In another groundbreaking innovation by ECAL, set to revolutionise digital calendar  communications, ECAL has unveiled it’s ‘Native Language Translations AI’ service.

In collaboration with Microsoft, and as part of its Calendar AI toolbox, ECAL’s ‘Native Language Translations AI’ feature delivers smart, personalised events content in the user’s preferred native language, directly into their calendar.

The service covers 248 countries, 49 languages, intelligently translated, with key nouns such as sporting team names, venue names, and brand names preserved. ECAL, the world’s leading calendar marketing technology, ensures this information is localised to the user, and dynamically updates with the latest details and new events suiting the user profile, with smart alerts and direct action links to enhance the experience and drive fan engagement, tune-in and participation.

Officially launched by Premier League as part of their 2024/25 season schedule release in June, the Premier League is the world’s most popular and most watched sports league on the planet, with an estimated one billion homes watching the action across 189 countries.

With continued internationalisation of the game a major strategic priority for Premier League, ECAL’s new language translations AI enables the league to discover new fans, new markets, and deliver personalised communications at the right time, in the right place, in the user’s preferred native tongue with ease.

Already, 18% of new users subscribing to the Premier League’s digital calendar service powered by ECAL, are being served events content in a native language other than English thanks to this new breakthrough feature.

Combined with ECAL’s ‘global displays’ that already has a smart language translation feature for the ‘sync to calendar’ user journey, and now with the events content intelligently translated too, ECAL is able to deliver a truly global calendar marketing and communications service.

ECAL Founder & CEO, Patrick Barrett, says: “This feature underscores the importance our business places in the power of partnerships, and our commitment to innovation, as much as the importance of harnessing AI to achieve a positive and powerful product outcome. We believe that this feature will deliver better business for our major client partners around the world, and at the end of the day, will intelligently connect more users to the events and the brands they love the most.”

For more information on ECAL’s ‘Native Language Translations AI’ service, visit the Advanced Features section of the website, or contact us directly via email.

NBA, MLB, NHL, NASCAR, The Skimm & other big brands join ECAL in deal

Leading calendar marketing and communications company ECAL is a business on the move, acquiring US-based Rokt Calendar, adding more than 20 tier-one brands to its growing client portfolio.

A pioneer of the segment, ECAL is famous for its smart, dynamic ‘sync to calendar’ technology, allowing passionate sports and entertainment fans to sync their favourite events directly to their personal digital calendar, so they stay up-to-date and connected.

With over 70% of adults relying on a digital calendar to manage their lives, in a world full of noise, ECAL continues to grow in popularity, increasing its global audience to over 25 million.

The NBA, MLB, NHL, NASCAR, Indycar, EuroLeague, Fox Sports, The Skimm, and SiriusXM are just some of the household brands moving to the ECAL platform following the acquisition.

The move secures ECAL’s position as the global leader in calendar marketing, with the acquisition adding an increased presence in the US to an already dominant position in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Europe.

ECAL Founder & CEO, Patrick Barrett, believes the consolidation paints a very bright future for ECAL and limitless potential for the calendar marketing segment.

“This is a really exciting deal for us, and we are very appreciative of the team at Rokt who believed that ECAL was the best future home for their important calendar clients,” Barrett said.

“ECAL as a business has invested heavily in developing the most sophisticated and modernised solution of its type, and through this acquisition, we are able to set a high benchmark standard for smart, personalised communications into calendar for over 400 major brands globally and growing.”

“We’re always innovating”, Barrett adds. “In the last two months we’ve launched two breakthrough features – a ‘Native Language Translations AI’ that delivers events content in the preferred native language of the user; and a ‘Super Calendar Display’ that has re-imagined what’s possible in an embeddable calendar widget for a website.”

“ECAL works because it is the most effective communications channel for events across any industry, without exception, and actively works to drive engagement, tune-in and sales. It is also a highly effective data acquisition and insights tool for these brands, who want to better understand who and how their audiences interact with their content, so they can better deliver on their CRM and personalisation objectives.”

With 100% delivery rates, 100% content relevancy, and click-through rates of up to 10% for in-demand promotions and over 15% for livestream and ticket on-sale, ECAL’s direct-to-calendar approach avoids the inbox chaos, and commands consumer attention at the right time, in the right place, with the right action.

“With the ever-increasing fragmentation of communications and the need for brands to ‘cut-through’ the noise and counter a shrinking attention span, the calendar is one of the last remaining sacred spaces, and a ‘single source of truth’ for most people,” Barrett says. “If it’s not in the calendar, it generally doesn’t get done!”

