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Introducing the Touchless Fan Journey

Posted on by Eric Loehrmann
Touchless Fan Journey

 

For many years, Venuetize has provided solutions that maintain ease and convenience for fans attending live events at a venue. In a post-COVID world, fans are going to demand a completely reinvented venue experience that reduces, if not eliminates, physical contact. That’s where the Touchless Fan Journey comes into play...

Dan is a huge fan and season ticket member (“STM”) of the Tampa Bay Lightning. He loads his Chase-issued VISA card to the mobile wallet in the AMALIE Arena app and automatically receives a digital $25 Arena Cash card to spend anywhere in his team’s home venue. Before a game, he can buy game tickets and pay for parking with the app’s mobile wallet. Once he arrives at the arena, he can buy concessions with a single scan of his mobile wallet at a point of sale terminal, which will also apply his 35% STM food and beverage discount. He can order a team jersey through the app, which will automatically apply his 25% STM merchandise discount and pick it up at his convenience from a locker in the concourse without having to wait in a long line at the team store. Even if he forgets his mobile phone at home, he can still buy things at the arena with “Pay with Face”, which leverages facial recognition censors at the concession stands.

In a series of seamless, convenient, and contactless transactions — without ever exchanging cash, presenting a card, or making physical contact with another person — Dan has interacted with a ticketing system, parking system, two point of sale systems, a membership system, the team, a concessionaire, a retail merchant, and a parking vendor, both in and out of the arena.

Our integrated eCommerce platform breaks down the silos between devices, interfaces, back-end operating systems, and merchants to create an easy, personalized, and seamless payments experience for both consumers and operators.

Let’s walk through the Touchless Fan Journey and look at each stage of a visitor’s experience and how venues must adapt and evolve their operations in order for fans to return.

  1. PLAN
    Current Fan Experience: Fans browse websites, social sites, or use team and venue mobile apps to see upcoming events and search for tickets.
    Opportunity:     Digital communication channels offer a direct path to fans that allow fans to stay current on team-produced content, plan for their visit, and decide on transportation to the venue. Meanwhile, teams and venues can keep fans informed of COVID-related changes being made to venue operations, shifting event schedules, and updates on steps being taken to address health and safety concerns.

  2. COMMIT
    Current Fan Experience: Fans either purchase tickets through ticket sites, in the secondary market, or pay with cash at the box office.
    Opportunity:     Push fans to purchase tickets and pre-pay for parking using the mobile wallet in the team or venue app. Eliminate cash payments and physical credit/debit card transactions for tickets and parking by requiring mobile or web payments in advance of an event.

  3. ENTER
    Current Fan Experience: Most venues employ gate attendants who use handheld scanners to scan physical tickets or mobile barcodes for access control. For fans who have not purchased their tickets or parking passes in advance, they interact with a gate attendant to pay with cash or physical credit/debit cards.
    Opportunity:     Reduce fan-facing gate attendants and expedite entry by eliminating handheld scanners and installing freestanding turnstiles and biometrics sensors for facial recognition-based access control.

  4. ORDER (F&B)
    Current Fan Experience: Most fans walk up to a concessions stand and interact with concessions staff to place an order, often paying with cash or a physical credit/debit card. Lines are long, transaction times are inefficient, and there are multiple physical touch points throughout the process.
    Opportunity:     Reduce fan-facing concessions staff by enabling self-service, touchless options for fans to order and pay. Push pre-paid mobile ordering of food and beverage items for express pickup, and increase counter space for pick-up only stations. Enable fans to favorite items and past orders. Prompt repeat orders, and enable one-swipe pay in-app to expedite transaction speeds and increase order frequency.

  5. BUY (MERCH)
    Current Fan Experience: Long lines in crowded team stores, involving physical exchange of merchandise items, and payments involving cash or a physical credit/debit card.
    Opportunity: Reduce fan-facing merchandise staff by enabling self-service, touchless options for fans to order and pay. Go 100% cashless by deploying cash-to-card kiosks. Install scanners at POS terminals and kiosks for mobile wallet payments. Enable NFC terminals for tap to pay. Introduce biometrics scanners for facial recognition-based payments at POS and kiosks. Push pre-paid mobile ordering of merchandise for express pickup or locker retrieval.

