The NBL, Australia and New Zealand’s professional men’s basketball league is keeping fans connected with a suite of new (and old) digital content.
Video editors at League Headquarters have been busy cutting tape, putting together a host of online content to engage fans each week. From Monday to Friday, fans can get their daily fix of basketball classics.
With the help of ECAL, fans can relive the excitement of the 2020 NBL Competition and seasons past with ‘NBL Top 10’ and ‘NBL Rewind’, catch the latest off-season news with ‘NBL Overtime’ and listen to Adam Gibson’s ‘One on One’ podcast, all from the comfort of their couch.
ECAL subscribers receive notifications when the broadcast begins, with ‘Watch Now’ links providing one-click access to watch or listen on their preferred platform.
ECAL’s state-of-the-art digital calendar service delivers the NBL with a tremendous platform to ‘connect’, ‘engage’ and ‘activate’ its audience around the sport they love, during this unfortunate time of lockdown and social distancing.
Choose your NBL team here and keep up-to-date thanks to ECAL.
The Australian Ballet has launched a special ‘At Home with Ballet TV’ digital season to engage ballet lovers, during these unprecedented times of COVID-19 lockdown and social distancing.
With performances cancelled across the country, this internationally acclaimed ballet company will stream its most beloved and inspiring ballet productions to fans at home.
With the help of ECAL, fans can experience the magic of seasons past with cinema-quality recordings of full-length performances, such as ‘The Sleeping Beauty’, ‘Cinderella’, ‘Romeo & Juliet’ and more, beamed right to the comfort of their couch.
The Australian Ballet launched their new ‘digital season’ across various channels, including web, email, social and via owned and partner networks. With a strong drive to ‘Sync to Calendar’ and “be the first to know” fans were instantly connected, and receive advance warning of the latest performance releases – straight to their digital calendar.
ECAL subscribers receive notifications when new ballets are released on the platform with ‘Stream Now’ links providing one-click access to watch. With each performance available for a limited period of 2 weeks, timely ‘Last Chance to Watch’ events and reminders in calendar ensure fans never miss the opportiunity to view the performance!
On launch, the ‘digital season’ campaign saw a 25% increase in their ECAL subscriber audience alone. In addition, The Australian Ballet were able to leverage it’s large existing connected calendar audience to drive engagement and tune-in.
The Australian Ballet’s Digital Specialist, Maeve Ashby, was thrilled with the ‘digital season’ launch and with the engagement across all platforms, saying “It’s been a fantastic success – smashing our engagement stats out of the water – across email, web, social and calendar!”
The Australian Ballet are building on the initial success of their ‘digital season’ with other interesting video content pieces, and special collaborations designed to recreate a luxe cinematic experience at home – they have collaborated with Piccoliina Gelateria to create a bespoke ‘Sleeping Beauty’ inspired ice-cream flavour available for delivery via Uber Eats, complete with all the trimmings!
You can subscribe to The Australian Ballet’s 2020 Digital Calendar here and don’t forget the gelato!
ECAL event-based clients are on the front foot in keeping fans engaged with event disruptions, and creating new ways to engage.
ECAL’s dynamic ‘Sync to Calendar’ technology is a hugely beneficial tool for keeping fans engaged during this period of great uncertainty.
Major sports, ticketing and entertainment clients who have been forced to postpone or cancel their events have quickly updated entries in calendar, with the relevant status changes.
As the situation develops, and decisions are made about further delays or the recommencement of events, ECAL will be a quick and effective tool for publishers to reschedule their events in the daily lives of fans.
Opportunity knocks
Given the uncertainty, and the rapidly changing situation, publishers are now encouraging fans to connect to their ECAL feature, to be the first to know when updates to their event scheduling is made.
Major conference clients are also recommending ECAL to their clients, to use ECAL ‘Sync to Calendar’ to help take their conferences and exhibitions online. By subscribing to the show agenda, keynote addresses and even your preferred conference ‘tracks’, virtual attendees know exactly when to tune-in, with a direct link to the web stream.
Above: Tottenham Hotspur FC splash page on site entry provides a solution for fans to stay up-to-date with the changing schedule of events.
At ECAL, we’re working closely with major sports around the world, to help manage important communications around event postponements, cancellations and announcements due to Coronavirus Disease.
Given ECAL’s rich and dynamic capabilities, and ease of management, event owners and publishers are able to deliver important announcements, and event status updates to their audience, at the right time with access to the right information.
What’s the best way to manage these event disruptions? We make the following suggestions and recommendations, to help our publishers manage these important communications in the right way.
Postponing events 
If you are postponing events, we recommend updating (not deleting!) the event as follows:
- Edit the event name to insert “(Postponed)” prominently at the beginning of the event name;
- Insert an emoji ⚠️ in the event name, bringing attention to the changed status of the event;
- Update the event details with your official statement regarding the postponement;
- Add a link in the event details, where users can go to read the complete official statement, and another link to view the latest updates and announcements as they happen;
- Add / retain other useful links to keep users engaged, such as ‘Latest News’, ‘Latest Video’, ‘Facebook’, ‘Twitter’, ‘Online Store’ and so on.
