ECAL has updated its privacy policy to address the new standards introduced by the European data protection law, known as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

We have included changes to our Privacy Policy, as well as the ECAL system and our internal business processes, to strengthen customers’ privacy and data security.

At ECAL, we take the privacy of users very seriously. We don’t use your personal information for any other purpose than to send requested schedules and events to your calendar.

When subscribing to an ECAL service, you can be confident that we only ever access your calendar to deliver event information that you have requested from our publishers.

We never read, change, update, remove or store your personal Calendar events. Additionally, our publishers must also agree to our very own, strict, Calendar Contact Standards, to ensure the information they deliver to you is exactly what you want.

If necessary at any time, you may unsubscribe and revoke ECAL’s access to your calendar. For more information on how to do this, simply go to our Support Centre at https://support.ecal.com.

Here are some of the main changes to our Privacy Policy and business practice, with regard to EU GDPR:

• Roles: ECAL is known as the ‘data processor’ and the Publisher client is the ‘data controller’;
• Affirmative Consent: A user is required to consent to the service by affirmative action. For instance, you will be required to check any consent boxes on the ECAL widget;
• Explicitly Clear: A Publisher client needs to be explicitly clear about the service being delivered via ECAL;
• Age Consent: Users in the EU under the age of 16 (or under 13 in the UK) require consent from a parent / guardian. So you may see this question asked before you sync to calendar;
• Withdraw Consent: A link has been included in each calendar entry to ‘Manage my ECAL’. This will take you to the ECAL Support Portal for clear instructions on how to manage your ECAL service across various calendars;
• Data Minimisation: A publisher is now only allowed to capture and store data that is essential to the service being provided. So you shouldn’t see any requests for name, date of birth, gender or anything like that;
• Encryption: As an extra level of security, we’re encrypting all user data we store;
• Right to Access: At any time, you may request what personal information is being stored, how it’s being processed, and you may request an electronic copy;
• Right to be Forgotten: At any time, you may request us to delete any data we store about you.

If at anytime you have any questions about our service, or suggestions or feedback, please don’t hesitate to let us know.

Read our Privacy Policy.

Read the full EU GDPR.

Get excited! The FIFA World Cup is near and thanks to ECAL, you can sync the schedule straight to calendar!

Choose to follow the complete tournament schedule, or just your favourite teams! So you don’t miss a moment, wherever you are.

Game entries feature a handy alert (15 mins prior for your favourite team only), plus match details, and direct access to the Match Centre, Standings, and Latest Videos via FIFA.com.

Held in Russia for the first time in history, the highly anticipated event kicks off on Thursday 14th June with the World Cup Final set for Friday 15th July.

The FIFA World Cup will feature thirty-two of the best football teams in the world, including Australia for the fifth time.

Australia will be up against France, Peru and Denmark in the highly competitive Group C, with their first match against France on June 16th at 8pm AEST.

Don’t miss any of the action of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, sync the schedule to calendar now!

Leading calendar communications platform, ECAL, has released results from its annual survey to find out what people rely on most to manage their daily schedule. One thousand (1000) people were surveyed and were randomly presented four options: “Mobile Calendar (Apple, Android etc.)”, “Desktop Calendar (Apple Calendar, Outlook etc.)”, “Paper (Diary, Journal, Planner etc.)”, and “Other (please specify)” with the ability to add a custom response.

The survey targeted both males and females, aged between 18-64 years from all geographical locations across Australia in a representative sample, to hinder any bias.

Overall, 70% rely on a digital calendar most to manage their life, with 46.7% of respondents (470) relying most on their mobile calendar, and 23.3% of respondents (234) relying on a desktop calendar. Paper calendars such as a diary, journal or planner are preferred by 28.3% of respondents (278), whilst other scheduling tools, representing just 1.8% of the response, include “brain”, “none”, “wife”, “head”, and “memory”, to name just a few!

The same survey was delivered in 2016, with very similar results! In 2016, it was found that 48.2% of respondents (489) relied most on their mobile calendar, 21.7% relied on their desktop calendar (221), and 26.9% on a paper version (263).

