Ticketing as a Software company Red61 recently linked up with the 2021 Edinburgh Festival Fringe to launch a solution that could deliver a hybrid event.
The solution was a Digital Wallet, which integrates across all sales channels and customer facing apps. Festival customers can purchase, manage and access digital, live or hybrid events in a digital wallet.
Red61 has also integrated with a number of digital content providers including YouTube, Vimeo, Brightcover and Vidflex to allow live streaming and on-demand content to be viewed in the Digital Wallet.
Edinburgh Festival Fringe was able to set up flexible ticket pricing options including structured pricing, pay what you can, free tickets as well as options to donate after viewing an event.
This year’s Edinburgh Fringe event took place both in-person and digitally, in order to keep visitors safe during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and amid travel restrictions, which resulted in many overseas fans being unable to attend the Scottish event.
Lyndsey Jackson, deputy chief executive of Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, said: “Our top priority during the planning for 2021 in the context of COVID-19 was to ensure the Fringe remained a valuable place for artists to deliver that work in the way best suited to them, including on a range of digital platforms, but we also have to ensure that access is controlled, enabling them to generate much needed revenue.
“The solution developed by Red61 allowed us to offer secure and quality ticketing services in a multi-platform environment to best support our artists to engage audiences and showcase their work effectively.
“Our long-standing partnership with Red61 is grounded in a shared commitment and passion to help artists and audiences find one another and to offer high quality box office and ticketing series to all.”
Edinburgh Fringe also wanted to concentrate on accessibility for all when it came to digital experiences. The festival needed a platform that could accommodate British Sign Language interpretations, captioning and subtitling through the Fringe Player.
Red61 also offers a ticketless solution for physical events, which includes scanning and tablet sales which results in less interaction between staff and customers to help maintain social distancing during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Chief executive officer of Red61 Tony Davey said: “Venues, festivals and event organisers have had to quickly adapt to a new environment, and we’ve been there to support their transition all the way.
“In typically Red61 style, we haven’t just provided a video platform, our new Digital Wallet provides a seamless solution that connects into multiple video platforms and plays within your own website. And of course, we create large ticketing networks, so it was essential to be able to cross sell digital content from other organisations.
“This is a truly unique solution that offers a variety of options that make it easy to find the right channel to connect with your audience as our landscape evolves.”
Image: Kilyan Sockalingum on Unsplash