A Beacon of Hope: The Event Intelligence Revolution

Beacon technology has dramatically shifted the landscape of almost every industry, and the potential for the event marketing world is limitless.

Scan articles and blog posts about beacons and you’ll find no shortage of hyperbole. The mobile tracking technology has taken the retail world by storm. It enables businesses to understand exactly where their customers are located, then send them messages, offers and all kinds of information. What could be better for personalization? Used correctly, companies can influence behaviors in realtime. A BI Intelligence report cited that beacons will drive $44 billion in retail sales by this year, up from $4 billion in 2015.

So it makes perfect sense that marketers of every ilk are looking to incorporate this mobile proximity marketing. That includes event producers who are using beacons at festivals, amusement parks, and sporting venues. For example, Major League Baseball is using beacons in 20 stadiums to provide maps and video clips, and promote concession specials and seat upgrades.

What Exactly Are Beacons?Business Insider’s Beacons FAQ defines a beacon as “a small wireless device that constantly broadcasts radio signals to nearby smartphones and tablets.” Basically, a beacon sends out information that can be picked up by apps on mobile devices in the area. When the mobile device comes into range, it triggers a response in the app - it can even “wake up” an app that isn’t running. So beacons let you send location- and time-based offers, info, and notifications to your customers or audience.

(BTW… You’ll see references to both beacons and iBeacons. As you probably guessed, iBeacon belongs to Apple. Check out Business Insider’s article for more information on

the technology).

What Can You Use Beacons For?In a Harvard Business Review article on how beacons are changing the shopping experience, Chuck Martin points out that the beacon itself does not really contain messaging; rather it sends a unique code that can be read only by certain mobile apps. Customers must install an app or else the message won’t go through. That’s actually what makes it perfect for corporate events.

Today’s event attendees are not only comfortable with apps, they expect them. But how do you use that access to its best advantage? Data is just data if you don’t have a strategic plan for its use. Here are three examples of beacon technology that will help the attendee experience easier, create personal interactions, modify future experiences, and extend the company’s reach beyond the venue.

Game changing. Revolutionary. Mind-bending potential.

02

Aloompa, the company that deployed iBeacons at Bonnaroo, said that it’s “...hoping to let users in the future relive their experience in a new way: a ‘retrospective itinerary’ — not just looking at photos and tweets, but the chance to see where you were, when, and who you were with — creating a community feeling even after an event is over.”

Extend the Engagement

At business conferences, you could use this to create a retrospective agenda. Attendees could retrace the presentations they saw or booths visited, ranked by the amount of time spent. You could also link to a recap or full presentation, housed on your website.

Make Your Signs Work HarderInfoworld had a great idea for using beacon-enabled signs to trigger language translations. You could also extend that to offer directions, event updates, and useful tips. For example, an attendee at an event could arrive in a particular area and immediately access information on how to get certain places from where they are, what’s going to be happening in that area, and whether any schedule changes have affected the area. Instant updates turn a simple sign into a dynamic source of up-to-the-minute information.

Make ConnectionsBeacons do more than improve communication between you and your audience. They can also create connections between your audience members. Beacon technology company Umbel cites an engaging way to use beacons to connect people: “... 50+ beacons at various event venues in and around the Austin Convention Center [allowed] SXSW to welcome attendees to sessions, encourage them to join discussions about a session within the SXSW app, see which other attendees were at that session, and view tweets related to that session.”

Replace Outdated TechStarwood Hotels is experimenting with iBeacon technology that “helps concierges greet arriving guests by name, accelerates the check-in process for frequent guests, and lets housekeeping know when guests are still in the room.” Beacons can even allow phones to replace room keys: All guests need to do is download an app, and they can open their room door with a wave of their mobile device.

03

So what’s next for beacons? We know there is momentum behind the technology. We’ve seen retail become the first ground for beacons, with other high profile brands gaining traction in the “smart homes” market. Yet adoption is still comparatively low. According to ABI Research, only 60 million beacons will be in use by 2019. Though beacons present extraordinary opportunities for audience communication and engagement, there are a number of factors that can make them tricky for businesses.

Challenges with Beacons

Technical ChallengesCertain fundamental challenges have defined this first generation of beacon technology, especially iBeacons:

1. They are one-way only. Each beacon is simply a location-broadcasting device.

2. They are small data only. Each beacon provides only simple data-oriented signals—content is not streamed from the beacon to the listener.

3. They need to be controlled locally. The Bluetooth-only connectivity of most beacons limits their broadcast range.

This limits beacons—and marketers—to fairly rudimentary data collection and app-specific, predetermined communications logic.

Practical ProblemsThere are practical concerns when using beacons. Galen Gruman at InfoWorld has pointed out how easy it is for beacons to be damaged, stolen, or mixed up with each other. Aesthetics can also turn out to be a snag: the Brooklyn Museum had issues when they couldn’t find beacons that matched the colors of their walls. It’s easy to forget about these practical details when swept up in the fervor over such awesome new tech. But fortunately there are solutions, which range from high-tech to downright old-fashioned. Beacons that connect to your wifi so you can identify and monitor themare available. For a lower-cost fix, just label them with a Sharpie.

In addition, objects, walls, and people can block beacons’ signals and keep them from doing their jobs. It’s also pretty easy to get out of range of a beacon. Finding the correct way to arrange your beacons to optimize their effectiveness in your space is essential.

User Experience IssuesRemember, the consumer has to install the app. That’s not always an easy sell. You need to perceive a value… then you have to deliver on it. There’s a fine line between being useful and being annoying when it comes to sending out messages. Too many irrelevant push notifications can nudge consumers to stop using or even uninstall an app.

Even relevant information runs the danger of being intrusive. Beacon users have to strike the right balance of frequency and interest. 04

No Silver Bullet - But ProgressIt’s tempting to just run with a technology that has so much potential. But to keep beacons from being the next flash-in-the-pan (R.I.P. QR codes), the industry must work on the barriers to an easy user experience. Mesh beacons are a promising development. The first entry is from Paris-based mobile proximity solutions provider Ubudu. Called uBeacon (take THAT, Apple), the new and improved beacon technology turns location-broadcasting beacons into a two-way, internet-connected network. With an internet connection, mesh beacons can communicate with the cloud and with each other.

These devices will continue to become smarter and more connected. The next generations will combine multiple technologies, such as analyzing magnetic fields, Wi-Fi signals and light, to achieve additional benefits benefits of cognitive computing on a mesh beacon network. The era of mesh beacons will enable smarter, real-time, two-way communication between the physical and digital worlds. Mesh beacons will reduce friction and increased simplicity for consumers and marketers.

While we’re still in the early days, we see a beacon of hope here. Personalization is arguably the most important driver in modern marketing. And that’s what beacon technology is all about. Like pretty much everything, in order for beacon technology to succeed, it has to be done right. In this case, “doing it right” means devoting attention to technical and practical challenges, business needs, and customer experience in equal measure.

Author: Noelle Micarelli Marketing Apprentice / Cramer

Additional contributions by: Jonathan Ronzio

We invent, craft, and fuel content-driven experiences that achieve more for global brands.

If you’re ready to achieve more, so are we. Let’s go.

781.278.2300 | cramer.com