The Complete Event Solution

NOT JUST AN APP.

EMIRATES DUBAI 7s

BACK9 has developed a suite of technology to manage key operations for events effectively. The BACK9 technology has the flexibility to cover the needs of almost any type of event, whether it be a sporting festival, concert or corporate conference. The solution, and its incorporated modules, cater for the attendee, event operator and partners to increase engagement, deliver efficiencies and provide greater insights into the event ecosystem

TICKETING PARTNER

DUBAI ECONOMY & TOURISM (DET)

Event Creation & Set-Up

BACK9’s Event Solution is a multi tenanted solution allowing users to create and setup Events. In conjunction with DET in Dubai, Back9 Advisory manages the setup of Events with the Government Department. This includes submitting documents and event information required to receive event approval. BACK9 Advisory or the Event themselves can setup Event details in the BACK9 solution. For the Dubai 7s BACK9 Advisory also submits the Exemptions and post Event analysis required by DET.

Ticket Creation

BACK9’s Event Solution is a multi tenanted solution allowing users to create and setup Events. In conjunction with DET in Dubai, Back9 Advisory manages the setup of Events with the Government Department. This includes submitting documents and event information required to receive event approval. BACK9 Advisory or the Event themselves can setup Event details in the BACK9 solution. For the Dubai 7s BACK9 Advisory also submits the Exemptions and post Event analysis required by DET.

ADVISORY & EVENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (EMS)

Ticket Advisory & Rules

BACK9 Advisory works in conjunction with Event stakeholders to create consumer facing Ticket Types that will meet the needs of both the Event Budget but also all attendee requirements. Understanding transfer rules, splitting of tickets, discounts and their impact on Audit is large part of the service BACK9 Advisory offers.

Ticket Mapping of Consumer to DET

The Event has 42 Consumer types of tickets, these tickets need to be mapped to the 60+ options and configurations created in DET to meet their requirements. BACK9 advisory offers this service. For clients who wish to perform this task, the EMS allows the Event to perform this task through a simple interface. In the case of the Dubai 7s BACK9 Advisory performs this mapping for the Event.

Partner Discounts and Offers

Discount codes can be created in the EMS system. This can be an end user or BACK9 Advisory service. The set up and creation for Web Widget and App can be done via Activation Code entry or Credit/Debit Card BIN number entry. Discount logos and text is also configurable in the EMS. The Discount codes are mapped to Ticket Types that are linked to the appropriately priced DET tickets. The Event requested BACK9 Advisory perform this service.

DET Performances Mapping

DET setup dictates that Daily (or more frequent if required by Ticket Types) Performance are created. These must then be setup and mapped to ticket types within the EMS by either the Event or BACK9 Advisory. The Event requested BACK9 Advisory perform this service.

Online/offline, Ticket Availabiliity Timings, & Ticket Transfer Set Up

Ticket rules are setup in the EMS. These rules cover Discount codes that apply, ticket “on sale” and “off sale” timings that vary by type and promotion, the ability to buy them online or offline only and once purchased whether the end user can transfer them to other users and if so how many times. Based on the agreed, signed off, Event rules, these attributes can be entered by the Event or, as requested by the Dubai 7s, by BACK9 Advisory.

WEB WIDGET

As part of the Event solution, BACK9 create a Web Widget that mirriors brand guidelines of the Dubai7s Website. Within the Widget, the consumer can create a User Profile that persists through to the Event APP.
Ticket Sales (0-10 tickets) of available Ticket Types for Online Sales consumption can be purchased and, where required, seat selection can be made.
Discount Ticket Activation Entry is possible prior to Checkout and Payment which is followed by an Email Confirmation and Tax Invoice
from BACK9.

