Digital & Dirt
00:18:34 · Ian Dallimore
[00:18:34] S0: Yeah. And I think about... You know, it's playoffs and baseball right now, and I think about the announcers. And then when they make some, like, outlandish stat, you're just like, where did that come from? But now, you know, to your point, the expectation's there. But I'd love for you to go a little bit deeper because it's not like IBM's just spitting out at all these events, just like stats and data, stats and data. Like, the stats and data equal, you know, the insights is important, but the storytelling that comes from those insights is really where the beauty comes and where the brain from a creative perspective, like opens up and you're like, wow, like, that is an amazing stat or an amazing data point. But it's the story behind it rather than just some dots and numbers. Right?
00:19:16 · Monica Ellingson
[00:19:16] S1: Yeah, definitely. And I mean, one of the key goals as well, you know, all of the different brands that that I work with, you know, their their editorial teams are, you know, they're limited in terms of, you know, resources. And we want to make sure that we are, you know, providing the tools, the content that is auto generated to enable this high quality that, you know, gives them the trust so that those writers, that those editorial teams can focus on, you know, creating compelling stories that frees them up to use their creative energy in the best way possible. So I think that in addition, going back to the focus on personalization and that I wanna see a story that is personalized to me and that it's contextually relevant at that particular And that storytelling to make sure that you are telling the story that a casual fan is interested in and you're telling the story that a more avid or stats focused fan wants to hear. So it's just making sure that you're better understanding all of these different types of fans and, you know, ensuring that the story is accurate, of course, and and fun and compelling. You know, you wanna keep those fans coming back to your digital platforms as the primary source of of the story for that particular event.
00:20:39 · Ian Dallimore
[00:20:39] S0: Yeah. And I love that because you share that in Deer Valley as well, like the ability where the consumer or the fan itself, you get to kind of curate your experience within the experience, all thanks to the hard work behind the scenes that you guys do. I'd love for you to talk about this because now... And we've had a few folks in the NFL on. We had a good friend, Jen Prince, who's the COO of the Los Angeles Rams, and she spoke about it as well. Like, the fan experience in person, they're still using, you know, beyond the scoreboard, beyond the visual and the audible that's happening, but there's still fans that are using their phone. How do you how do you kinda make sure that it's not competing with the live experience, but providing a compliment to that experience?
00:21:27 · Monica Ellingson
[00:21:27] S1: Yeah. I think it's interesting. I mean, one of the things that we really focused on for the in venue fan experience is to ensure that focusing almost more on customer service or customer experience because we wanna make sure that the fans can use the app to easily buy their ticket. And then when they're on at the venue, they're using their phones to be able to access the grounds. They're using their phones to check the length of lines, the length of, you know, concession orders. You know, here at the at the US Open a few weeks ago, we just launched a whole new app experience where, you know, we had a little toggle at the top of your app, what... Which said in venue or at home. And if you flicked that toggle, it was a completely different experience, you know, and within the in venue, it had things like it would give you an indicator of which courts had open seating so that you could plan your day around that. And again, leading up to the event, you can plan your event, your day while you're there. But leading up, what are all the what's all the information that you need leading into it so that you can have the best experience possible? And that's really kinda where we're focused more on, in terms of the in venue experience because we certainly don't wanna compete. I mean, like, once you're on-site and you have these tickets, you probably paid a good a good amount for them. You know, we wanna make sure that you're focused on, you know, having the best in venue experience as possible.
00:22:53 · Ian Dallimore
[00:22:53] S0: Yeah. And that's such a brilliant mindset and thought. Right? Having worked for two Major League Baseball teams and minor league baseball, the fact that you can figure out like what's the best, you know, what's the best line to go in? What's the best gate to go in? Like, that's insights that make the experience better. We we actually... And I believe you met him as well, but Cody from AT and T, he was on a couple of weeks back, and we talked about that, like the importance of connectivity on their end, obviously. Yeah. That... That's a massive moment for them. But you guys go into a step further using that connectivity to then have the ultimate fan experience in these venues is equally as important. So we're gonna shift to US Open fan experience. But before we do that, do you have a favorite tennis player? Are you allowed to have a favorite tennis player? One of those, like, favorite child things that people ask me, who's my favorite kid? And I say, depends on the
00:23:43 · Monica Ellingson, Ian Dallimore
[00:23:43] S1: Well, I I have... I mean, I'm focused on the American players, but, you know, Jessica Bew... Pegula is one of my favorite players. And, you know, we have did a lot of work at IBM with her, you know, especially looking at, you know, some of the serve quality stats, etcetera. You know, it's actually really great when you're on-site, you know, because a lot of times I'm under the stadium and we'll see the players go by and what have you. You see them using our app. So it's really pretty incredible that and then you see your people using it on the subway, you know, going out to the event and what have you. So I mean, it's it's it's really rewarding seeing that, especially at the US Open, you see it all the time, you know, because you're in New York. [00:24:23] S0: Yeah. What... Have you met some of the players at the Open? Were you able to... [00:24:26] S1: Yes. Especially some of the former players. So, you know, just doing doing some work with with them and talking about, you know, for example, Maria Sharapova and I were on a panel in finals weekend and, you know, really just talking to them about, you know, some of the new stats, the new features that we... That we're that we're putting out there and, you know, what do they think about them? You know? I mean, like, their former number one players in the world, you know, do they find them valuable? Where do they see that these features or these stats could potentially go in the future? So, yeah, it was it was great. [00:25:01] S0: Have you read the book Open by Andre Agassi?