David Savastano10.19.14
Attendees at this year’s Squamish Valley Music Festival, in BC Canada, were equipped with tech-savvy PDC Smart Band RFID wristbands instead of paper tickets. The wristbands were used as multi-tasking devices for patron access control, cashless payments, and even social networking – all without the use of a wallet or a smart phone.
The festival hosted 100,000 attendees, who entered through Intellitix portals that instantly read and validated their Smart Band RFID wristbands. With the capacity to validate more than 2,000 RFID wristbands per hour, the Intellitix portal system drastically reduced entrance lines, and identified counterfeit wristbands at the door.
PDC and Intelltix, the global leaders of RFID wristband technology, partnered with brand.LIVE and Live Nation Canada, the producers of the Squamish Valley Music Festival, to implement the Intellipay RFID system that powered PDC Smart Band wristband applications throughout the event. PDC’s Smart Bands each contain a microchip with a unique code that verifies the authenticity of each band, helping prevent fraud from counterfeit wristbands, protecting revenue. Paul Runnals, senior vice president of creative and production for brand.LIVE, said fraud is a major concern at festivals, and before implementing the RFID portal system, “people would make their own, ‘oldschool’ wristbands at home that were good enough quality to pass through security.”
The IntelliPay system provided guests with the freedom of a cashless environment, which helped contribute to additional spending.
“I think there is a bit of a psychological sense that once the money is loaded on their wristband and has left their bank account, they view that money as practically spent – even though we provided refunds,” Runnals said. “Guests would come up to booths and say, ‘I still have 20 bucks to spend.’ We definitely saw an increase in how much was spent on things like merchandise.” Guests were able to pre-load money on to their Smart Band, providing the convenience of instant food, alcohol and merchandise purchases at more than 160 cashless point-of-sale terminals set up throughout the festival.
Social sharing was boosted by allowing festival goers to link their Smart Band to their Facebook account. Fans used check-in and photo stations positioned throughout the event to share their experiences in real time, without a smart phone.
The festival hosted 100,000 attendees, who entered through Intellitix portals that instantly read and validated their Smart Band RFID wristbands. With the capacity to validate more than 2,000 RFID wristbands per hour, the Intellitix portal system drastically reduced entrance lines, and identified counterfeit wristbands at the door.
PDC and Intelltix, the global leaders of RFID wristband technology, partnered with brand.LIVE and Live Nation Canada, the producers of the Squamish Valley Music Festival, to implement the Intellipay RFID system that powered PDC Smart Band wristband applications throughout the event. PDC’s Smart Bands each contain a microchip with a unique code that verifies the authenticity of each band, helping prevent fraud from counterfeit wristbands, protecting revenue. Paul Runnals, senior vice president of creative and production for brand.LIVE, said fraud is a major concern at festivals, and before implementing the RFID portal system, “people would make their own, ‘oldschool’ wristbands at home that were good enough quality to pass through security.”
The IntelliPay system provided guests with the freedom of a cashless environment, which helped contribute to additional spending.
“I think there is a bit of a psychological sense that once the money is loaded on their wristband and has left their bank account, they view that money as practically spent – even though we provided refunds,” Runnals said. “Guests would come up to booths and say, ‘I still have 20 bucks to spend.’ We definitely saw an increase in how much was spent on things like merchandise.” Guests were able to pre-load money on to their Smart Band, providing the convenience of instant food, alcohol and merchandise purchases at more than 160 cashless point-of-sale terminals set up throughout the festival.
Social sharing was boosted by allowing festival goers to link their Smart Band to their Facebook account. Fans used check-in and photo stations positioned throughout the event to share their experiences in real time, without a smart phone.