APP TICKET PURCHASE

As part of the Event solution, BACK9 provide an Event APP that mirriors brand guidelines of the Dubai7s. Within the APP, the consumer creates a User Profile that allows Ticket Sales (0-10 tickets) of available Ticket Types for Online Sales consumption can be purchased and, where required, seat selection can be made within the APP.
Discount Ticket Activation Entry is possible prior to Checkout and Payment which is followed by an Email Confirmation and Tax Invoice
from BACK9.
Within the App, the consumers Tickets are displayed along with a transaction history. Within the APP and subject to Ticket rules, users can Transfer tickets to other users.

PARTNER TICKETS

EMS

The BACK9 EMS contains a Partner Ticket Distribution system. Each Partner has a Partner Ticketing Dashboard where they can track and monitor their contracted allowance allowing both the Partner and Event to perform Partner Ticket Audit and Reconcilliation.
Each Partner has a Specific Ticket(s) issued by BACK9 and BACK9 also allows, where required by the Event, Partner Ticket PDFs. The VIP Welcome Desk EMS functionality allows for Guest “Check-In/Out” management and reportings for each Partner and the Event.

Advisory & EMS

All of the above functionality can be performed by the Event however BACK9 Advisory can (and has been asked to) perform Partner workshops and consulting. BACK9 Advisory is also contracted to create Contract Allocation for Partners, Partner Login set up and further provide one on one training with Partners

WORLD RUGBY SEVENS SERIES (WRSS) TICKETS ADVISORY & EMS

Team Setup (60+)

Within the EMS, Tickets allocated to the WRSS teams are categorised for easy tracking and setup. Teams can choose between PDF or APP tickets and this is configured within the EMS. The Event requests that BACK9 Advisory handle this setup.

Ticket Allocation

Once configured, each team’s contracted Ticket Allocation is created and issued to either Team Liaisons or Individuals who then can manage the distribution to each WRSS (34 / per team / gender of team. BACK9 Advisory has been asked to manage this process.

PLAYER TICKETS (NON-WRSS)

EMS

Over 300 teams across 4 sports take part in the Event. Each team is allocated a certain number of tickets, governed by rules for each segment. The EMS allows teams to be setup and tickets allocations created as appropriate. This can be an end user or BACK9 Advisory function.

Advisory & EMS

With over 300 teams across 4 sports to be created, the Event outsource the Team setup to BACK9 Advisory
Further, BACK9 Advisory then manages the Ticket Allocation and distribution to Team Players (4,500+). Player replacements and team liaison for ticketing is managed by BACK9 Advisory.

SPORTS OPERATIONS TICKETS ADVISORY & EMS

Ticket Allocation

The ticket categorisation within the EMS can be configured by the Event or, as requested by the Event, by BACK9 Advisory to monitor in an auditable manner the tickets issued to Referees, Team Liaisons, physios, Volunteers, Ball Boys and Girls etc. The Sports Operations Tickets have Event budget limits that are controlled by the EMS system

Ticket Distribution

Once created as Tickets available to be allocated, the Event can issue the tickets to the required personnel. However, the Event has requested that BACK9 perform this service on their behalf. The management of this distribution is therefore covered by the BACK9 Advisory team.

SPORTS OPERATIONS TICKETS ADVISORY & EMS

Ticket Allocation

Competition Winners are managed by the Marketing team within the Event. The EMS has a Comptition Winner category but the Event has requested the ticket allocation is managed by the BACK9 Advisory team.

Ticket Distribution

Ticket Distribution can be an Event task, however, the Event has requested BACK9 Advisory managed the distribution to Competition Winners

GROUP TICKETS ADVISORY & EMS

Within the EMS system, Group Tickets (in this Event’s case the rules are set at 11+) can be created and managed from a payment and distribution point of view. As part of the BACK9 Advisory team, the Ticketing Manager handles all Group Bookings 11+ people on behalf of the Event.
Should the Group request it, they can be created as Partners for Ticket Allocation and Distribution. The Ticketing Manager also handles Bank Transfer Management / Stripe Payment Links and Supplier Registration and Invoicing for Corporate Purchases

ENTRY CONTROL SYSTEMS

Ticket Scanner

BACK9 have designed a check-in, passout for exit an re-entry and check-out solution allowing an attendees ticket to be scanned at entry points around the site. By scanning a QR code, the scanner will be able to identify the relevent ticket types and number of each ticket stored against the QR. Where a single ticket results, immediate entry is granted, if more than one relevent ticket is identified, the scanner can allow multi person entry.