Reliance on a digital calendar across the various age groups is relatively consistent, ranging from 70% to 75%, with the exception of 55-64 year-olds (62.8%). The age groups with the highest percentage using digital calendars is 35-44 years and 24-34 years, with a median average of 75% and 74% respectively.

In Deloitte’s 2017 Mobile Consumer Survey, it was found that “smartphone penetration continues to rise, but it’s no longer all about the younger generations”. It is interesting to consider, that in both the 2016 and 2018 ECAL surveys, the age groups with the highest reliance on their mobile calendar are 35-44 year-olds followed by 25-34 year-olds.

There are slight differences amongst genders too, with males (73%) relying on digital calendars more than females (67%). Whilst reliance on a mobile calendar is virtually the same across genders, 32.1% of females rely most on a paper diary, compared with just 24.6% of males. Conversely, males (25.2%) rely on their desktop calendar more than females (21.3%).

ECAL’s own user statistics can reveal that the most popular mobile calendars used over the past 12 months are Apple (25.38% of all users), Google (25.11%) and Windows Live (4.52%). The most popular desktop calendar programs in use are Google (15.44% of all users), Apple (7.77%), Outlook (5.15%) and Windows Live (4.76%).

According to Deloitte, “Australia remains one of the leading global adopters of the smartphone and 88% of Australians now own one”. This report also found that ‘calendar management’ is the third most popular activity on a smartphone, reinforcing the growing reliance on mobile technology in effectively managing your life schedule.

Digital v Paper: Age Group

Mobile v Desktop v Paper: Gender

ECAL has released ‘Personal Events’, an exciting new feature that delivers totally personalised events to the calendar of a user.

Facilitated by ECAL’s enterprise API, Personal Events allows a ‘one-to-one’ connection with the user’s personal calendar, to deliver ‘rich’ and sophisticated information, such as membership renewals, bill payment reminders, travel bookings, itineraries, appointments, and more.

Personal Events have the power to solve some pretty major issues right now.

For banking and payments, there is a widening cash flow gap. ECAL personalised payment reminders can help a user better manage payments, so suppliers are paid on-time. In fact, in a recent project with National Australia Bank (see Case Study), ECAL payment reminders worked to increase ‘on-time’ payments by up to 12% over SMS!

According to Xero it is reported that “62 percent of businesses would not survive more than three months if all invoices went unpaid”. Further, “at least half say being paid on time would reduce stress, avoid unnecessary debt and drive business growth”.

Xero also suggests that “reminder apps” will help with this growing problem. ECAL’s calendar reminders provide an even better solution, as the service integrates directly with the user’s personal calendar!

With ECAL’s ‘Personal Events’ feature, you can also change the status of a calendar entry. So, if a user’s payment schedule should change, or the amount owing change, or a payment has been received, or becomes overdue, these changes will update in the calendar. Pretty cool, hey.

For sport, the arts and other member-based organisations, renewals are a lifeblood. ‘Personal Events’ can reduce ‘churn’ by delivering specific and timely information about an upcoming membership renewal. Perfect for annual memberships, flexi packages or monthly direct debit notices.

Personal Events is limited only by the information you have, and with the support of the ECAL integration team, almost anything is possible.

If you’d like to find out more about ECAL’s ‘Personal Events’ feature, please contact us via email, or use the Live Chat feature on our website.

South Africa, India and Sri Lanka are coming to Australian shores, with Cricket Australia releasing its 2018/19 Summer of Cricket schedule this week.

Cricket fans across the Country will enjoy more matches, new venues and a restructured international season.

For the first time, international cricket will be played on the Gold Coast; Metricon Stadium playing host to Australia’s T20 clash with South Africa. The state-of-the-art Perth Stadium and Canberra’s Manuka Oval will both host Test cricket for the first time.

The summer opens with a one-day clash between Australia and the Proteas in Perth on November 4. Perth Stadium will then host its maiden Test from December 14 when India visit. The first Test against India begins in Adelaide on December 6.