  6. PLAY
    Current Fan Experience: Limited options for interactive games.
    Opportunity: Offer interactive games through the mobile app to increase fan engagement. Incentive play through action-based rewards, offers, and promotions that can be redeemed through the mobile app while also grooming future behavior for sports betting.

  7. RE-ORDER
    We’re using re-order to show another way to pay for concessions.
    Current Fan Experience: No matter how many times fans order concessions, subsequent visits are not any faster or more personalized.
    Opportunity: Go 100% cashless by deploying cash-to-card kiosks. Install scanners at POS terminals and kiosks for mobile wallet payments. Enable NFC terminals for tap to pay. Introduce biometrics scanners for facial recognition-based payments at POS and kiosks. Fans’ STM discounts get applied and their default method of payment is charged automatically through the mobile wallet, without them ever having to use their phone.

  8. EARN
    Current Fan Experience: Some fans may participate in loyalty programs with restrictive point-based economies or confusing earn and redemption policies, resulting in limited results for teams and questionable value for fans.
    Opportunity: User action-based rewards promote desired fan behavior while personalizing relevant offers and benefits. Behavioral data can then be used for targeted marketing and upselling.

Teams and venues must take action now to adapt to the post-COVID world that will be demanded by fans, or risk empty venues. If you’d like to discuss your venue-specific options, contact the Venuetize team here to set up a time to learn more about how you can prepare to welcome back your fans with a touchless experience.

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Safety and Health in the New Era of Live Events

Posted on by Eric Loehrmann

Contributed by DC Ramsey, Director of Marketing

People in Line

Sports fans, concert goers, and casino guests—they all have something in common: the desire to attend live events and enjoy the unparalleled experience that in-person social gatherings can bring. It’s a powerful force, but how will venues evolve in the post COVID-19 world to address their guests’ new concerns and changes in behavior? There is only one certainty we know of right now – things will be different when we all return.

One of these new realities will be how consumers and operators view cash. “Paper money can reportedly carry more germs than a household toilet […and] can reportedly transport a live flu virus for up to 17 days.”[1] Looking at revenue credit card user spend up to 83% more than when they use cash to transact[2] . Transaction speeds are also increased, but there is still room for improvement to increase operational efficiency and limit the number of physical touchpoints for a transaction. That’s where cashless options, such as mobile payments and biometrics, come into play.

For operators, mobile initiatives have been a priority in order to best facilitate guest engagement, act as a communication platform, and enhance operational efficiency. For guests at venues, mobile adoption has been driven by incentives related to loyalty and rewards, convenience, ease of use, and familiarity and behavioral patterns established from their other digital purchasing experiences. Now, growing health concerns are driving accelerated adoption of contactless ways to pay.

Prior to COVID-19, approximately 50% of American smartphone users had engaged in mobile payments, with an expectation to grow to 90% by 2020[3] . Given the heightened concerns caused by this pandemic, we anticipate that number to rise exponentially, as contactless payments become a more attractive – and safer – option for consumers.

In the coming weeks, we will be sharing examples on how Venuetize is delivering solutions for the future of live events. This is a volatile time for the industries we serve, but Venuetize is committed to helping provide a safe and touchless experience for your guests in the years ahead.


 

[1] http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1914560_1914558_1914544,00.html
[2] https://fortunly.com/statistics/cash-versus-credit-card-spending-statistics/#gref
[3] https://www.marketwatch.com/story/this-is-what-a-mobile-wallet-could-to-your-holiday-spending-its-not-pretty-2018-12-03

Mobile Key to PGA TOUR’s Record Online Engagement Growth

Posted on by Eric Loehrmann

The PGA TOUR is bringing the game closer to fans than ever before. They recently launched the “Live Under Par” brand campaign with a goal of extending their reach not only to golf’s core fan base, but to also appeal to a new and diverse generation of fans by celebrating content from both inside and outside the ropes that is created by players, fans and the PGA TOUR. Mobile engagement is a key strategy for nurturing and developing this important base.

In 2016, the TOUR transformed its mobile device policy, allowing fans to capture and share photos and video at tournaments. This past May during THE PLAYERS Championship, the TOUR even undertook a user-generated content campaign, dubbed #Make17Scarier, that asked fans and followers to create scenes and filters around the 17thhole at TPC Sawgrass. We can expect to see more of this, as the TOUR continues to build its mobile platforms.