Ticket Entry

Scanners at specific Entry points can be configured to allow only certain ticket types to be scanned ensuring Partners, VIPs and Players have smooth ingress avoiding general access queues. The entry system is designed to record the entry time of each attendee giving the Event insights on busy periods, overall attendance and ticket vs entry reconcilliation.

Personnel Onsite during the event at:

BACK9 as part of its contract delivers personnel as follows;
Scanning supervisors at each entry gate
Ticket Support Hub by the Main Entrance
App Support Hub inside the site venue
Players Registration for Team changes and Player injuries
VIP Welcome Desk Support for all Partners and Hospitality Desks

EVENT SUPPORT & REPORTING

As part of BACK9 Advisory, a Ticketing Support Line is available. This is supported by a dedicated Ticketing email with Freshdesk logging for full Event transparency.
Alongside this, BACK9 Advisory takes on General Event Support via telephone and via a dedicated Guest Services email. This is further supported by FAQs provided to the Event website and an online Chatbot management system within the APP.

Weekly Sales Reporting:

Daily and by ticket type detailed analysis
Demographic purchasing information
Finance reporting
Audit Reporting
Link to Social media and media spend, reach, interaction and engagement data

This year BACK9 Advisory was asked to assist with a 3rd party solution for Team Registration and Payment. This “out of support” system needed to have a new payment gateway and BACK9 Advisory added the Stripe Payment gateway into this code to assist the Event.

WHY CHANGE TICKETING APPROACH?

Key to any decision to adopt a digital ticketing apprach is to understand the issues a previous solution may be causing, the impact of those and whether the digital solution solves those issues without introducing new issues. BACK9 has worked with the Event to understand the drivers to move away from the prior solution and resolved those issues. In the first year, it is fair to say that some areas did introdcue new issues but with a greater understanding of those areas (that were also not covered by the prior solution) the solution has evolved to solve old issues without any new issues.

PRE-BACK9

Lack of Audit Controls
Paper ticket distribution with “missing” tickets
No Audit trail on ticket sales
acrross multiple vendors
No Auditable process for unsold “paper” tickets
and recording entry to the Event

Partner and Player ticketing not tracked
Sports Operations ticketing not tracked
Ticket sales reporting was disjointed and not available
No User profile data on more than 50% of attendees.

POST BACK9

With the BACK9 Event Solution, the Event now benefits from having a single source system that covers all ticket types. Available through multiple channels, the one system approach allows full audit trails on ticket sales, refunds and entry to the event.
Through the Partner and Player management systems, full transparency on contracted amounts and allocations is given to the Event with audit controls on extra allocations. Attendance is tracked ensuring no additiional attendees were allowed to attend without a “valid” ticket.
“Paper” pdf ticklets can only be produced once sold, no pre printed ticklets are available avoiding ticket distributors being handed pre printed ticklets prior to any money being received.
Ticket sales reporting can be distributed near real time giving insight of ticket sales down to individual orders, partners and other categories. Ticket sales down to the hour (even seconds) allow the event to track the success or otherwise of marketing campaigns.
Finally, the BACK9 solution gives data inisght into all attendees who purchase or have a ticket transferred to them. This insight allows the event to tailor future events to meet demographic shifts or tailor pricing and advertising channels to maximise primary and secondary event spend.

EVENT APP

One part of the BACK9 Event Solution is the Event App. Although ticket purchase is possible, the vast majority of the APPs capability and user attraction lies in the “In Event” experiences. The APP is designed to meet the needs of attendees whilst on site, giving extra insights to activities and experiences at the Event in both content and real time notification formats. Event goers expect a digital experience and the BACK9 app is full of features that deliver added Event value whilst delivering attendee insights to Event organisers.

