8 Feb 2024
Purple Festival: How to Keep Evolving in the Event Organization of a 10.000-Visitor Festival
Event type
Introduction festival
Visitors
10.000
Duration
1 day
Services
App, CRM
Purple Festival is a one-day festival held annually in the summer in Tilburg. It attracts around 10.000 visitors and marks the end of the introduction week for many new students of Fontys University of Applied Sciences. The festival is co-organized by Montopinto, an event agency based in Tilburg. Montopinto organizes approximately 200 events each year, ranging from meetings to product launches, including introduction weeks with components that can attract up to 10.000 visitors.
Rick Houweling
Team Lead Events, Montopinto
In an exclusive interview with Rick Houweling, who started his career as an intern at Montopinto and, eight years later, now serves as Team Lead Events, we get a behind-the-scenes look at the organization. Rick shares his experiences and insights and explains how the collaboration with Tactile has contributed to the success of this vibrant annual event.
The collaboration with Montopinto began several years ago, when Tactile was approached with the request for an alternative to traditional tokens. Over time, this partnership has grown into a close collaboration in which Tactile provides various products, ranging from cashless payment systems to registration/ticketing, access control, CRM, and a dashboard that gives Montopinto insight into event data.​
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At the start of a festival, ticketing and registration are among the first elements that need to go live quickly. It is therefore very convenient that our organization can easily set everything up ourselves, from ticket sales to registration forms, where adding custom fields is straightforward. The strength of Tactile’s ticketing system lies in its integration with access control, meaning that an account is directly linked to a personal wristband and therefore also to the visitor’s balance.
In the summer of 2023, we also used access control for the first time. In previous years, it was complicated to determine which visitors had access to specific areas or were allowed to stay at the campsite. We used to manage this through Excel spreadsheets. Now we have a centralized system that gives our crew clear insights and automatically displays permissions when a wristband is scanned.
Why cashless payments are a game changer for events
A few years ago, we switched from tokens to Tactile’s cashless payment system. This has made life much easier for us as an organization and especially for our visitors. Payments at the bar are faster, fewer mistakes are made, and visitors can top up their balance anywhere on site. For us, the biggest advantage is the live data available in the dashboard, which allows us to deploy runners efficiently when a bar is generating significantly more revenue than expected.
While some events have started offering debit card payments, the downside for us is the loss of certain functionalities, which also complicates product integration. “That’s why we continue to choose cashless.” This is supported by the age information displayed when a visitor’s wristband is scanned. Combined with a photo, this significantly reduces the risk of fraud and adds an extra layer of security.
This is supported by the age information displayed when a visitor’s wristband is scanned. Combined with a photo, this significantly reduces the risk of fraud and adds an extra layer of security.
Using a cashless payment system does require a certain mindset. In the past, unused tokens could be seen as profit for the organization. With cashless payments, however, remaining balances are refunded, which encourages visitors to continue purchasing drinks until the very end. As a result, overall revenue is higher than with tokens and it is also much more visitor-friendly.
Committed to sustainability without compromising the experience
As a festival organization, reducing plastic usage is very important to us. Over the years, we have tried various initiatives, such as single-use recyclable cups, separating waste streams, shredding cups for recycling, or using a token at entry that serves as a deposit for a reusable cup. Since the summer of 2023, with new regulations around single-use plastics, it has become even more important to have a system that contributes to a sustainable solution without becoming too complex for either the organization or the visitor.
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With Tactile, visitors pay a small deposit for their cup, which is automatically refunded to their balance when the cup is returned. This means visitors actually get money back for their last cup! As a result, almost no cups are left behind on the festival grounds after the event.
The evolution of event planning: data as the power behind smart decisions
Data plays a crucial role before, during, and after organizing Purple Festival. We can see exactly what is being sold and identify what works and what doesn’t. These insights are essential for purchasing decisions in subsequent years. For example, we discovered that Jack Daniel’s is no longer popular among our target audience.
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We can also monitor live data to see when a bar is quiet and redeploy staff to busier areas. In addition, analyzing peak moments helps ensure visitor safety and meet municipal requirements by deploying security at the right times. It is reassuring for business operations to rely less on gut feeling and more on data-driven decisions. This often leads to significant cost savings in staffing and procurement.
The art of a personal approach in the professional events industry
Tactile is a great fit for our organization. It is an informal company that is always willing to think along with us and is open to new ideas. In addition to onboarding, we also use on-site support, especially for POS systems, so we as an organization don’t have to worry about it. It is very reassuring that Tactile provides this support at many events and can advise us on optimizing our food and beverage operations. Together, we evaluate after each event. It’s great to see that feedback on the services is taken seriously and often reflected in product improvements the following year.
We are very much looking forward to the coming year and to creating another great event together with Tactile.
