Colocator to benefit over 50 summer festivals in 2017

More than 50 major festivals will benefit from Crowd Connected’s multi-award winning Colocator technology this summer, including Coachella, Roskilde, Reading, Leeds and V North and V South.

The latest version of the acclaimed software incorporates an Engagement and Audience segmentation module, alongside the existing Insight and Analytics tools.

The new Engage module segments an audience based on individual activity and activity history, not simply their proximity to a fixed location.

“We can alter behaviour by sending select information to specific groups of people,” James Cobb, Founder and CEO at Crowd Connected, explains.

Someone who arrived at a festival yesterday, for instance, identified as camping, is seen in the VIP area but not in the main sponsor area. We can target a message designed for them, giving reasons to try it out based on what they have done. In the case of an early forecast for high winds, Engage can be used to send a message to campers, people seen in the campsite the previous night, with a tent, advising them to put in extra pegs.

Engage is already being widely used to target audience segments with relevant messaging to enhance festivalgoers’ experience.

“We’ve borrowed a phrase from Scott Wilcox, Chief Innovation Officer at SXSW – ‘load balancing your event’” Cobb revealed.

“Say you have a facility which is limited to 1,000 attendees and can see it is quickly going to reach overcapacity.

“With a visual of where the problem is, our platform enables you to message people a certain distance away and suggest alternatives. ‘Why not go here instead?’ ‘Free entry if you get there before 7pm’.”

Using heat maps in real time, Colocator points out audience patterns. If there’s something new or unanticipated happening on the site, and lines are forming, it’s highlighted so the organiser can focus CCTV to get clear detail.

“Events typically have the ability to look anywhere but not all at once,” Cobb says.

So Crowd Connected’s Colocator will flag up what to watch out for. It doesn’t replace anything but it makes the whole process more efficient.