DIGITAL WALLET

One of the key fetaures of the APP is the Digital Wallet. A user can store card(s) in their wallet for use throughout the APP. Piurchases are recorded in the Wallet’s Transaction section giving the attendee an audit trail of what was spent on what and when.
Credit, for use at F&B and merchant outlets can be purchased and this interactively works with BACK9’s softPOS system developed in conjuction with ELR.
Finally, the Wallet is the home of the attendees tickets (see below).

STRIPE PAYMENT GATEWAYS

When a user uploads a card to purchase a ticket or other sale item in the APP, it is securely stored in the Stripe Payment Gateway vault. The users card is tokenised for BACK9 to recharge this card for future transactions until such time as the card is deleted by the user. This means that event attendees can seemless purchase within the APP without having to reload card details which can delay or even stop the purchase out of frustration from the user.

VIEW TICKETS

Within the Digital Wallet the Tickets purchased by an attendee are grouped by type. This allows an attendee to view all tickets purchaed in a managable view. The user can then scroll and open types to reveal their purchased tickets in that category. Once viewed, the user can see the ticket along with the entry QR code for that ticket.

Ticket Transfer, where permissable is also activated from here. Certain tickets can be transferred by a user. This may be by someone who has purchased for a family or group that will not arrive at the same time. The feature allows the user to enter the name and email of the new intended recipient. When they accept the ticket it will disappear from the original wallet and appear in the new wallet.

VIEW TRANSACTIONS

Keeping track of what an attendee spends is important for the Event but just as much for the consumer. All BACK9 transactions are supported with an Email receipt and TRN Invoice but they are also accompanied by a short version transaction summary in the Digital Wallet. As a result, the user can instantly see the date, order reference and value of the transaction along with what was purchased.

ONLINE MERCHANDISE STORE & EK EXPERIENCE CENTRE

The Event had initially set out a plan for an online store to be included in the APP for merchandise. Whilst it was quoted, the quote was not taken up as the budget had been consumed. After working with the merchant, BACK9 included the offering in this year’s APP as we believed it would be beneficial to the overall offering. Working closely with Samurai, the Official Apparel Provider, BACK9 have developed an online store that has product catagories, filters, sizes and colours all as options against their product range. Handling stock and pricing in a configurable back end, the consumer will be able to avail Click and Collect at this year’s event and should see an increase in Merchandise spend.
Outside of this, Emirates has now decided to sell additional add on experiences. The new (not charged for) feature has been added by BACK9 to allow further upsell of revenue to the Event.

APP CREDIT SYSTEM

App Credit was first introduced to the APP last year. It was designed to integrate with the Tappit bracelets used by the Event. The integration was to remove the need for queuing to recharge the writsband where queues were long and then for the user to have to only queue again to buy their goods. Due to the 3rd party not being willing to integrate, the experience was sub optimal. For this year the Tappit bracelet system is removed (something they saw coming and hence the lack of integration last year) and the App Credit will work directly with the F&B and Merchant POS systems via the QR code in the APP

LINK TO softPOS SYSTEM

As mentioned in the App Credit section, the APP is designed to integrate with the softPOS solution developed by BACK9 for both ELR and the other Merchants present at the Event.  The softPOS will accept traditional payment methods such as Apple Pay, Credit / Debit cards but will also accept pre purchased credit in the APP. The join between the two systems is the QR code of the user. This QR will pass across whether the credit balance is sufficient to pay and if so allow the transaction to complete. The remaining credit balance is then displayed in the users APP and an eReceipt is issued to the EMail associated with the user.
F&B and Merchant outlets are using incentives to encourage attendees to use APP Credit as the data insights associated with their profile will be exponentially greater.

