A key part of enhancing attendee experiences involves upgrading venue technology and increasing the use of data and feedback to be able to deliver more value to guests. Venue management company ASM Global has been implementing several new tech initiatives at its venues across the US in recent months.
XLIVE spoke with Alex Merchán, ASM Global’s Executive Vice President of Marketing, about how technology is playing a key role in venue upgrades and enhancing the post-pandemic guest experience at events of all kinds.
XLIVE: ASM Global has been deploying a lot of new tech in venues over the past few months, from facial recognition to DoorDash — what has the attendee/consumer response been so far to these initiatives?
Alex Merchán: The programs we’ve developed were initiated as a result of guest feedback and what fans expect from a live event experience. We’ve spent the last few years listening to immediate concerns (during the pandemic) and took a long approach to addressing key innovations that should be available now. Programs that fans will recognize include DoorDash, PopID and various grab and go technologies that innovate the fan experience. And our proprietary customer experience platform, ASM Global Insights, shows that guests are not only accepting but providing an overwhelmingly positive response.
The convenience and familiarity have been received very well. By introducing the same DoorDash experience into a venue that guests know at home, we leverage this powerful tool to provide an in-venue convenience that satisfies operational concerns and streamlines the process. This convenience improves the guest experience and reduces friction that ultimately leads to increased revenue performance.
Behind the scenes, we made a strategic alliance with Anthony James Partners, the leader in A/V and venue technology and specialize in leveraging technology to elevate the fan experience space, and continue to invest heavily in evolution of in-venue technology and fan-centric experiences.
XL: Similarly, how is the use of the Qualtrics platform enhancing the guest experience in ASM Global venues? Do you hope that this will help set a new standard for how the industry leverages attendee/guest feedback and data?
AM: Our partnership with Qualtrics established ASM Global Insights, the industry’s largest live event guest feedback loop resulting in the richest guest experience feedback database. Our ability to constantly intake customer feedback informs the business and allows us to address issues that reduce friction and identify opportunity to continue to increase revenue and margins.
Not only does INSIGHTS add value for day-to-day operations but the endless datapoints allow us to provide our partner and clients a strategic view and benchmark performance with like/similar venues across the region, country or around the world. This level of intelligence is a competitive advantage and not available anywhere else.
XL: How did the pandemic impact the need and demand for these types of tech innovations as live events return? Has the pace of innovation increased to address changing expectations?
AM: The pandemic really accelerated our implementation of key programs.The circumstances of the pandemic along with our hyper-focus on the return of live events became the catalyst to fast track our roadmap, bringing to life our FutureNow Plan of leveraging technology and key partnerships to redefine and elevate the guest experience. Rather than wait to implement these programs over the coming years, we’ve found ways of standing them up throughout the portfolio, creating an immediate positive impact.
Keeping our guests, employees and talent in mind, VenueShield took root early in the pandemic as we set the standard for live event safety providing guests the confidence to return to live events. Strategic partnerships and commitments from key partners including Honeywell and Clorox focused on establishing a new standard in the health and well being of our guests.
We accelerated partnerships to streamline the entry and ordering process through relationships with PopID and DoorDash, leaning into the familiarity guests already had with these partners. In addition, grab and go and an integrated digital display network create a new and more in-depth relationship with our guests and continue to provide a deeper understanding of guests’ behaviors and preferences.
XL: What is one of your biggest goals or what are you most looking forward to in terms of continuing to support the return to live events this year? Are there any other enhancements that ASM Global is looking at rolling out (or existing enhancements that will be rolled out more widely)?
AM: We’ve made significant headway with the implementation of our FutureNow plan and the numerous initiatives we’ve successfully launched. There are other partnerships in the works that will further enhance our industry-leading offerings.
We’re very proud to be the industry leader in sustainability with over 40 certified green venues in our portfolio and, we aim to continuing growing that number and elevating the awareness and importance of a healthier environment and planet. We have tapped industry-leading consultants Honeycomb Strategies, to facilitate the right programs and initiatives to continue redefining this space and elevating the importance of corporate social responsibility.
There are also a series of backend initiatives that elevate our ability to ingest and leverage data, respond to the business and…our partnership with Infor, the leader in cloud software, to fully integrate data across booking, sales, food & beverage and event management across domestic and international venues allowing us to better leverage rich data, driving value to our local partners while further integrating our global business.
XL: Is there anything else about ASM Global's initiatives that you'd like to mention?
AM: We’re just getting started...we’re excited to continue leading the way for our clients and the industry as a whole (promoters, partners, content providers) as we launch additional game-changing initiatives. Our cutting-edge programs and best practices are intended to bring value to venues across the global portfolio, to benefit our partners, drive revenue and pave the way across in-venue innovation and fan-centric programs that are unmatched.