When visitors attended Georgetown University‘s men’s basketball game last Saturday in downtown Washington, D.C., some had the chance to test a new Bluetooth beacon solution that wirelessly connected them to coupons and other information via their smartphones. By employing beacon technology provided by Radius Networks, a D.C.-based mobile-ticketing platform company, LetsMoveDown has provided the Georgetown team (through its own Hoya Tix iTunes application), with an automated method for learning where fans are located, and thus what content would best be directed to them. LetsMoveDown installed approximately 30 Radius Networks RADBeacon Bluetooth beacons at the Verizon Center, the home of the Georgetown Hoyas men’s basketball team.
LetsMoveDown was founded in late 2012, and its mobile-ticketing solution—currently being used by nine college and professional sports teams—enables sports enthusiasts to purchase tickets, upgrade seats and receive promotions via an app hosted either by the team or by LetsMoveDown itself. The solution is based on a revenue-sharing model by which such options as ticket upgrades are offered to fans, explains Derek Shewmon, the company’s co-founder. The sales profit is then shared with the team and, in some cases, the venue, as well as LetsMoveDown.
Now, by employing beacon technology, LetsMoveDown can take the solution a step further, by identifying where fans are located and thereby providing useful information or promotional data related to that specific area. When a fan arrives at a venue, for example, a RADBeacon installed at the gate detects a compatible app running on his or her Bluetooth Low-Energy (BLE)-enabled phone. The RADBeacon transmits a Bluetooth signal encoded with a unique ID number that the app receives, prompting it to display a message welcoming that individual to the game. If the fan proceeds to a seating area far from the court, another beacon will transmit a unique ID prompting the app to display an invitation for that person to upgrade the seat—at a higher price. If he or she walks within range of a beacon installed at the gift shop, the app will display a discount coupon for goods on sale at that store.
These are just some of the initial options, says Marc Wallace, Radius Networks’ co-founder. More creative options could also be considered in the future, he adds, such as letting an individual use the app to locate the nearest unoccupied bathroom, or the snack stand with the shortest line.
Georgetown University was already using LetsMoveDown’s mobile-ticketing service when Radius Networks contacted the school about its own beaconing technology, and the basketball team arranged for the two companies to work together. The team “is pretty innovative when it comes to customizing the experience of the fans,” Shewmon says.
The result has been a solution provided by LetsMoveDown but utilizing Radius Networks’ beaconing technology. At the Verizon Center, the system works for anyone who already has the Hoyas Tix app loaded on his or her phone, and an Apple handset with BLE technology (devices using iOS 7 or higher). The system could also operate with Android-based BLE-enabled phones, Wallace notes, though an Android-compatible Hoyas Tix app was not included in the initial Georgetown rollout. Six beacons were installed at the entrance gates, each of which transmitted its unique identifier to phones and those with BLE technology. The app then responded, sending a message back to LetsMoveDown’s cloud-based server, which forwarded a text-message greeting to each fan.
Inside the center, about 15 beacons were installed within concourses, clubs and stores, and another 10 in the seating areas. Responses from the Hoya Tix app not only prompt promotional data to be sent to the phone, but can also be collected to determine analytics-based data, such as where groups tend to gather at an event, as well as the number of people seated in a given section.
According to Wallace, Radius Networks—which was launched in Washington, D.C., in 2012—was initially formed to develop a Wi-Fi-based solution that could transmit data to mobile phones, via an app, based on a Wi-Fi access node’s service set identifier (SSID) detected by the phone in a specific area. However, he says, access to SSIDs was not always available to phones. As such, Radius instead began considering beacon technology. By the time Apple released its new iPhone 5 with BLE capabilities, he says, “We saw that coming, and determined how Apple would do it.”
Radius Networks then released an open-source software platform for both iOS and Android. The company manufactures its own Bluetooth beacons, known as RADBeacons, which can be installed at such facilities as stadiums, malls or stores. Unlike most other beacons currently on the market, the RADBeacon is powered not by an internal battery, but by a USB cable connected to a computer or other USB power source (see RFID News Roundup: Radius Networks Announces USB-Powered Bluetooth Beacon).
At the Verizon Center, Radius’ Proximity Kit software platform determines location data and forwards that information to LetsMoveDown. In addition to the Verizon Center installation, Wallace says, Radius also has pilots underway at several other stadiums, museums, convenience stores, malls and restaurants.
The next Georgetown basketball game will again include the beaconing technology, Shewmon says, and will feature additional options, such as upgrading seats based on a user’s location. At last week’s event, the use of the Hoyas Tix app was up by 38 percent, he reports, while sales related to seat upgrades via the app were up by 25 percent. “People seemed to think it was great,” Shewmon states.
“I’d say it was a very successful first game” for the LetsMoveDown and Radius partnered solution, Wallace adds.