Cancelling events
If you are cancelling events, we recommend updating (not deleting!) the event as follows:
- Edit the event name to insert “(Cancelled)” prominently at the beginning of the event name;
- Insert an emoji ❗️in the event name, bringing attention to the changed status of the event;
- Update the event details with your official statement regarding the cancellation;
- Add a link in the event details, where users can go to read the complete official statement, and another link to view the latest updates and announcements as they happen;
- Add / retain other useful links to keep users engaged, such as ‘Latest News’, ‘Latest Video’, ‘Facebook’, ‘Twitter’, ‘Online Store’ and so on.
Official Announcement as a new event
If you have made the decision to postpone or cancel events, we recommend the following:
- Create a new event in the user calendar, specifically for the “Official Announcement” itself. This is an important event, and your audience needs to know;
- Insert an emoji ⚠️or ❗️in the event name, that mirrors the one you will use for the postponed or cancelled events;
- Add a short term alert, such as 15 mins prior, to bring this event front of screen on the user’s mobile or desktop;
- In the event details, include a brief summary of your official statement;
- Add a link in the event details, where users can go to read the complete official statement, and another link to view the latest updates and announcements as they happen;
- Add other useful links to keep users engaged, such as ‘Latest News’, ‘Latest Video’, ‘Facebook’, ‘Twitter’ and so on.
The ECB’s much anticipated Hundred competition is clearly viewed as an unmissable summer event, with initial sales for the Hundred having ‘surpassed expectations’.
Part of the ECB’s ticketing strategy was to build strong early interest and trigger advanced sales via a Priority Ticket Release window. Fans could register their interest in the tournament via the website, and received access to the priority ticket window.
The ECB also used the official fixture release as a major promotional event, and using ECAL’s dynamic ‘Sync to Calendar’ service, fans were instantly connected – they would receive the fixture straight to calendar, along with important ticket release dates.
Levering it’s large connected calendar audience, as part of a truly integrated marketing approach, the ECB were able to deliver advance notice to fans of the upcoming Priority Ticket Release window, with details on pricing and direct access to purchase. This was a wonderful way to stimulate consumer demand and early sales amongst a high value, qualified, passionate fan base.
Within the first 24 hours of availability, ECB sales had surpassed the six-figure barrier.
ECAL’s state-of-the-art digital calendar service delivers the ECB with a tremendous platform to ‘connect’, ‘engage’ and ‘activate’ its audience around the events they love.
ECAL is proud to be the official calendar marketing service provider of The ECB. Choose your team in The Hundred, and follow your favourite international and domestic cricket here, proudly powered by ECAL.
The 2018/19 Chemist Warehouse WNBL Championship, Australia’s pre-eminent women’s basketball league has released its schedule for the 2018/19 Season, powered by ECAL.
Fans of the eight-team competition are treated to a live and dynamic feed of game details, delivered straight to their digital calendar of choice.
Basketball lovers will never miss a moment with match entries automatically updated with TV broadcast information, official game hashtags and direct access to Tickets, Membership, Online Shop and more, all just a click away
2018/19 is the beginning of a new and exciting era, with Australia’s longest running elite female competition celebrating its 38th year with a brand-new naming rights partner in Chemist Warehouse and broadcast partner in FOX SPORTS Australia.
The season will tip off on October 12 with the Chemist Warehouse Wellness Round, to be spread over both round one and two, a fun and exciting fan orientated activation that will take place across all teams opening home games. Also featured will be several double headers, the Adelaide Lighting and Brydens Sydney Uni Flames to play alongside their NBL counterparts.
FOX SPORTS Australia will again broadcast one live game per round, as well as every finals game.
You can follow your team throughout the 18/19 Season and join thousands of basketball fans who rely on ECAL to stay up-to-date and connected to the WNBL via their personal calendar. Sync your team fixture here.
3 July 2018
Sydney
TEG, Australasia’s leading Ticketing, Live Entertainment and Data Analytics company, is delighted to announce that the TEG-owned Ticketek has entered a partnership with ECAL, a global leader in calendar marketing and communications technology.
The partnership sees Ticketek, Australasia’s leading ticketing and data-driven marketing company, integrate ECAL’s ‘Sync to Calendar’ technology across the breadth of the ticketing experience on its website and email communications. The integration will incorporate everything from event search and discovery, to waitlist and post-purchase scenarios.
With just a couple of clicks, fans can easily add their favourite sports, teams,music and entertainment events directly into their personal calendar for free. Dynamic updates keep fans informed of important ticket on-sale dates, specialticket offers and other specific event details, with direct access to purchase; all from the convenience of their personal calendar.