About ECAL:
ECAL is a world-leading calendar marketing, communications and data platform, used by over 400 major brands globally across sports, entertainment, media, ticketing, venues, and gaming. Owned by HyperKu and headquartered in Melbourne, with a presence in London, Los Angeles, Singapore, and Manila, ECAL’s smart ‘sync to calendar’ technology enables rich, dynamic, event-based communications straight to the personal digital. calendar of users, to communicate events better and achieve extraordinary business outcomes.

ECAL’s clients include the likes of Premier League, Formula 1, Formula E, Disney+, NBA, MLB, NHL, NASCAR, World Rugby, World Athletics, Volleyball World, Fox Sports, SiriusXM, The Skimm, LaLiga, ECB, The FA, ICC, FC Barcelona, Liverpool FC, Betano, AFL, NRL, Cricket Australia, NBL, A-Leagues, Ticketek, Club Wembley, Venues NSW and others.

Media Enquiries / Further Details

For details or interviews, please contact:
Patrick Barrett, Founder & CEO
Email: hello@ecal.com

In the bustling heart of London stands an iconic landmark, a symbol of sporting prowess and entertainment extravagance – Wembley Stadium. Home to legendary moments in football history and a magnet for global events. Ensuring every moment is seamlessly integrated into the lives of members, is ECAL, the world’s leading calendar marketing solution.

At Club Wembley, the mantra is simple: elevate the membership experience. Luke Rowlinson, CRM & Digital Exec at Club Wembley, affirms this commitment, stating, “At Club Wembley, our members are experiencing more events as part of their membership than ever”. With a calendar boasting six England Senior Men’s fixtures, electrifying encounters with global football powerhouses like Brazil, and the prestigious Emirates FA Cup and Carabao Cup Finals, the Club Wembley experience is unparalleled.

Club Wembley isn’t just about football. Its membership entitles individuals to a multitude of experiences, from adrenaline-pumping NFL clashes to the spectacle of live wrestling. “Alongside our core membership events, our members get priority pre-sale access to all the concerts and other sporting events at Wembley,”.

In a world driven by digital connectivity, ECAL provides Club Wembley with a dynamic solution to keep its members informed and engaged. “With a packed calendar, our membership can track the events they wish to attend all from their digital calendar”.

ECAL seamlessly integrates into a members’ digital life, offering real-time updates and personalised event information. From upcoming events, priority ticket access notifications match itineraries to direct access to purchase tickets, ECAL ensures that members are equipped with all the information they need at their fingertips.

ECAL’s super new ‘calendar’ display is a game-changer!

ECAL is excited to unveil its latest product feature, a super new ‘calendar’ display for your events. This new Event Display type is easily embedded to your website, and power-packed with features, designed to offer publishers big and small with a super stylish, intuitive and highly functional showcase of their events. Whether its navigating a world of sports events, local teams, conference agendas, TV programming, or business division tasks and to-do’s, ECAL’s innovative new display provides an unmatched calendar experience.

ECAL’s embeddable Event Displays are now available in four (4) modes to suit you and the available space on your site: the new ‘Calendar’ mode, plus a ‘Page’, ‘Carousel’ & ‘Column’ mode. All ECAL Event Displays are highly customisable, mobile responsive and have ECAL’s world-leading ‘Sync to Calendar’ functionality natively built-in.

A ‘super’ Calendar packed with features!

ECAL’s new ‘Calendar‘ display provides a stylish, rich and interactive display of your events, perfect for a ‘What’s On’, ‘Schedule’, ‘Events’ or ‘Calendar’ page of your website. Filter events by ‘month’, ‘week’, ‘day’ (timeline), ‘list’ or ‘stack’ view, according to your preference. Filter by category or schedule type, easily sort by time or use the date picker. Scan the calendar to see cool event previews on hover. Click to reveal the event details pop-up with direct action links, share with friends, and scroll through the carousel to discover next events upcoming. Want to stay in-sync? Then of course, you can ‘Sync to Calendar’ and receive your favourite events directly to your personal digital calendar.

Key Features include:

• ‘Month’, ‘Week’, ‘Day’ and ‘List’ views
• Daily timeline and Stack views
• Custom styling including feature banners
• Advanced content filters and date pickers
• Timezone auto-detection and display
• Instant event previews on hover
• Slick animated transitions between views

• High impact Event Details pop-up
• Events carousel with cool ‘next event’ navigation
• Direct action links
• Share single events (social, email)
• Colour key to easily identify event types
• Sync to Calendar feature ‘built-in’
• Easy to implement!

See live demo below!

28 February 2024

ECAL has been appointed as the official Preferred Calendar Marketing Partner of the United Soccer League (USL), the largest and fastest-growing professional soccer organisation in North America.

ECAL, the world’s leading calendar marketing platform, will be used by the USL and its various leagues and teams across the USL ecosystem, to help communicate events better, by delivering smart, dynamic match schedules and other important events, directly into the personal digital calendar of fans.

