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      What are some best practices for Live Activations?

      Here's are our best practices for a successful live activation.

      What is a Live Activation?

      In a sentence, a live activation is any type of digital activation that involves your fans, when they are on-site at your venue.

      Live activations are one of the best ways to take an experience that is traditionally “one-to-many” (i.e. having fans shout their predictions or participate in trivia at half-time) and make them “one-to-one” (i.e. giving all fans a chance to test their trivia).

      They empower you to collect first/zero-party data so that you are consistently growing your database with fans who are present at your events.

      We love to use Live Activations to capture fans who aren’t primary ticket buyers.

      For partners who don’t have access to ticketing data, Live Activations are the tool to start understanding “who’s present at my show/game/venue” and how to re-market to them (every live activation also includes the ability to opt-in).

      Types of Live Activations Supported by Tradable Bits

      First, a disclaimer. Every Tradable Bits plan includes a QR code generator, meaning that technically any of the 35+ digital activations we offer can be distributed at an event in real time.

      We’ve seen our partners place these QR codes up on jumbotrons, large concession screens, on-stage, or even printed on signage throughout the event.

      If you’re rearing to add a customizable QR code to your regular distribution process, get started with them here.

      Now on to the good stuff.

      Tradable Bits supports the following products that we classify under live activations (because they are handy tools for event day):

      1. In-Venue Activations (We use it synonymously with the term “Live Activations” since these are the most popular)
      2. UGC Streams
      3. TBits Towers
      4. ARCADE
      5. Wifi Portals + CMS

      1. In-Venue Activations

      These activations are different from our regular campaigns because they include a live leaderboard/results screen that shows answers in real-time. This adds another layer of interactivity for your fans in the venue. Our current list of in-venue activations includes:

      • Memory Match
      • Tug of War
      • Trivia
      • Survey
      • Poll
      • Vote
      • Lineup
      • Photo-Contest

      If you can’t remember this list, just look for the “LIVE” tag next to each campaign’s title when building a new campaign.

      If the campaign has this "Live" tag, it will have a "live results" link that lets you share campaign results with fans in-venue as they come in. 

       

      2. UGC Streams

      These are the large boards of fan images, posts and videos that you can display in your venue. We’ve seen these set up on the big screens (Jumbotron, Arena Signs, LED screens on-site), or on smaller screens in more intimate places (fan-zones, etc.). You can even add a version of these streams to one side of your TBits Tower.

      There are 2 ways you can set up your UGC Stream:

      i. Pull-in images, posts, etc. with social listening.
      → This requires you to choose relevant hashtags, keywords and accounts to pull in from Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (X) [additional fee may be required]

      ii. Connect your UGC to a TBits Photo or Video contest (i.e. pull in all entries)
      → This requires you to run a photo or video contest first, but it often opens the door to more types of fan entries than just pulling in from social (i.e. any fan that doesn’t want to post on social)

      To get started with UGC, visit this section of our knowledge base.

       

      3. TBits Towers (Additional to regular subscription):

      These are large LED Towers that you can place on-site at your event. They’re often used as a “meeting hub” and information center for fans. They’re also massive sponsorship fulfillment assets, where you can drive more attention to your major event sponsors.

      To learn more about TBits Towers, check out our full guide here. 

      4. Wifi Portals + CMS (Additional to regular subscription):

      Your captive portal to Wi-Fi connectivity. The TBits wifi portal is a custom-branded splash page. It’s basically a more sophisticated entry from where fans exchange data for access to the internet. To set a portal up, you first need a wifi provider to your venue.

      For more details on Wi-Fi portals, visit this guide. [LINK TO NEW GUIDE]

      From this point in the guide onwards, we will just be addressing in-venue activations (aka our campaign suite).

      TBits Tips and Tricks

      This section is an overview of best practices put together using insights from our partners - including timelines, creativity and execution of broader marketing campaigns that include Live Activations as a piece of the whole. For information on how to actually build a Live Activation, visit the following section: Building your first in-venue activation.