According to Cricket Australia Chief James Sunderland, “It’s a summer which will contain plenty of high-quality cricket, and some exciting new additions to the Australian cricket calendar. Overall, there are more international matches being played across more locations around the country than in previous years, and we believe this program has something for all cricket fans.”

The broadcasting of Cricket will also undergo a major change, with Channel Seven assuming control of Test and International limited overs cricket from Channel Nine. The Big Bash will also be hosted by Channel Seven in conjunction with Foxtel, replacing Channel 10.

ECAL continues to serve Cricket Australia’s vast connected calendar audience, and fans will automatically receive updates to their preferred cricket schedules straight to their personal calendar, complete with latest TV broadcast information, official game hashtags and direct access to Buy Tickets, Memberships, Online Shop and much more.

Not connected to the Cricket Australia calendar with ECAL? Don’t miss a minute of the action, sync the Australian Men’s and Women’s cricket fixtures to your calendar here

Melbourne Vixens fans, it’s here! The 2018 Suncorp Super Netball season is underway, and to make sure you don’t miss a minute of the action, sync the official Vixens schedule to your calendar, thanks to ECAL.

ECAL’s ‘Sync to Calendar’ feature provides Vixens fans with the world’s best digital calendar service. Match details are updated dynamically throughout the season, complete with broadcast information, and direct access to Tickets, Latest News, Online Shop, Social Media and lots more.

You’ll also be reminded of exclusive events including the team’s Open Training Sessions and Player Birthdays, with access to send a message to your favourite players.

Support your Melbourne Vixens throughout the 2018 Season and beyond with ECAL. Sync the Vixens fixture to your calendar now.

Don’t miss a moment of 2018 NRL season with ECAL

Published by Tanisha Stanton | nrl.com | 26th February, 2018

Get the 2018 Telstra Premiership schedule in your calendar now.

The NRL has partnered with ECAL to create an innovative way for fans to stay up to date with the greatest game of all.

You are now able to sync your favourite club’s draw or the entire Telstra Premiership schedule to your preferred digital calendar.

You can also add the NSW Intrust Super Premiership and Queensland Intrust Super Cup draws, plus the State of Origin series dates.

• Download the Telstra Premiership draw to your calendar
• Download the Intrust Super Premiership (NSW) draw to your calendar
• Download the Intrust Super Cup (QLD) draw to your calendar
• Download the State of Origin draw to your calendar

Original article

ECAL Launches Free Product with Branded Offers
Another Calendar Marketing Innovation First

Melbourne (Australia) – 12th December 2017 – Aussie-based tech company, ECAL (ecal.com), the world’s leading calendar marketing platform has launched another industry first, a free version product featuring ‘Branded Offers’.

Launched by leading AFL and A-League teams including Hawthorn FC, Geelong Cats, Gold Coast Suns and Adelaide United FC, ECAL’s free version ‘sync to calendar’ technology keeps fans up-to-date with the latest games and events, with access to amazing competitions and great offers from well-known brands.

How does it work?

In partnership with Melbourne-based ‘ad tech’ company Opentop, ECAL has successfully integrated their ‘post-transaction advertising platform’ into the ‘success’ flow of the ECAL widget experience.

Following a successful ‘sync to calendar’ with ECAL, the user can now also enter an amazing free prize competition, managed by Opentop. The user can also access a series of ‘opt-in’ offers from leading brands in travel, retail, insurance, utilities and more.

Importantly, no offers or advertising of any sort is displayed anywhere else, especially not the calendar, a space ECAL holds sacred.

What competitions and what Branded Offers?

High value competitions are run across the network. Currently, users have the chance to win $10,000 cash. Other competitions include the chance to win a trip to New York, a tropical holiday, or even a new car.

Branded Offers currently include 10% off at Peter Jackson, 10% off a holiday cruise from Royal Caribbean International, $20 hotel voucher from Travel Online, Ladbrokes betting bonus, plus discounts from Kogan and Foxtel. Opentop’s post-transaction advertising platform analyses the user’s demographic, location, time of day, plus millions of layers of behavioral data, to present the most relevant offers to each user.

