Member Article

Ultima Finds Poor Digital Experience Disappoints Music Festival Goers

As we head into the main month for UK festivals with Bestival, Boardmasters and Reading & Leeds festivals just around the corner a recent OnePoll research survey found only 14% of music festival attendees are completely satisfied with the site facilities provided.

Women are fussier festival attendees - only 1 in 10 are currently happy with their current festival experience, compared to 1 in 5 of men. The research of 2,000 music festival goers carried out for Ultima, a modern infrastructure and automation services provider, found the biggest improvement organisers could make would be to notify festival goers which toilets are the most - and least - busy (20%), followed by 15% who want better Wi-Fi so they can post social media pictures instantly.

The survey also found 14% of festival goers want to be able to leave their wallet at home and pay with their mobile. Another 12% want an interactive map of the venue to tell them what is happening where, and 12% want information on what food is available and where sent to their smartphones.

With 30.9 million people attending outdoor music festivals according to UK Music in 2016 and over 91% of those taking their smartphones* providing greater digital intelligence would go a long way to keep festival goers happier whilst seeing their favourite bands and artists.

Scott Dodds, CEO, Ultima says, “Over 94% of UK festival goers are digitally savvy millennials who are used to having a plethora of information at the swipe of a smartphone. Time spent queuing at the loo could have been spent at the bar, café or retail stands so it makes financial sense to improve their experience using digital intelligence.”

“With our Intelligent Spaces technology event organisers have no excuse not to provide reliable WiFi, as well as a host of other useful festival tools including digital wallets, food and retail discount vouchers and interactive maps of the venue with information on queue times straight to festival goers smartphones,” says Dodds.

Ultima’s Intelligent Spaces technology allows festival organisers to stream audio and video live, or pre-recorded, from other stages within the festival to mobiles, whilst protecting content by limiting this to on-site visitors only. Festival visitors can watch one stage, whilst waiting for an act to start on another.

By analysing heat maps and crowd flow, organisers can understand and even predict where crowds will linger and so establish the best place for concession stalls and site information. Premiums can be created for high density areas and heavier foot-fall based on actual passers-by. They can also analyse user behaviour, including understanding twitter sentiments of festival goers and live trending feedback on social media.

Billboards and static advertising can then be dynamically adjusted depending on the mood of the audience. Cameras can be placed on billboards and mobile advertising areas which read the consumers facial expressions and understand if a person’s mood changes while reading an advert. Understanding which advertisements the consumer likes, the demographic of that user and their subsequent movements or actions can allow retailers to change, update or roll out content specific to those people.

Operationally, the platform enables efficiencies alongside security and emergency services. For example, digital signage evacuation notices can be created, and personnel and asset location services can be activated to alert organisations when items, the public or employees leave or enter specific areas which they are not allowed to be in.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ultima .