JUNE | TRENDING
Technology to look
out for in 2019:
RFID Wristbands – RFID
technology is empowering
attendees and event organisers.
By removing cash and uploading
it onto a wristband, event
organisers can reduce queuing
times, increase staff efficiency,
understand attendee behaviour
and increase revenues. For the
attendee, they can feel safer
without carrying cash and be in
control of how much they spend.
5G – EE has paired with
Glastonbury Festival to bring a
5G network to those attending.
How festivals will capitalise on
this remains to be seen but you
can expect to see more reliable
streaming technologies as a result
of this.
Chatbots – Although chatbots
have been around for some time
now, they are getting smarter
and becoming more integrated
into our day-to-day lives. They
are removing the need for human
interaction that can cause long
waiting times for a response, and
we can expect them to be used to
answer festival goers’ questions
both before and during the
festivals themselves.
Multi-Use Apps – Apps have
become an integral part of the
festival experience for many
years, but we are now seeing
multiple apps joining forces to
create the ‘ultimate’ app for each
festival experience. This is a
technology that is going to grow
as more brands and artists get
involved to truly enhance the
attendees experience.
and wide on social media, ensuring
the already infamous event could
increase its reach even further and
create even more unforgettable
moments. AR will continue to become
more prevalent in the festival and
events industry as a result of the
accessibility and ease of using a smart
phone.
Event sponsors Postmates and
Amazon also embraced technology at
the festival. Attendees could access
new incentives, such as pre-ordering
food for delivery or collection via
Postmates to reduce queueing times
and spend more time watching
performances. While this wasn’t
available everywhere at the festival, it
would be no surprise to see this and
similar technologies streamlining
queues more and more in future
given its benefits for festivals and
event-goers alike.
It’s not just quick food deliveries
that festival-goers benefitted from
this year either; Amazon also placed
Amazon Lockers in the festival
grounds, where people could get
same day delivery to the festival
itself if ordered before noon. It’s easy
to see how this brings a new level of
accessibility and convenience to the
festival experience, given so many
people visit from all over the world to
attend Coachella and may forget an
item or two!
Performing artists also took
advantage of new technologies to
improve the fan experience. Musician
Donald Glover, aka Childish Gambino,
combined clever marketing tactics
with his performance at Coachella,
using Airdrop to give selected fans a
token for a free pair of his unreleased
Adidas collaboration shoes. Fans,
if they accepted, had one hour to
collect the shoes on the festival
grounds. Naturally, this received a
huge amount of social media coverage
and is arguably this year’s ‘break the
internet’ moment. He also used his
performance as an opportunity to
premiere his new film Guava Island,
making it free on Amazon Prime
for 18 hours afterwards to drive
engagement and viewership.
As far as festivals go, Coachella
is certainly continuing to set a
benchmark for how to use technology
creatively to ensure a seamless event
experience. Not only does it help
increase social media presence and
press about the event exponentially,
it gives fans more convenience and
ease during the festival too. With the
UK festival season fast approaching,
it remains to be seen how technology
will influence many other events this
summer.
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