part 5: alan gibson, edinburgh festival fringe & gavin dutch, kotikan
TRANSCRIPT
Technology Solutions for Tourism Conference 2012
Thursday 23rd FebruaryPart 5: Case Study – Alan Gibson, Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Gavin Dutch, Kotikan
Monetising the Fringe Festival App
Wednesday, 14 March 2012
Monetising the Fringe Apps
Alan Gibson & Gavin Dutch
Technology Solutions for Tourism
Wednesday, 14 March 2012
2,452 shows
258 venues 21,912 performers
41,689 performances
1,877,119 tickets issued
In 2011
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the largest, open-access arts festival in the world.The Fringe Society exists to: • Advise, support and encourage all participants at the Festival Fringe• Provide comprehensive, accurate and up-to-date information and
ticketing services, to its participants and the public• Promote the entire Fringe as a festival in the context of Edinburgh
and other festivals.
Wednesday, 14 March 2012
Why Invest in Mobile?• The Fringe
programme– Print run 400,000
copies– Expensive to
distribute– Environmental impact– 68% use as their main
source of information
Wednesday, 14 March 2012
A Brief History• 2009
– Festivals Edinburgh partnership– A listings app to help navigate
Edinburgh’s summer festivals– Cost £1.69– 1,650 downloads
Wednesday, 14 March 2012
A Brief History• 2010
– Fringe branded– Free to download– Exclusive Half Price Hut feed– Store favourites and planner calendar– 22,519 downloads - 369,000 sessions
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A Brief History• 2011
– Support From Virgin Money/Arts & Business Scotland
– Develop for Android platform to increase reach to smart phone users
– Develop mobile ticket purchase on iPhone and Android as additional sales channel to edfringe and box office
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The Techie Bit• Platforms
– Why not mobile web– Why Android?
• Challenges– Keeping listings current– Creating a positive user journey– Multiple box office systems– Transaction security– 2 months to deliver
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Design• Usability is paramount in
delivering a positive app experience– Optimizing experience for
mobile– Text input is painful on a
mobile– No need for shopping
baskets– Account management for
new and existing Fringe customers
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Transaction Processing• Box office integration
– Using Red61’s VIA box office system– Robust handling of poor connections
• Security considerations– PCI compliance on mobile?– Financial partner required additional
assurances– Critical functionality tested as early as
possible
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Results• Downloads
– iPhone: 32,062– Android: 13,022– Total: 45,084 (730,000 sessions)
• 7% Fringe attendees used it as their main source of information – predominantly 15–44
• 9,475 transactions sold 21,000 tickets
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Added Value for Fringe • Additional ticket sales channel• Marketing tool to attract younger
audiences• Fringe Society well positioned to
capitalize on the forecast rapid growth of mobile use
• Robust mobile platform for future years
Wednesday, 14 March 2012
Technology Solutions for Tourism Conference 2012Watch videos and find out more about ETAG: www.etag.org.uk
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Audio, video and slidecast production for ETAG by creative content communications company Inner Ear: www.innerear.co.uk
Wednesday, 14 March 2012