What should ALSD members know about FEVO?
CL: A key focus of FEVO is truly bringing fans and people together. We work with a number of different partners to deliver a streamlined, lightning-fast shopping cart for purchasing tickets to an event. Your customers can share that cart, invite family and friends, and then enjoy the game all together — without one person having to buy for the whole group. Initially, we visit our partners on site, learn about their business goals and objectives, and then work with them to sell more efficiently and have success on the platform.
DF: Partners sign up with FEVO and leverage it for suite sales, group sales, flash sales, deposits, etc. We grow those partners to utilize FEVO as the ultimate transaction engine. We can sell anything and everything in the quickest and easiest way possible, and more and more partners across the sports entertainment world are adopting our software.
FEVO’s mission is to disrupt the world of e-commerce, making every transaction on every site a social and memorable occasion. Tell us more about that mission.
DF: FEVO is more than just a transactional engine. There is this social element of getting people together, of pushing your network, or letting people in your network know, “I'm going out to an event, and you should come with me.” Whether that's club seats at the New York Yankees, access to a lounge for the US Open, or buying a suite for the Nashville Sounds, you're able to promote it. FEVO taps into social networking, making people fear missing out.
“Hey, I just bought tickets. You should join me. We should make some memories together.”
CL: FEVO's goal is to disrupt and cause a whole new environment in sports in general. Our goal is to innovate constantly. As technologies should, we want to really identify with each partner. What is their main mission and how do they want to interact with their fans? We want to provide tools that make the purchasing experience streamlined and quick. We offer something that’s fast and allows people to get together and enjoy games, especially coming out of COVID. Having people back in the stands is important.
How do "influencers" impact our industry and how do you approach that topic?
DF: The role of influencers is crucial for reaching the next generation of fans. There is some distrust in institutions for advertising. You buy from people you like; you buy things from people you trust. What’s the first thing that you do when you move to a new place? You look to someone you trust for a doctor recommendation or a realtor. We trust certain people more than we trust institutions. An influencer who says “I'm going to be at this event; it's can't-miss” is more likely to convince people to attend or want to be a part of it.
FEVO has tapped into influencers and turned regular fans into influencers by making it so easy to buy and share that everyone who comes through the transaction flow is prompted to invite their network.
CL: Influencers really affect our industry. We are on different social platforms and our goal is to align with those platforms for every partner. Maybe there is an influencer trying to get their brand out, or a specific event that a team might be hosting.
Influencers are changing how we're going about promoting our events.
Our shopping cart can be sent out in a digital format. We attach a custom URL to every purchase. Buyers can easily click on to it and get right to the event details and purchase tickets. You can be anywhere — on your phone, especially — buy a ticket and then jump on a plane to New York to go to the Yankees game tonight. It's awesome to see how we're moving forward, how we're moving toward a more digital era.
DF: When you make it quick and easy for fans to buy, they're more likely to convert. When you make it super easy for them to share, they're more likely to get it out into the ether. We've seen a lot of success tapping into the influencer markets. We've even seen a superfan buy and then invite their network and turn the event into something truly special.
What events has FEVO been a part of that are pushing the envelope, or that clients have said are most memorable?
DF: The Miami F1 race was new, innovative, big. Being able to get people excited about it and locked into premium inventory at a global event was significant. With FEVO's transactional platform, we can take credit cards from international buyers without any issue, making it quick and easy.
The second that Hard Rock Stadium announced that the F1 race was going to take place in Miami, they were able to send out an offer prompting fans to “Put down your $5,000 deposit for hospitality.” The incredible thing around this event specifically was that there wasn't any lead-up hype. There wasn't even a picture of what it might look like. It was truly just, “There's going to be a race. You know Hard Rock Stadium is going to do it right. Here's opportunity to buy.” Sight-unseen, without knowing what they were going to get, people put $5,000, $10,000 down, quick and easy. They could also invite all their friends to join them, get people excited. It was an incredible experience for FEVO.
CL: FEVO has had the opportunity to work with some amazing partners and really set up events that are pushing the envelope on digitizing tickets. We have an awesome partnership with the New York Yankees and the United Center, each moving premium inventory to a digital checkout experience, which speeds up the purchase process and allows clients to see inventory they previously didn’t even know was in existence.