The adoption of ECAL is designed to improve communications to a digital first audience, enhance the fan experience, and actively drive engagement, sales, and provide invaluable consumer data and insights.

ECAL adds to the USL’s growing Preferred Supplier Program, which aims to connect its franchise network with ‘best-in-class’ suppliers to deliver the best possible products and experiences to football fans across North America. This partnership is another significant milestone for ECAL as it continues to expand its footprint in the United States, solidifying its position as the dominant calendar marketing platform globally.

ECAL’s smart, dynamic ‘Sync to Calendar’ marketing service will empower USL leagues and teams to deliver a wide range of events content to fans, from match schedules, to ticketing alerts, Member events, community events, promotions and more, directly into their personal digital calendar of choice.

This official USL digital calendar service will ensure fans know exactly what’s on, when, and with direct access to everything they need to participate and engage, fromTV, streaming, tickets, merchandise and much more.

The ECAL platform also delivers invaluable benefits from a data and insights perspective. With the USL intent on knowing and growing its audience, ECAL will be an important tool in the USL realising its customer identification and personalisation goals into the near future.

Patrick Barrett, Founder & CEO of ECAL added: “ECAL is excited to partner with the USL. Our business is committed to connecting large, passionate audiences to the brands and events they love. With soccer thriving in the United States and considering the USL’s broad and ambitious vision for growth, we believe we are well placed to help USL, it’s franchises, and partners realise that vision.”

About USL:
The United Soccer League (USL) is the largest and fastest-growing professional soccer organisation in North America, possessing more than a decade of experience in bringing football to communities across the United States and Canada. Overseeing three men’s leagues (USL Championship, USL League One, USL League Two), two women’s leagues (USL Super League, USL W League), one elite player development platform (USL Academy), and a national youth platform (USL Super Y League), the USL is built on a proven and recognized model in international football and counts more than 200 clubs in its membership. For more information, visit: https://www.uslsoccer.com/

USL Media Contact:
Kathleen Goy
Global Head of Events
kathleen.goy@embedcard.com

About ECAL:
The world’s leading events and calendar marketing platform, ECAL is trusted and relied upon by hundreds of the world’s biggest brands across sports, entertainment, media, and ticketing, servicing many millions of users. ECAL is on a mission to communicate events better, and sets the global standard for effective events content management, marketing and smart, dynamic communications to calendar. For more, information, visit: https://ecal.com/

Contact Details:
Patrick Barrett
Founder & CEO
patrick@ecal.com

ECAL proudly announces its partnership with Six Nations Rugby, Europe’s iconic international rugby union competition, to bring a slick and sophisticated digital calendar experience to rugby fans right across the globe, as one part of a larger digital overhaul by Six Nations. ECAL’s smart, sophisticated calendar marketing solution is yet again seen as a ‘must have’ piece of the puzzle, for leading sports and media organisations wanting to implement a modernised digital solution stack that delivers greater engagement, personalisation, user data and insights.

Six Nations Rugby is the official organisation responsible for the annual international rugby competitions that include the Guinness Six Nations, Guinness Women’s Six Nations, Under-20 Six Nations, Under-18 Festivals, and the brand new Autumn Nations Series.

In the dynamic world of sports and entertainment, staying connected to your favourite events is paramount for fans. Whether they’re cheering on their team in the stands or eagerly anticipating a heated rivalry match on TV or their mobile device, ECAL ensures that every kick, try, and tackle is never missed.

Tecwyn Davies – Head of Digital Products & Innovation at Six Nations Rugby says: “ECAL is an important part of our digital marketing mix, facilitating real-time updates on all our Championship matches for fans. Its effortless integration only enhances the user experience, enabling us to deliver value to our broadcasters by driving live tune-in”.

The all-new Six Nations Rugby’s ‘digital calendar’ is dynamic, and syncs all the latest match details and other important event information, straight to your personal digital calendar of choice, so you never miss a moment. Match details are updated throughout the season, complete with localised broadcast information and direct access to the most relevant products and features such as the Match Centre, Latest News, Video and Fantasy at a simple click or tap on the mobile.

ECAL’s ‘Sync to Calendar’ solution is now live and seamlessly integrated into the brand new Six Nations website. You’ll find ‘Add to Calendar’ buttons on each match centre page and a master ‘Add to Calendar’ button on the ‘matches’ page that lets you choose your favourite team by competition.

Get in sync with your favourite Six Nations Rugby here!

ECAL proudly announces its partnership with World Athletics, the governing body for track and field worldwide, to deliver a sophisticated digital calendar experience aimed at engaging fans and participants across the globe, as one part of a larger digital transformation strategy.