Craig Duncan, Venuetize’s Chief Revenue Officer sat down with Scott Gutterman, PGA TOUR VP of Digital Operations, and Ali Quinn, The TOUR’s product manager, to discuss the role of mobile technology in engaging fans and driving sponsorship activity.

CD: What can you tell us about PGA TOUR fans engaging through mobile during the 2018 season?

 SG: When we talk about mobile, we are talking about two channels, mobile apps and the mobile Web.  Different fans use each of these platforms, with the vast majority of casual fans using the mobile Web.

Our app is used regularly by our core fans. We’ve had well over five million downloads, but the more interesting metric is daily active users. The number of visits the app gets per user is two to three times higher, and time spent on the app is much more than the website. Users are visiting the app three, four, and five times daily. We’ve seen fantastic growth year-over-year.

AQ: The PGA TOUR app has become a central point for a larger initiative  – not just segmenting our fan base, but driving their experience at TOUR events and ensuring we get them to come back. We’re working to change the relationship from a passive scoring experience to a two-way communication.

Special offers – like $10 off in the merchandise tent – can be a great incentive to download and log into the app.  With the users’ information, we can then better market, increase retention, and attract new fans.

 CD: Apps definitely differ from a Web experience in a number of ways – from requiring a log-in to push messaging. Can you talk about the benefits of that?

AQ: Logging in gets you more services and we can use that data to get to know our fans so we can serve them better at events and throughout the larger TOUR ecosystem.

SG: Users who download the app go through a wizard that walks them through preferences for push notifications. And when they favorite players or provide other information, they get more relevant information pushed to them. For the PGA TOUR brand, being there at the top of the phone, providing notifications, is extremely important.  To keep the content relevant and exciting, we are digging deeper into rich push notifications that includes images and video.  We’re already starting to do this today, pushing short videos or images of a favorite player. Our longer vision is the fan’s phone becoming proactive, rather than reactive.

AQ: It is all abut two-way communication with our fans and guiding them throughout the experience.

CD: The TOUR has gone through a dramatic shift in terms of allowing fans to use mobile phones at TOUR events. What opportunities have opened up as a result in terms of sponsorship activation?

SG: We started letting fans use mobile devices at our events on a limited basis in 2011 and expanded the policy in 2016 allowing fans to capture and share photos and video at TOUR events. Today, it is clear that if a fan is on-site at a TOUR event for more than four hours, the best way to grow our fan base is through our fans sharing photos via social media.

AQ: We say “You’re courtside all the time at a TOUR event,” and its really true. The experience is so different that our fans get such great content. We’ve actually embraced user-generated content in our platform and our advertising campaigns.

SG: In terms of sponsorship opportunities, we have mobile phone sponsors throughout the app. Brands know we have the number one app in golf and that we reach a valuable fan demographic.  We treat our app the same way any retailer treats their app – throughout the fan journey, users are getting special offers related to our partners and we’re getting onsite activation through push messaging, so if a fan is walking past the Michelob Ultra Lounge or Grey Goose Lounge, they might get a push notification for a free drink or food discount.

AQ: Another example of a sponsor campaign that leveraged the Venuetize platform is the Firestone Fan Village, where anytime a fan entered, they received a Pennzoil coupon for $10 off an oil change. In the past, we’ve also created sponsored content with our partners, where fans received 10 percent off concessions if they use a MasterCard, for example.

CD: How will this experience evolve?

AQ: The goal is to automate personalization so when fans arrive on-site, they’ll automatically receive tailored selections to guide their experience. Today, when fans arrive on-site, they get an event guide, which is a homepage only available at the event.  It’s very helpful because it customizes the fan experience, so they can find what is relevant to them at the venue.

SG: And as they move around the event, their selections change based on proximity.

CD: Has the TOUR seen a correlation between embracing the mobile platform – and all of these great features – and attracting younger fans?

SG: We’re focused on marketing the app to younger fans and anecdotal data suggests that we’re definitely reaching and interacting with them.  Over the next year, we’re going to further leverage analytics to detail who is in the app. We are very interested in that but haven’t focused on it.

CD: AR and VR are continually discussed as future engagement technologies that fans desire and the golf industry has seen some early success with virtual games.  Do you believe this technology will play a larger role for the TOUR going in 2019 and beyond?

