Radio Frequency Tech Drives Ryder Cup
Last month’s Ryder Cup victory for Team Europe was overseen by some re-developed innovation in and around the course, with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) used by many of the crowd across the six days of golf action at Gleneagles.
In all, almost 45,000 interactions were made by the 100,000 visitors offered the service – which saw users provided with an RFID-enabled ‘Ryder Cup Experience Wristband’ offering them exclusive services such as access control and cashless payment specialist, Intellitix.
These were used to take part in various interactive activities across Scotland’s iconic Gleneagles golf course, including:
- Virtually ‘high five-ing’ your chosen team, with a message of support instantly shared on the on-course leader board and personal Facebook and Twitter accounts
- The Active Scotland initiative ‘Walk the Course’ encouraged spectators to visit as much of the site as possible, with prizes for those who checked in at points around the course
- Journey through The Ryder Cup Experience with Standard Life let you score points on your wristband, check your progress, record your activity on social media and collect a souvenir photograph
- BMW let visitors automatically request a test drive with a tap of the wristband, with BMW owners able to use their wristband to enter the Owners’ Café
- Win a stay at Gleneagles by swiping your RFID wristband at the Gleneagles stand in the Spectator Village
- Interact with the Sky Sports Zone
Over 46% of visitors pre-registered their ‘Ryder Cup Experience Wristbands’ ahead of the event, checking in at one of 33 RFID social media touch points located across the course.
There were seven different activations to take part in, including BMW, Standard Life Investments and Sky Sports activations, with 59,176 email accounts linked to wristbands.
According to the ‘Walk the Course’ activation 5,818 miles were walked by visitors.
Antonia Beggs, operations director for The 2014 Ryder Cup, said: ‘Ryder Cup Europe wanted to lift the event this year beyond the standards set previously. As social media, smartphones and mobile internet have become a part of everyday life, RFID technology seemed a natural choice.’
‘We have had extremely positive feedback from both the audience and from sponsors, who are always looking for additional ways to amplify their sponsorship. We are certain that RFID and the interactivity that it brings will become the future of major sporting events. We are very proud to be one of the first to offer this to our audience.’
Intellitix CEO, Serge Grimaux explains: ‘Social media integration is now important to every single professional sport. An experience doesn’t just happen in the moment anymore; fans want to remember and share every moment with their friends and family.’
‘It’s important for sports to facilitate this in order to continue to grow their audiences and fan demographic, solidify the link they have with their fans and provide the fully immersive event that people have now come to expect.
The wristbands were also a method of cashless payment accepted in the Harris Pavilion for guests of Ryder Cup partners and in the media zone for all accredited media.’