Boasting a huge, sparse and rising global audience, the need for the sport of athletics to deliver a more modernised digital experience has never been more relevant. This new partnership with World Athletics reinforces ECAL’s digital calendar marketing solution as a ‘must have’ piece of the broader digital transformation puzzle, for leading sports federations wanting to implement a modernised digital solution stack to deliver an improved online and mobile experience, with greater engagement, enhanced communications, personalisation, user data and insights.

At the heart of World Athletics’ vision was a simple desire to connect better with their vast global audience of participants and fans around competitions and events. The all new ‘digital calendar’ experience powered by ECAL allows fans to create their own personalised athletics calendar, from the most popular leagues and major events including the World Athletics Series, World Athletics Continental Tour Gold, World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold, World Athletics Cross Country Tour Gold and Wanda Diamond League.

ECAL’s ‘Sync to Calendar’ solution is now live and seamlessly integrated into the World Athletics website, its official launch timed perfectly to coincide with the opening round of the World Continental Tour Gold event in Melbourne, the Maurie Plant Meet. Fans will be hard pressed to miss the new feature with ‘Sync your athletics calendar now’ promotions featured prominently across World Athletics website, app, social and email platforms. ‘Add to Calendar’ buttons feature on the individual competition pages with a master button on the ‘competition calendar’ page.

Fans will “catch every run, jump, throw”, with events directly appearing in the calendar, complete with localised broadcast information, direct access to live stream via ‘Inside Track’, direct access to tickets, event timetable, standings, latest news and lots more, all at a simple click or tap on the mobile.

World Athletics fans, it’s time to get in sync. Create your personalised athletics calendar now!

Love your Disney+? Thanks to ECAL, the Disney+ ‘digital calendar’ service is the very best way to keep up-to-date with the latest series releases, delivered straight to calendar!

ECAL has partnered with leading UK agency Immediate Media, to deliver a first of its kind in ‘IM Push’ – a high impact, functional advertising asset that integrates with the personal digital calendar of the user, incorporating ECAL’s leading ‘sync to calendar’ technology.

The Disney+ ‘digital calendar’ service is dynamic, rich with details, and with handy alerts and direct action links to ‘Watch Live’ and more.

High impact ‘IM Push’ advertising for Disney+ appears across the RadioTimes.com site network, and editorial, for all the latest series including Brawn, Culprits, Percy Jackson and The Olympians and the much anticipated samurai themed Shogun.

Don’t miss your exciting Disney+ releases, sync them to your calendar via IM Push and RadioTimes.com now!

ECAL proudly announces its new collaboration with the Frost Bank Center, the iconic home of the San Antonio Spurs, to bring a slick and sophisticated digital calendar experience to basketball fans and concert goers. This partnership is yet another significant integration for ECAL, the world’s leading calendar marketing platform, designed to boost ticket sales, enhance customer engagement, and elevate the event experience for venues and stadia.

Nestled in the heart of San Antonio, Texas, the Frost Bank Center stands as a premier venue hosting a diverse array of events throughout the year, ranging from thrilling basketball games to captivating concerts, theatrical performances, literary gatherings, and community events.

Very often when a show is announced, or seen for the first time, a fan is not necessarily ready to buy tickets. Or simply, tickets may not yet be on sale. However, with a simple click, fans can now effortlessly synchronise their preferred events by category, or just their favourite upcoming show, directly to their personal digital calendar of choice.

Dynamic calendar updates ensure fans are always kept up-to-date with the latest information, featuring rich with essential event details, and one-click access to  purchase tickets directly via their calendar. Ticket On-Sale events and Ticket Alerts will automatically appear in calendar for your favourite events, serving as a timely reminder to buy tickets, with direct access to purchase.

ECAL’s innovative ‘Sync to Calendar’ technology is now live and seamlessly integrated into the Frost Bank Center website. You’ll find ‘Sync to Calendar’ icons on each individual event tile and on each Event Details Page, as well as a master ‘Sync to Calendar’ button on the Upcoming Events page that lets you choose your favourite events by category.

Discover upcoming events at the Frost Bank Center by visiting frostbankcenter.com and “sync the excitement” so you never miss a moment!

The biggest shopping day of them all, Black Friday, is as big as ever. It’s also more competitive, and more creative, with brands looking for any edge to better communicate offers and boost sales.

This season we’ve seen more publishers than ever look to their connected calendar audience in ECAL, to reward and tempt their passionate fanbase with a variety of deals and offers, delivered straight to calendar.

The creative opportunity in ECAL for retail offers is high, with the ability to insert limited-time offers, flash sales, and exclusive discounts directly to what is regarded as a high value audience, at exactly the right time, all via the intimacy of their personal digital calendar.

We’ve had a great time working with clients to see and explore the potential, and execute on some fun and successful campaigns. Consumer engagement via click throughs to the offers have been strong overall, with CTR exceeding 5% in some cases.

Here are just some of our favourite Black Friday calendar campaigns so far!