SG: We already offer 180-degree views in the app, and we were the first sports league to have a virtual reality app on the Facebook Oculus platform, including two years of live VR from THE PLAYERS Championship.  We believe Live VR has a lot of potential and we’ll see where the headset market goes next.

In terms of Augmented Reality, we rolled out a standalone PGA TOUR AR app and we’re the first sports leagues to apply live data to AR. We can project one of our signature holes and fans can watch live and see shot trails going around the hole. Fans can look at historical shot trails. There’s a real potential to further bring people into our events with that, and we’re excited about it.

On the course, AR allows fans to look200-300 yards down a fairway, aim their phone and see who is on the tee box and see where their balls lands.  There are some technical challenges to overcome for true, live, in-person location-based AR, but we’re working on making that happen. Eventually, we’ll want to integrate our AR capabilities into the main PGA TOUR app.

CD: What else can you share with us regarding what’s to come in 2019 for the TOUR?  Anything specific to mobile that fans should be on the lookout for?

AQ: You’ll see changes in the app coming next year in terms of utility. We’re very focused on how fans use mobile and the PGA TOUR app at events and new avenues to engage them – from  ticket sales, to push notifications, to managing the fan journey around the event.

SG: Navigation will also be a big improvement for our fans.  We’re always looking to improve how fans get around the event and find what is most relevant to them.

More than anything, we continue to market in order to drive awareness of the app, so fans understand what they can do with it.  Whether they are at an event, or watching on television, we want them to be aware of the different, rich experiences they can get with the app.

Cheering on the Tampa Bay Lightning

Posted on by Eric Loehrmann

The Bolts are moving on to Round 3 of the NHL Playoffs!

The Venuetize team was invited to cheer on our hometown hero – and customer – the Tampa Bay Lightning, during Game 2 of Round 2 of the NHL Playoffs. Lucky for us, the Lightning tied up the series, beating the Boston Bruins 4-2 at AMALIE Arena. We are so excited that they’ve won the series and are moving on in their quest for the Cup!

We had a blast! Our team was especially excited to see the Lightshow feature of our app in action. Check it out here. During the pregame show, when we saw all of those phones lit up around the arena, we felt pretty amazing about being part of the team that made that happen.

Bring on Round 3. We can’t wait to watch!

Check out some photos of our visit.

Mobile Gamification and Content Delivery: The New Frontier for Sports & Entertainment Brands

Posted on by Eric Loehrmann

Sports and entertainment brands are meeting their fans where they spend the most time – on their mobile devices. They’re already making it easy for audiences to engage year-round – and personalize their experience when they visit the venue for an event.

But, cord-cutting, augmented reality and a host of other technology developments are changing the ways people watch games and events live. This puts companies like Twitter, Facebook, and a host of streaming upstarts in a position to monetize the content that teams and brand can and should own.

But the right mobile strategy – and underlying platform – can put brands back in control and ensure they’re capitalizing on the huge revenue opportunity that is just waiting to be unlocked. With the right combination of strategies, sports and entertainment brands can and should:

  • Offer immersive and engaging augmented reality content
  • Take control of streaming rights and deliver engaging content to superfans at every point of their journey to the arena
  • Monetize streamed content with contextually-relevant advertising that takes into account fans’ behavior, preferences and location

Use Case

A family of four visits the arena for a game. On the way, passengers in the car  enjoy access to streamed content from the arena that is available only to those that sign up for the team loyalty program.

At the game, with new, immersive offerings, everyone in the famly can take advantage of fun activities during the game, like voting on the next play, or which player will score next via the team app on their mobile device. Simply adding these opportunities takes fans from passive viewers, to active participants in the game.

The next time someone on the team scores, everyone who guessed correctly could receive exclusive AR video of the player who scored, as well as other related content that they’d be incented to share with their social networks. For each share, they might receive a certain number of loyalty points toward purchasing that player’s jersey or something else at the arena.

Moving forward, based on the ways that the fan interacts with and uses the content that has been shared with them, brands can begin to make assumptions about what the interests of the person who uses that particular device and serve up personalized advertising and content to him or her whenever they interact with the team app, attend a game, or watch via their device.

The Opportunity

With the right data and analytics – and a creative approach to content, blackout management, and rights, teams, brands, and venues can begin to monetize content in new ways, and increase their presence and control on the platforms fans use both in the arena, and at home.  We predict big changes in the ways brand deliver content — and fans consume it — over the coming year.