort

• Engagement increases significantly with user intent, with registered users showing 3x higher open rates and up to 10x higher click rates.

• Broad or loosely defined segments (e.g., US base) underperform due to diluted intent and lower relevance.

• Conversion-focused messaging alone is not sufficient for low-intent audiences; stronger personalization or targeting is required.

Action 3. I introduced controlled A/B testing to validate whether tone and messaging style could impact engagement.

Version A - formal tone

Version B - personal/holiday

Hypothesis：

A more casual and holiday messagaging will increase engagement compared to a regular formal closing.

Controlled:

Audience segmentation
Sending time

Test Variable:

Closing tone (formal vs. personal/holiday message)

AB Test Result

Treatment	Delivered	Open Rate	Click Rate
Version A	12,239	6.78%	0.34%
Version B	12,239	7.77%	0.79%

The click rate more than doubled in relative terms, but the absolute difference was small. With open rates this low, I concluded that testing tone alone has limited upside, and prioritized testing structural changes that could have a larger impact on the overall funnel.

Future tests

Subject lines (urgency vs value-driven)
CTA wording (Register vs Confirm), placement
Email structure (short vs long format)

Key learning takeaways from the internship

My internship at LUXEPACK is truly a precious journey filled with challenges and learnings. As my very first B2B marketing experience, I've gained valuable insights from the internship:

🧠 Always ask “why” before executing:

During the project, I learned to look beyond the initial request and think critically about why a task is needed and whether a better approach could improve the outcome.

🙋‍♀️ Never be scared to ask questions:

Asking questions is not a sign of weakness. Instead, it is the fastest way to learn and grow. Clarifying uncertainties early helps resolve issues quickly and keeps projects moving efficiently.

👑 Proactively seek for critique, but do take a stance:

Though being open to suggestions from different perspectives is significant, I learned to make informative decisions and advocate for them with strong reasonings.