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ESA Member Spotlight

Delighted to feature as the Spotlight company in September 2020.

Give us a brief overview of Dataflow Events as a company in general and your approach to sponsorship and partnerships specifically?

Dataflow has been delivering delegate registration sites for over 15 years and more recently Sponsor Asset Management platforms.  We are based in Wimbledon and have a ‘Small & Mighty’ team of 4 full-time web developers and 3 project managers.

We know that we are at the non-glamourous end of the sponsorship process, but delivering good data via an easy to use and well-designed platform is an essential element for a successful campaign.  Our objective is to become the leading provider of asset management platforms to the sponsorship industry.  To do this we want to partner with the UK’s top sponsorship related agencies.  Recent project ‘wins’ suggest that we are delivering good work with the flexibility that is required for our client’s specific needs.

What approach makes Dataflow Events’ strategy/model unique? What is your USP/differentiator?

The key to our success is that we have a tried and tested structure that can be customised to match our client’s specific requirements.  Each client project has its own database, which means that any changes will not impact on other clients.

“What we liked about Dataflow was the flexibility of their platform as they were able to meet the very complex requirements of our business.”

Our platform can manage multiple campaigns such as football, rugby and tennis; multiple clubs and fixtures; the distribution of tickets, merchandise and other assets to multiple markets; user asset requests and approvals; guest invitations; travel and accommodation as well as a comprehensive administrator supporting platform.

What is the benefit to the client and how do you measure the effectiveness of such platforms?

At Dataflow Events, our job is to facilitate the process of getting the sponsors assets, such as tickets and merchandise, into the best hands to deliver on the ROI objectives of the client.  One of the consistent requirements for all clients is to maximise the use of all assets.  Our platforms provide live data 24/7 so administrators are well informed about the uptake of tickets and can take action to ensure that seat occupancy is maximized.

We’ve helped Cadbury and MKTG deliver 98% occupancy for the tickets they utilize via their award-winning football campaigns.  We were delighted and proud to play some part in their success.

What are some recent clients you’ve worked on campaigns for?

Dataflow has been delivering delegate registration sites for over 15 years, largely working with agencies such as Imagination, Jack Morton Worldwide and TRO, for end clients including Ford, Shell, Jaguar Land Rover, Canon, Rolls Royce, BA and Toyota.  Over the last 10 years we have fine-tuned our capabilities with respect to the distribution of Sponsor assets – Items such as tickets, merchandise, player appearances or use of venues.  In 2019 we created multiple platforms for VISA, on behalf of Infrared, for The Women’s World Cup and The African Cup of Nations. More recently we’ve worked with MKTG and Cadbury to support their ticket activations in football.

In 2019 we won a 3-year contract to assist with the distribution of 20,000 Premiership Rugby tickets to over 200 matches, as well as other assets such as merchandise, player appearances and use of venues.

We were delighted with the end of season feedback from the senior administrator.

“Working with Dataflow Events this season has been a breath of fresh air. The team are incredibly supportive, efficient and most importantly understand us as a client.  The ticketing system is extremely user friendly and easy to tweak which makes it an ideal solution for our business.”  

How have you been supporting your clients with the current Covid-19 crisis, as clearly all matches are currently being played behind closed doors?

Of course, this is a difficult time that hopefully will not last too much longer.  The main support we can provide is with additional communication to inform users and ticket holders of the current situation.  Back in March changes happened very quickly and we were able to react fast to send updates via email to the relevant guests.  We have also been working on ways in which we can adapt our platforms to ensure they are compatible with the ‘new normal’ – for example, accommodating the requirements for virtual events.

Aside from asset distribution, what other requirements can you assist with and what recent innovations have you been able to deliver?

The other significant area where we can help is with regard to brand maintenance and the approval of new brand assets.  Our Brand Hub provides a central location where approved users can find and download all brand related details such as images, videos and guidelines.  Our Asset Approval tool provides a structure where new items can be uploaded by partners / creators, sent for approval by multi-level administrators and then stored for future access.  All communications between the asset creators and the 2 levels of administrator are available for relevant parties to see during the approval process.

In terms of recent innovations, I guess that areas worthy of mention relate to the importance of data security and the need to remain at all time within GDPR guidelines.  2-factor authentication for Users is a recent enhancement as well as work on delivering communication options via WhatsApp.

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

If there is any upside to the current crisis, it is that we have had time to fine-tune our structures so that we should be better, faster and more able to offer greater functionality than ever before.  We look forward to working with many ESA members in the future.

www.dataflowevents.co.uk