FIXTURES & RESULTS

The most widely used feature of last year’s APP was the Fixtures and Results. Bringing together 4 sports this year, the user’s experience has been enhanced to allow “My Favourite Team(s)”. In normal mode all sports can be filtered and then further filtered by tournament division. The 4 sports each have various levels of leagues / pools and these culminate in quarters, semis and finals. The APP has the full schedule of timings and locations of every match and when the knock out phases progress, the APP updates with the teams still taking part. The scores and results were so popular that this year, the traditional physical Results Tent is being removed and the valuable prime location real estate in the site is now being used for F&B to increase revenues.
The My Favourite will allow users to select favourite teams to follow and receive notifications on when they are playing and the results for that team.

DIGITAL WALLET

Schedule & Entertrainment

Within the back office EMS, the Event has the ability to create and modify the activities and entertainment schedule. Different from the Results and Fixtures, this section allows the Event to entice and encourage users to experience the Festival atmosphere and experience the all round entertainment on offer. Whilst this is an Event tool, BACK9 Advisory has been engaged to perform the creation and upkeep of the schedule.

Push Notificiations

Using OneSignal, BACK9 have integrated push notifications into the EMS. The end user tool allows the segmentation of audiences to allow tailored messages to be issued. These messages can include links and images all designed from the EMS. The Event engages BACK9 Advisory to perform this task.

News

News articles using a What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) design tool enables content rich news posts to be created and scheduled for promotion in to the News section of the APP. Pictures, formated content and calls to action can all be included. Just as you can scheule when you want it publsihed, you can also set it to expire and autiomatically have it removed from the APP. BACK9 Advisory perform this task for the Event.

EVENT REVENUE GENERATION

PARTNER & SPONSOR AREAS

As part of the APP design, BACK9 created content areas and headers to allow for Revenue Generation from Sponsors. Partners as part of their activations get areas of the APP to promote their brands. This enables new assets to be monetised by the Event’s commercial teams. Another example is the ability to have certain sections of the APP “powered by” whilst others have opted for a quantity of push notifications and News articles pre, during and post event. Whilst commercial teams must be mindful of the Events main sponsors, the APP opens new avenues for commercialisation. See also Partner Value below on Data Insights.

STATISTICAL INSIGHTS

Downloads

BACK9 tracks the usage of the APP. Key to getting to know the Attendees more is to maximise the users who download and engage in the APP. Last year saw over 30,000 downlaods for the 3 day event with over 17,000 users still keeping the app active on their phone a year later. Already this year’s number has seen downloads nearly double

Users

User records give a good insight into behaviours at the Event. This year the focus is to encourage those who may have entered on tickets on someone else’s phone to still download the APP and create a user record. Nearer the Event Social Media channels will be advertising how the APP has benefits far beyond just the ticketing aspect.

Interactions

Over 2 million interactions were made with the 2021 APP. over the 3 day period of the Event. These can be segmented by user profile data to again give insight into behaviours and to encourage greater secondary spend. The interactions also gave commercial teams an added level of detail when engaging with partners and sponsors

App Credit

As mentioned, App Credit was initiated in 2021 and whilst not implemented in the best fashion through circumstances, the tool was used by attendees with nearly 800,000dhs uploaded to the APP. This year the usage is expected to easily pass that figure. The ‘breakage” on this Credit is another new revenue line for the Event.

Notifications

Data on reach of Notifications and click through rate give the Event insights into what consumers engage with but also ensure that users are not overwhelmed by Notifications so that they switch them off. The statistics tracks those that have or subsequently disengage from Notifications.

PARTNER VALUE

Statistical Insights

As mentioned in the App Credit section, the APP is designed to integrate with the softPOS solution developed by BACK9 for both ELR and the other Merchants present at the Event.  The softPOS will accept traditional payment methods such as Apple Pay, Credit / Debit cards but will also accept pre purchased credit in the APP. The join between the two systems is the QR code of the user. This QR will pass across whether the credit balance is sufficient to pay and if so allow the transaction to complete. The remaining credit balance is then displayed in the users APP and an eReceipt is issued to the EMail associated with the user.
F&B and Merchant outlets are using incentives to encourage attendees to use APP Credit as the data insights associated with their profile will be exponentially greater.