      1. Complexity of Build

      First, a little bit about the complexity on the build side of things.

      • In-Venue Activations = Low Complexity. Building one out is as simple as building any TBits campaign

      • UGC Stream = Low Complexity. Also falls under a similar structure to a TBits Campaign.

      • Wifi Portal = Medium-High Complexity. The only work you need to do is to introduce us to the right people from your]

      • TBits Tower = High Complexity. Towers often require more moving parts - things like vendors for your LED screens, understanding connectivity, and introducing the TBits team to the right folks to make sure your Tower is the one from your dreams. Build-wise, you don’t have to do anything. The complexity is in project management.

         

         

      2. Resources Required/Technical Roadblocks to get ahead of

      Resources:

      It’s important to have a skilled team in-house that can build Tradable Bits campaigns. Our partners generally recommend one person who is “point” for the Live Activations, and who is in charge of:

      • Building the campaign
      • Building the auxiliary content around the campaign for distribution, including:
        • The graphics to include on the jumbotron, LED screen or signage around the stadium/venue

      *Depending on how “produced” you want your Live Activation to be, you can also include one person from creative services/game-day production to help build a more produced video to help get fans engaged.

      Technical Roadblocks to get ahead of:

      • Live Activations are web-based, meaning that they require connection to the internet - whether that is through Wifi or Mobile Roaming. Make sure that your venue has decent connectivity for fans to participate in and access the campaigns.

      • All leaderboards are responsive to different screen sizes out of the box (whether that’s a jumbotron, or a regular LED screen on-site). If you’d like to see any more customization, try to involve the Tradable Bits team earlier in the build process.

      • We recommend pre-event testing if you have the time. If you’re running Live Activations as part of your gameday, then test the campaign in-arena. If you’re launching an Artist Trivia between sets in-venue, test in the venue.

         

         

      3. Common Departments to Include

      The most important part of “who to involve” is around ensuring that your live activations aren’t separate from your overall marketing goals and initiatives. While they’re great for](#h-6-how-to-frame-for-sponsors) fan engagement, you get the most out of launching a live activation when it is tied in with the rest of your marketing efforts.

      This means consistent branding, goals around what type of information you want to get from fans, and digging into opportunities around tent-pole events.

       

      From the Sports side of in-venue activations, these are the most common cross-overs:

      1. Sponsorship/Partnerships Team: These activations are great sponsorship inventory, so get your partnerships team involved early. Work with them to uncover potential sponsors, where to place your live activation (frequency, exposure, etc.), and what other opportunities you can build into the activation (requiring fans to share postal codes for example).

      2. Digital Team: To build the activation + all the auxiliary content required for distribution.

      3. Events Director/ Gameday Operations: The one person (or people) who are able to dictate the running order of your live event. Work with this department to ensure you meet the frequency of your activations, and choose key moments to get fans involved (where interaction, demand and visibility are as high as possible).

      4. DEI Teams: If you run themed nights around Diversity and Inclusion, don’t forget to include your DEI team in ideation around how to engage fans in the venue. They can bring some fresh perspective to your digital team!

         

         

      4. Pre-Build Checklists

      1. Determine your goals early and understand your limitations (i.e. resources) first. There are numerous campaign types you can take advantage of, and our team is always available to help you come up with ideas or to help get you started.

      2. Understand what other marketing initiatives your Live Activations can fit into. Whether you’re launching them for a major event to boost sponsorship opportunities (a finals series for example), or as part of your season-long engagement strategy - Live Activations work best when tied to your greater marketing initiatives.

      3. Determine what workflow will work best for your team. For season-long engagement, a number of our partners front-load the build and ideation portion of Live Activations into their off-season, so that they can work faster when the regular season gets hectic.

      4. If you can, pair Live Activations with additional engaging content. For example, if you’re running an in-arena competition - make it more engaging for your fans by having them compete against a favourite athlete’s score (can be a pre-recorded video you put up on the Jumbotron).