A recent online survey by ECAL reports that 70% of Australian adults rely on their digital calendar most to manage their life, with over 47% reliant on their mobile calendar. ECAL’s smart calendar marketing system enables events to bypass the inbox and sync directly to a calendar.
TEG CEO Geoff Jones said the new ‘Sync to Calendar’ feature adds to the suite of innovation under the Ticketek Ignition™ program.
“The ECAL platform will enable Ticketek to help our partners engage in exciting new ways, gather invaluable consumer insights, continually learn and refine the calendar communications service to optimise sales,” said Jones.
“This represents a new media channel that is ideally suited to the sports and entertainment market, given that event dates, start times and venue details are the most relevant pieces on information when it comes to the show.
Ticketek Ignition™ opens Ticketek’s internal network and systems to enable multiple ticket purchasing experiences across multiple platforms and partner systems”.
“The new ‘Sync to Calendar’ feature is a wonderful initiative by our product and marketing teams, and reinforces our commitment to deliver the most personalised, connected and intelligent ticketing experience for today’s modern, mobile consumers,” said Jones.
Ticketek’s network of partners across sports, venues and entertainment promoters would reap the benefits of enhanced fan engagement and digital marketing.
ECAL Founder and CEO Patrick Barrett said: “ECAL is thrilled to partner with Australasia’s leading ticketing platform in Ticketek, to work hand-in-hand with TEG Analytics to uncover insights into purchase behaviour, and further develop our smart data and ‘decisioning’ platform.”
“We are looking forward to delivering a highly beneficial service for entertainment fans, and more sales and support for sports, venues and promoters, with ECAL’s in-calendar marketing logic typically working at up todouble the normal ‘purchase rate’.”
About Ticketek
Ticketek in Australia and New Zealand is the region’s number one ticketing agency, powered by advanced data-driven marketing and technology solutions. Ticketek has over 150 venue and sport partnerships, issues 28 million tickets per year, and by ticket sales volume Ticketek is in the top three
ticketing companies in the world. Ticketek’s website has 26 million impressions monthly, and is a leader in mobile commerce with over 1.3 million app downloads.
About ECAL
ECAL was founded by technology entrepreneur Patrick Barrett in 2010, and is the world’s first purpose-built ‘calendar marketing’ platform that delivers ‘rich’ and dynamic communications to the personal calendars of users. ECAL services millions of users globally, and works with some of the world’s
best known brands in sports, ticketing, media, conferences, banking, and payments. ECAL is an Australian based company headquartered in Melbourne.
About TEG
TEG is Australasia’s leading Ticketing, Live Entertainment and Data Analytics company. TEG includes Ticketek, TEG Live, TEG Dainty, TEG Analytics, TEG Rewards, Softix, Qudos Bank Arena, Eventopia, Life Like Touring, The Entertainment Store, The Brickman Experience and TEG Asia.
Further information
Kyle Patterson
Head of Communications and Corporate Affairs
TEG
E: kylep@t-e-g.com.au
M: 0412 193 148
O: +61 2 9266 4073
Patrick Barrett
Founder & CEO
ECAL
E: patrick@ecal.com
M: +61 (0)411 650 445
O: +61 (03) 9956 5000
ECAL, the world’s leading calendar marketing solution, is proud to announce its partnership with the International Cricket Council (ICC), the governing body of cricket globally.
Cricket lovers throughout the world can now sync their favourite Men’s and Women’s fixtures straight to their personal calendar, so they know what’s on and when, wherever they are. With handy alerts and direct access to the ICC live Match Centre, Tickets, Latest News, Social Media and more, cricket fans will never miss a moment of the action.
For ECAL, this is yet another significant partnership with a major global sport. With an enormous audience, particularly within the Indian subcontinent, this partnership takes the ECAL service to millions of new users.
Big business, across many industries, are a perfect fit for the ECAL’s enterprise solution. With a need for high security, high levels of customisation, preferential API’s and in-depth data analysis, ECAL is the ‘go-to’ solution for enterprise business.
The English Football Association (The FA) is leaning on ECAL’s calendar communications to spread Christmas joy, and to promote it’s 2017 England Christmas Gift Pack!
The much-anticipated Gift Pack is an amazing present idea for any English football fan, and includes tickets to England’s International Friendly against Italy in March 2018, a digitally signed Christmas card from a selection of England players, and a chance to win a signed England shirt. Additionally, 500 lucky fans will also receive a hand-signed Christmas card.
The England Christmas Gift Pack is available to purchase from just £20 for adults and £10 for juniors. ECAL users have direct access to purchase this amazing gift in time for Christmas, straight from their personal calendar.
Could Christmas shopping be any easier?!
ECAL is proud to be the official calendar marketing service provider of The FA, Premier League and various teams including Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, Leicester City, Aston Villa, Newcastle United amongst others.
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 🙂
