Duncan Hutchins, Sensory Interactive; Lev Raslin, Singnal360; Megan Ryan, Atlanta Hawks; Karrie Zaremba, Venutize.
REPORTING FROM PITTSBURGH — The mobile phone revolution is altering everything, but nowhere as profoundly as in how fans experience venues. “The mobile platform is shaping and changing everything,” said Megan Ryan, marketing integration & direct response coordinator for the Atlanta Hawks, who spoke on a panel about technology and the fan experience at the Association of Luxury Suite Directors Conference here.
Ryan said that collecting data on customers is more than just collecting data on game day. “We look at it as a 41-game problem. Game day is just one day. Purchasing, parking, entry, these are all data points we capture and process, but the physical arena is just one opportunity that signifies one data point. We need to look at a bigger picture. With only a limited amount of times a fan will come into our arenas, the challenge is how do we change that from a 41-day experience and gather data year-round?”
“Engaging the fan outside the arena is the key to collecting data from the customers that’s more than just game-day data,” said Karri Zaremba, founder and CEO of software building company Venutize.
Getting fans involved on the mobile platform of the venue, or the team, is the key.
The first step to that is giving the fans a reason to be on the platform before they walk into the arena. “That means giving the fan information and an experience from the moment they get on the platform,” said Zaremba.
The current trend is to get data, door-to-door data. “We want to get customers on the platform in their homes. If we can provide important, relevant information to them, they will engage. That information includes things like messaging fans about when to leave to get to the game on time and areas of congestion they should avoid. Should they even take their own vehicle or should they take a rideshare or public transport? Is there a particular entrance that’s bottlenecked? We want to ensure that the premium guests get routed to particular turnstiles. By knowing what they are doing and when they are doing it, we can make things more enjoyable and easier. Of course, we also can collect all the data along the way. We’re trying to build different experiences for different individuals.”
Ryan said the goal was to define marketing strategies for different people. “We want to know who exists within our base. Everything is trackable and traceable,” she said. “We want a base that will tell us if you are a Time magazine person vs. a New York Times person. What radio station do you listen to? I want to know who you are before you get into the arena.”
Once the fan is in the arena gathering information becomes a lot easier. “One of our great tools is the employment of beacons,” said Ryan. Beacons are small data collection devices that are planted in various spots around a venue. In Ryan’s venue, Philips Arena, Atlanta, they come from company Signal360 (formerly Sonic Notify).
Lev Raslin, director of business development for Signal360, said, “Beacons can give you information and data that it used to take sending people around the arena with clipboards get. The beacons are armed with location detection technology which that tell us in real time where people are, how they are moving, where they are congregating, even what mobile carriers the fans are on.” Beacons can also let the venues know how long the bathroom lines are, what concession stands are busy, which aren’t, and lets the venue send direct messages that are personalized for each customer. “You want to send different messages to suite holders than to a fan who bought less expensive seats.”
Ryan said she and Raslin walked the entire venue to determine where the best beacon points were. “We want specific datapoints on a specific fan type. The beacons tell us where people enter, where they exit, where they congregate, which kind of customer is where at any given time.”
When Ryan started the beacon program she was often asked, “How do you justify the cost of this and what is the return on investment (ROI)?” While the physical beacons are inexpensive and cost only eight dollars, the deployment of a single beacon can run anywhere from $10,000-$20,000 a year. Most venues use 50-200 beacons.
“ROI is easily justified,” Ryan said. “It drives monetary growth. Marketing sends messaging through the beacons and creates revenue.” For instance, when a fan goes up the escalator they are sent a notification that gives them the opportunity to upgrade their seat. “We can tell how many notifications the beacon triggers, how many take up the offer, it all comes together. This is a new type of marketing and a new type of technology the fans are not used to seeing. But it works, it’s highly successful, and we see a lot of engagement.”
Ryan said it is vital to have all the stakeholders in on the process. “Marketing and sponsorship must be involved,” said Ryan. “In order to measure the results and monetize the platform everyone has to be on the same page. You need to identify the goals of the deployment and establish a baseline to measure your results against. You want to measure the efficacy of different campaigns, conversion rates…if you manage to reduce ingress times it may not seem like it’s effecting the bottom line, but it actually is.”
Ryan said that the data and analytics teams, and sales team, are all part of the process. “We spend every day with the marketing team,” she said. “We joke we have a catch-up meeting every day. We don’t do anything without their knowledge.
Sales knows what people want. Our Information Technology team doesn’t roll anything out without sales and marketing input.”
Beacons are also used to get the message of the corporate sponsor partner in front of the fan. “We can selectively send any message we want to one or a group of people,“ said Raslin. “Automate as much as possible. The messages can be changed in seconds and you can create content by knowing who is inside the venue.”
The beacons are also a new way for fans to connect to other fans. “Friend finder can help fans find friends in their network that are at an event and then guide them to each other,” said Zaremba.
Raslin said the beacons enable the venue to greet a person by name and know who is in front of the monitor. “Is it a young person, an old person, male, or female, we can tell all of this and respond accordingly.”
“We want to know why a person is there.” said Zaremba. “Did they come alone? Did they come with family? Is it a guys' or gals' night? Was this a business invite? The more data we can collect, the more custom experience we can give.”
Ryan said that vine videos are an excellent opportunity. “The vines go up as soon as a play is made and are then watched by hundreds of people in the venue so we monitor that and we can latch on to a vine and market to that customer. It tells us what players are most popular, what plays are exciting the fans, and then we can reach out to them.”
Zaremba said that the platform must have the robustness built in to be able to tweak it. “We build the platform with scalability,” she said. “We work with Google and software builders on a capacity perspective, learning how to lengthen how long you can interact and trace the customer. We layer the mobile platform so we can get the right content to the right person at the right time, which adds more value and more traction.”
Integration of third party applications is a good way to achieve your goals. “When you establish your platform you don’t need to reinvent the wheel,” she said. “Focus on what you do well, what others do well, and finding gaps in the market.”
One obstacle is getting all the data points from different systems into one database.“This is the tipping point of understanding how every action we take effects everything else,” said Zaremba. “Try to stay close to hardware manufacturers' software builders. Anticipate how mobile capacity evolves, staying on top of new touch points. From a technology platform perspective, you must adapt and incorporate new technology. Modulate your ways so you can see what falls by the wayside and adjust. Leverage components that already exist.”
Raslin said that prizes and contests were an excellent way to get the fans to connect and stay on a platform. “If a fan knows they can get a free bobblehead or a free drink, it gets them to stay longer.”
The advent of the mobile wallet is powerful. “Everyday there is a new technology and ways for fans to connect with the brand,” said Ryan. “Mobile wallet makes for an easier experience and increased revenue.”
Zaremba said that this was all morphing from the venue to the world outside the venue. “We want to track people in the entertainment districts, add additional properties and are working toward the smart city concept. These are really lifestyle applications.”
On the panel: Moderator Duncan Hutchins, Sensory Interactive, (443) 562-9838; Lev Raslin, (212) 255-6566; Megan Ryan, (404) 878-3879; Karrie Zaremba, (503) 680-3222