Winning ‘Best Use of Technology’ at UK Festival Awards 2013

Last night the UK Festival Awards celebrated its 10^th anniversary at the Roundhouse in London, where we found ourselves the winners of the brand new award for ‘Best Use of Technology’.  Our Directors Paul Pike and Iain Case collected the award in front of an audience comprising the UK’s largest annual gathering of music festival producers.

We were chosen by the judges for our exciting and innovative InSite access, social sharing and integrated cashless payment systems which we deployed on behalf of our client Barclaycard at Barclaycard presents British Summer Time in London’s Hyde Park. Competition for the award was strong with other innovative developments in the running from Creamfields, Download and Yahoo! Wireless Festival. 

This follows our recent win at The Event Technology Awards, where we were shortlisted in three categories and presented with the award for ‘Best Admission & Visitor Management Technology’ in honour of its work at the Goodwood Festival Of Speed.

IVS Managing Director, Paul Pike, comments: “The introduction of new technology is always a challenge, requiring several parties working together for a common goal. The success at BBST Hyde Park was achieved through a collaborative working partnership: an imaginative client in Barclaycard, their highly creative agency Heart and a supportive promoter in AEG”

He continues: “We’re thrilled to have picked up another award for our work with major outdoor festivals. Whilst our contracts are expanding into the wider events sector, music festivals will always be close to our hearts and a big part of what we do; they have been early adopters of RFID and contactless technology. In the future we’ll still be in festival fields, but in many other contexts, as people being to understand the benefits of this technology.”

This award crowns what we have called the “Summer Of Contactless” in a breakthrough year for the company which has seen our technology adopted on a wide scale by the live events industry. More than 1 million wristbands have been activated into our system so far this year in the UK alone, processing over 80,000 cashless transactions, which in turn saw a value of over £2.5 million pass through our payment systems. Harnessing the ever-increasing power of social media, every automated Facebook post generated by wristband interaction at events reached an average audience of 476 other users, redefining the way events and their partners approach live audience engagement in the future.

Other events that have employed our services in 2013 include The Isle of Wight Festival, T in The Park, V Festival, WOMAD, Cornbury, The Mercury Music Prize, Goodwood’s Revival & Festival of Speed, The Skills Show, Snowbombing (Austria), The UEFA Champions League Final, The Ashes, The Open Championship and many more.

Onwards and upwards for 2014!