Participation in any of the Branded Offers is completely voluntary and not a condition of entry for the free prize competition,

Why a free version?

ECAL Founder & CEO, Patrick Barrett explains: “We are responding to a segment of the business market that want to deploy our ‘sync to calendar’ technology for free, and are happy to forgo access to certain features and customer data that the paid enterprise product provides.”

“The challenge for us as a business was to develop a free product that was viable, whilst protecting the intimacy and security of our end-users’ personal calendar, which for us is an entirely sacred space.”

“The teams at ECAL and Opentop collaborated to develop an awesome product that doesn’t impact on the core ‘sync to calendar’ experience, and returns the revenue we need for it to be viable.”

The future for ECAL’s Branded Offers looks bright. As Mr. Barrett explains, “With a successful licence-based model already in play, and now an alternative free model, we can be ultimately more flexible for clients that want to use ECAL. For clients with significant audience networks, we can also work in close partnership with them to provide new revenue sharing opportunities, which is a major business advantage.”

Aaron Woolf, CEO of Opentop added “this partnership is fantastic for all involved – the customers get fantastic offers from the world’s leading brands, the calendar partner gets access to the fantastic ECAL platform at no cost, and the advertisers generate some incredible consumer engagement with their brand! Everyone wins!”

About ECAL

ECAL, founded by technology entrepreneur Patrick Barrett in 2010, is the world’s first purpose-built calendar marketing platform delivering ‘rich’ communications to the personal calendars of users.

ECAL’s ‘sync to calendar’ technology is used by hundreds of major brands globally, across sports, ticketing, media, banking and payments.

ECAL is an important communications, marketing and data feature for the likes of AFL, Cricket Australia, NBL, NRL, Fox Sports, The Australian Ballet National Australia Bank, Optus (Australia), Premier League, Arsenal FC, Tottenham FC (UK), Barclaycard, Paciolan, Major League Soccer, NFL / NBA / NHL teams, College and Olympic sports (US).

ECAL is globally headquartered in Melbourne with US headquarters in Los Angeles.

Contact:
Patrick Barrett
Founder & CEO | ECAL
E: Patrick@ecal.com | M: +61 (0)411 650 445

Footy is back, and the countdown to the new season has begun!

Today, the AFL released its 2018 season fixture. As the official calendar technology provider across the AFL, ECAL lets you sync the official team fixture and club events straight to your personal calendar.

Choose your favourite team to get started: Bombers, Blues, Bulldogs, Cats, Crows, Demons, Eagles, Giants, Hawks, Kangaroos, Lions, Magpies, Saints, Suns, Swans and Tigers.

Football fans will never miss a moment of the action with match details updated dynamically throughout the season, with direct access to Membership, Tickets, Latest News, Shop, Social Media and TV Broadcast info at your fingertips.

The 2018 AFL Premiership season kicks off with the traditional clash between reigning premier Richmond and a rising Carlton on Thursday 22nd March.

Footy is not far away, so be prepared and sync your team fixture to calendar now. Thanks to ECAL 🙂

Melbourne City FC is counting down the days to the start of the 2017/18 W-League season, promoting its ‘Add to Calendar’ service on its social channels ahead of the opening round of the new season this weekend.

City FC fans will be kept up-to-date with the latest game details, broadcast information and direct access to Buy Tickets, Match Centre, Online Shop and more throughout the season.

The defending champions have reinforced its Championship-winning Westfield W-League side with the signing of Matildas defender Alanna Kennedy, Japanese international Yukari Kinga and United States youth international Ashley Hatch.

City FC season kicks off with a blockbuster 2017 Grand Final replay against Perth Glory at nib Stadium in Perth before returning to Melbourne for a huge Melbourne Derby in Round 2 at AAMI Park.

Follow City FC throughout the W League and A-League Season and stay up-to-date and connected via the calendar, all thanks to ECAL!