      5. Mark off which teams will be involved, and how (i.e. what is sponsorship’s role? DEI? etc.)

         

         

      5. Distribution

      If a tree falls in the forest, and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

      Just like anything else in marketing, your distribution tactics are what’s going to make or break participation in your Live Activations. Over-communication trumps under-communication.

      Here are some of our suggestions:

      • Include signage throughout your venue that breadcrumbs your live activation (or allows people to access it) depending on your run of show, and when you plan to go live

      • Have auxiliary marketing pieces to put up and promote your live activation throughout your venue (aka a big beautiful QR code, and CTAs around your arena).

      • Make your CTA to participate clean and clear so that fans in the venue have no issues scanning to participate.

      • If you’re including a break to play your live activation as part of your run of the show, get your MCs involved. Have them direct fans to play, and stay engaged.

      • Create follow-ups and follow-throughs. If you have fans whipping out their phones, and giving their name, email and additional details, it’s always nice to add in a surprise and delight. All of our campaigns allow you to build transactional emails to send to any fans as soon as they participate - which is a great tool to surface other Sponsorship deals or offers to your fans.

         

         

      6. How to Frame for Sponsors

      Post-pandemic, sponsors are asking for more digital inventory and more branded opportunities - and mass-event audiences/live events are a valuable space for sponsors.

      Traditionally, the issue around live events is limited physical inventory in an arena (our 3D world has boundaries). Digital extends that inventory to basically anything that you can fit in your run-of-show, so teams are now able to offer more points of contact with their sponsors.

       

      What makes live activation in an arena an even more premium product for sponsors?

      These activations can be placed at high-intensity moments, where fan engagement, identify verification, data capture and commercial inventory can blend together seamlessly.

      How to frame your live activations:

      Like any activation, we recommend setting up business cases and pitching material for your sponsors. Here are some metrics you can track with Live Activations to help frame your pitches, or report on success with Sponsors:

      1. First-Party/Zero-Party data through explicit profiling questions [Link this to Evan’s Piece] If you’re looking to add a new sponsor, consider compiling data on your fan base beforehand. For example, if you’re looking for an auto-partner, you can ask fans in the stadium “What’s your favourite car brand.” Depending on your data, you may be able to frame for a new sponsor, “15% of our audience have shown explicit affinity for your brand.”

      2. Monetization through additional offers. On the back of any TBits campaign, you can easily set up Transactional Messages (one-off communication that doesn’t require opt-in) through email or SMS that offer fans a Sponsor promotion. Tracking redemption of this promotion and its impact on Sponsor Revenue is a great way to report on success.

      3. Campaign Metrics. You can view total entries, total views, and the number of new fans reached in your reporting.

      4. In-Arena Participation Metrics. Compare total entries in your campaign, to total attendance during the game to see what percent of the stadium you’ve engaged. Seeing participation rates is a huge value proposition for sponsors - essentially letting them know that x% of attendees will have direct, focused time on their engagement.

         

         

      How to Build Your First Live Activation

      This section refers to how to build your first in-venue activation (aka tied to our campaign builder). For more information on how to build your first UGC campaign, a Tower, an ARCADE campaign, or a](#h-6-how-to-frame-for-sponsors) Wi-Fi portal through Tradable Bits, refer to the guides below:

      Choosing a campaign

      As we’ve mentioned before, you can technically display any of our 35+ campaigns live in-venue for real-time results using our Tradable Bits QR Code Builder. The major difference is that not every campaign is set up to display these results, live.

      To choose a campaign that includes the ability to display results live (leaderboard, most voted, etc), go to Campaigns > Business (i.e. choose which business you want to build the campaign in >New Campaign and look for the LIVE tag on each campaign 

      campaigns to use for live activations

       

      If you have any questions, you can reach out to your Customer Success Manager or contact support@tradablebits.com for more information