ITN International

www.itn-international.com

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ITN International has partnered with the Amsterdam Tourism and Convention Board and the organizer of IBC to provide an attendee credential that doubles as a free pass to public transit and tourist attractions throughout the city.
 
The “Citywide Attendee Credential” will be introduced on a pilot basis during IBC 2011, September 8-13, a 48,000-attendee exhibition serving the electronic entertainment industry.
The Near Field Communication (NFC) enabled smartcard not only provides attendees a seamless, high-value experience, but gives IBC’s organizer “five tools in one.”

The card functions as an event badge and enables attendee tracking, access control, exhibitor lead retrieval, and “attendee rewards” in the form of complimentary local ground transportation and entertainment provided courtesy of the host city.

Creating a “seamless experience” for attendees is important because destination marketing organizations (DMOs) like the Amsterdam Tourism and Convention Board must meet their goal of effectively cobranding their cities and the events they host.

DMOs’ traditional attempts at cobranding—such as giving attendees free local rail passes or tickets to museums and other tourist attractions—often fall short, because they don’t guarantee attendee awareness of the partnership forged between the host city and the event.

Random gifts such as these—and the all-important link between host city and event—simply are lost on attendees.

But because the Citywide Attendee Credential creates a seamless attendee experience, this innovative application makes it at last possible for a DMO to create an intimate brand connection between a host city and an organizer’s event.
The partnership between host city and event is no longer “lost.” The cobranding works.

Pleased that its city would play host to IBC 2011, the Amsterdam Tourism and Convention Board sought a way to add substantive value for attendees of the mammoth event.

At the same time, the Board wanted to find an engaging way to communicate the city’s brand to IBC attendees.

The Board believes that attendees of business events like IBC, after each day of hard work on the exhibition floor, look forward to spending their free time in pursuit of cultural enrichment—one of Amsterdam’s signature offerings.

IBC’s organizer shares that belief.

So the organizer asked the Board to explore new ground. Could IBC attendees be provided a credential that could perform double duty, functioning both as an event badge and a free pass to Amsterdam’s transit systems and cultural attractions?

The Board responded by suggesting a “marriage” of the Netherlands’ award-wining Openbaar Vervoer Chipkaart (OV Chipkaart) and the organizer’s attendee credential of choice, ITN International’s BCARD.

The Citywide Attendee Credential can be used to create a “seamless experience”  whenever a host city and an event organizer team up to provide rewards and deliver content to attendees.
The Citywide Attendee Credential is a “total” attendee credential. It allows a DMO to grant attendees access to its city’s infrastructure, attractions and amenities, while filling the operational needs of organizers for attendee tracking, access control and exhibitor lead retrieval.

As competition for event organizers’ business increases, DMOs will continue to seek imaginative new ways to add value for attendees, while driving awareness of their brands.

The Citywide Attendee Credential fits the bill nicely. Its ability to create a seamless attendee experience means DMOs can successfully cobrand their cities and the events they host.

The Citywide Attendee Credential is a ground-breaking blend of two proven applications of NFC-enabled card technology:

• ITN International’s BCARD, in use worldwide since 2004, is an events-industry standard in attendee credentialing that has been deployed by more than 1,000 events to date.
• The Netherland’s award-winning Openbaar Vervoer Chipcaart, in widespread use since 2006, is a smartcard that allows travelers to access public transit nationwide.
  
  Here’s how it works:
   
• The Chipcaart, besides public transit access, supports third-party applications.
• To produce the Citywide Attendee Credential, ITN International embeds its BCARD inside the Chipcaart.
• Before the event, each Chipcaart is printed with the event logo and graphics.
• On site, each Chipcaart is personalized for the attendee at check-in.
• The Chipcaart, besides permitting public transit access, contains BCARD credentials—attendees’ identity, demographics and event permissions.
• The Chipcaart also supports an application permitting access to tourist attractions."

The Citywide Attendee Credential takes full advantage of the capability of NFC-enabled card technology to enable an attendee credential to also function as a mobile wallet, encoded with a “stored value.”

Attendees can redeem that value wherever compatible readers have been deployed: shops, restaurants, hotels or tourist attractions.

In the case of IBC 2011, the stored value on the card can be used by attendees to ride public transit, visit any one of Amsterdam’s 35 museums, and enjoy a complimentary canal cruise.

All pricing of services by ITN International is custom. Event organizers interested in providing attendees stored value amenities can retain ITN International to provide full pre- and onsite registration services at fees ranging from US$2 per attendee (for large events) to US$5 per attendee (for small events).

Organizers of large events have repeatedly asked ITN International to explore ways to add to its BCARD attendee credential stored value applications that would give attendees access to local services and amenities.

In addition, secondary research suggests that the demand among DMOs for innovative technology applications is on the upswing.

According to Destination Marketing Association International’s Futures Study, DMOs everywhere are redoubling their efforts to define their value proposition in a fast-changing business climate.

Central to those efforts is the attempt to clarify the DMO’s role as an “Advocate for the Total Visitor Experience.”

According to the Futures Study, DMOs are working hard to achieve a “visitor focus” and to meet “the challenge of delivering a high-value visitor experience from end to end, start to finish.

The Citywide Attendee Credential will be piloted during IBC 2011, September 8-13.

Based on an evaluation of the pilot by IBC’s organizer and the Amsterdam Tourism and Convention Board, the program may be rolled out to all IBC attendees in 2012.

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