MERCHANT SOFTPOS

Ties into User Profile

Enabling the interaction between the user profile and their purchasing activity at the Event, we can, for the first time, start to profile our attendees spend. User’s intent enables us to more directly target them and also refine our merchant offering for our evolving demographics.

Improves Data Insights

Improved data insights helps merchants to deliver the right stock, pricing and promotion of goods most in demand. It also allows them to identify stock that users are not buying or certain time periods where there is a natural dip in sales to offer promotions to those users who have a propensity to buy at other times.

Improved Secondary Spend

The ability to link profiles and spend is designed to achieve one of the Events core revenue objectives, to increase secondary spend. By identifying audiences who spend more allows a targeting of those users to attend the event, driving not only ticket sales but also the goods being purchased.

DIGITAL WALLET

Sample

Data Sharing with Partners

As part of the partner offering, the post event Data Insights Report that is produced by BACK9 Advisory is an excellent upsell for higher tier sponsors. The Insights Report is at an aggregated user level but this can further be combined with data sharing of users profile information in accordance with the Terms and Conditions around data sharing and governing laws based on juristiction of a user. No data is shared where a user has not given permission for that data to be shared and then, only to Event partners as defined in the Terms and Conditions. Further to this, a user has the right to request their profile is deleted after the Event and BACK9 are obliged to perform this deletion leaving only anonymised data behind for audit and statistical purposes.

WHY ADOPT THE APP?

The BACK9 EVENT APP is far more than a electrionic Ticket holder. The ‘In Event” functionality in the APP is designed to bring to life the digital aspect of your event.

WITHOUT THE APP?

No user Insights
Paper tickets
Manual paper based Event Programme
Fixtures and Results taking Prime Real Estate

Users not informed in real time
Low Sponsor engagement with users
No new revenue lines to exploit
Reduced ability to inteligently increase secondary spend

POST BACK9

By providing useful, insightful and time saving functionality for the Event attendee. For the Event, the insights and ability to target users to increase secondary spend and therefore revenue is a key benefit. In bringing the digital side of the event to life for the user, the event also benefits from maximised enjoyment and increase the liklihood of the attendee coming back year on year. The additional satisfaction and potential of revenue growth from partners is another key reason for migrating to the BACK9 Event APP.

WHY HAVE A SERVICE FEE?

Decision in 2021 to offer the “lowest 7s price ever”

Did not take into account VAT in the calculation – pointed out by Back9

The Event decided to absorb the VAT in the ticket price, but could not absorb Stripe and Back9 fee as well and hence the Event decided on a Service Fee

The decision was made to pass the Service Fee onto the consumer much as Deliveroo do (the example we were told to use)

Why didn’t it change in 2022? Due to the cost of living crisis and other factors, the Event made a decision to keep as is with Service Fee

COMMERCIALS

CHARGED TO THE EVENT (Emirates & Falcon)

Element	Price
LICENSE FEE EMS/Web Widget/App	196,350
BACK9 ADVISORY Digital Ticket Processing Fee	3.67 per ticket (capped at 50,000 tickets) 183,650
BACK9 ADVISORY Team Payment Development	15,000
BACK9 ADVISORY Ticketing Manager, Player Support, Partner Support, Public Support, Onsite Support	15,000 (3 months)
BACK9 ADVISORY Data Insights Report	15,000

CHARGED TO CONSUMERS

Element	Price
Ticket Price	Charged as per Agreed Ticket Pricing Matrix 100% (less VAT) of Ticket Sales Price to EK
Service Fee Back9	5AED / chargeable ticket Player, Partner, WRSS, Sports Operations, Competition Winners and other FOC tickets not charged this fee
Service Fee Stripe	3.5% +1AED per transaction Stripe Actual Fee reconciled post event 0.75% to Back9 Remaining Service Fee after deduction of Actual Stripe Fee and Back9 payable to EK
VAT on Service Fee