Arizona Wine Events and Willcox Wines Are Using New Wristband Event Ticketing to Turn Their Festivals Into Safer and Better Wine Tasting Events

Background 

Mike Pigford is the leader of Arizona Wine Events and Willcox Wine Country. He’s a seasoned veteran in the wine industry, as he’s been selling wine in Arizona for about two decades – and he’s been putting on events for about that same length of time. Last season, Arizona Wine Events and Willcox Wine Country executed 12 events. They had over 125,000 attendees, and 19,500 wine tasters. He explained, “The events came out of a need to continue to market the wineries to the public, because most of the wineries I work with are very, very small compared to places like California, Washington, and Oregon.” 

He said that with more people moving in and out of the state, he’s constantly educating people about Arizona wines – and ongoing events have been a successful way of doing that. “Every year, we're educating people over and over about our product,” he said. 

With his longevity in the industry, he was the perfect partner to work with to brainstorm the next generation of event ticketing software for wine tasting events. Bandwango has worked together with him for over a year, and through his input and testing, a new wristband ticketing platform has just launched. He said, “We slowly built it up, and it feels good to get it to this point.”

This new ticketing platform wasn’t built in a boardroom, though. It was built in the field. After thorough testing and optimization at his wine events in Arizona, this tool is now available for other tasting events, or any events that sell tickets that include limited redemptions. He’s proud to have been a part of this collaboration and is happy with what it has turned into. 

“I think the value of it is more than just being a ticketing agent,” shared Pigford. “It's having the ability to track consumption, and then post-event give something back to the participants of the festival – especially wineries.”

He’s shared some intriguing feedback about a couple of the ways the wristband ticketing system has been helpful to him. 

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It started with a need for a new ticketing company  

Pigford’s relationship with Bandwango first started as a financial decision based on an experience he had with another ticketing company. “I was very unhappy with Eventbrite,” he shared. “They pushed their fees, and then their customer service was horrible. When they changed their fee structures, at my big events, they were making more money than I was.” 

He was concerned that he may have to raise the price of his tickets, but he didn’t want to do that because of his ticketing platform. He didn’t think that would be fair to his valued customers. So, he looked for other event ticketing options, and came across Bandwango’s event ticketing platform. 

So was it worth it? He said, “I've saved my customers money, I've saved myself money, and we have a pretty advanced technology ticketing system that can do more than what they can do.”

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The creation of new wristband ticketing technology

At Pigford’s events, attendees once received paper tickets upon arrival to redeem for wine tastings. We’ve seen many organizations moving from paper to digital for their passports, and by collaborating on these events, we saw the opportunity to reduce the usage of paper for tasting events as well. Pigford explained the new concept, saying, “We have worked out this whole wristband thing, where instead of doing paper tickets like we used to do, that were similar to carnival tickets, everything is now scanned onto their wristband. When we check attendees in, they are issued a wristband, and we scan that. We’re able to put however many tastings they've purchased onto that wristband, which has been nice.”

The new wristband technology has helped in multiple ways. One of the biggest things for customers is that it eliminates the possibility of lost tickets. “Most of the customers have been very receptive to it,” said Pigford. Previously lost or dropped tickets were a problem. “It wasn’t unusual for me to find paper tickets all over the place,” he said. “Now they don't have to worry about it. It's all right on their wristband.” 

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There’s more value for participating wineries 

Participating wineries at Pigford’s events are paid an agreed-upon amount for each tasting. Keeping up with how many redemptions/pours they have is very important. The wristband technology was a newer concept to the wineries at first because they were accustomed to counting paper tickets at the end of an event. Now, the event ticketing software keeps track of their redemptions. 

Pigford shared that at first, they were keeping track to make sure the software worked correctly. Spoiler alert – it did. He said, “A lot of them started keeping their bottles to see if the number in the system matched with how many bottles they used.  And it did. So it was easy to verify. It’s been good.”

In addition to having a paper-free and sustainable ticketing system, and not having to count tickets, there is also another perk of the new wristband event ticketing software that the wineries love. Pigford explained, “From the back end, we've created a double opt-in. I can access an email list that I provide the wineries that shows people who actually did a tasting with their winery – and that has been very popular.”

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Another unexpected perk: safety and compliance features 

 “As an owner and promoter and organizer of these festivals, I have an obligation to monitor consumption,” shared Pigford. As a responsible event promoter, he doesn’t let consumers buy an unlimited number of tastings, and he sees value in being able to track a customer’s journey. With his old ticketing software, he could only see the time that someone checked into his event. Now, he can track a customer’s journey and see how many wineries they have visited. He can actually see how much wine an individual has consumed within a certain period of time. 

He said, ”If an emergency happens, it's good information for EMTs to have.” He sees it as a way of preventing unwanted situations as well. “If somebody gets to the point of intoxication, and we decide we need to do something and prevent them from driving, we can go look up how much alcohol they’ve consumed.” He added, “When I have hundreds or thousands of people out there tasting, I can't keep track of each one. But I will be able to see it on the back-end report, and this new reporting software is going to help me be able to see it.”

While there are multiple aspects of the new wristband technology that can be beneficial to organizers of wine tasting events, Pigford stresses the critical importance of being able to monitor how much someone has consumed, and he’s impressed with the capabilities of the wristband event ticketing technology. He said, “This is really good. If you’re an organizer that’s dealing in alcohol, you’ll want to check it out.”

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Mike’s Tips for Putting on a Successful Wine Festival

• Give a discount for presales

“Pre-sale tickets are how I help pay for things that I have to pay for up front,” explained Pigford. But he said you have to make it valuable to the customer. “Is $2 off really enough incentive for you to buy today? No.” He said that it’s important to make pre-sale tickets worth it to the customer and encourage them to buy tickets ahead of time. 

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• ‍Use the opt-in data 

The Bandwango dashboard has reporting data that’s available to all partners, and that includes an opt-in report that allows you to help you grow your database of consumers who are interested in hearing from you. “I always use it to increase my audience,” said Pigford. 

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• Add in extra opt-in language on your ticket for your wineries 

He has added a second opt-in on his tickets that allows attendees to opt-in to receive information from the wineries where they’ve had tastings. He supplies each winery with a customized list that is filtered to include only the guests who had a tasting with them, allowing the winery to stay in touch and nurture an ongoing relationship with their new customer. “To have a targeted email list that’s given to you at the end of the event is valuable to a winery,” he said. 

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• Monitor consumption 

He said, “It doesn’t matter where you’re located – consumption is a big deal. And with how much insurance costs these days, you can’t afford a hit.” Pigford encourages event organizers to place a limit on the number of tastings someone can purchase, but says it is also important to be able to know how to use the reporting data in your Bandwango dashboard to be able to look up a customer and see how much they’ve consumed, just in case. “It's one of the things we can do to monitor consumption and ensure that we put on a safe and responsible event,” he said. 

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• Choose the timing of your event appropriately

Arizona Wine Events and Willcox Wine Country host events October-March to avoid the heat of summer. “Nobody does anything in the summer here. It's just too blazing hot. You have to know your seasons,” explained Pigford. The perfect timing for your wine tasting event may be different. Take a look at your individual destination and needs, and plan accordingly. Timing is crucial. 

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• Consider incorporating art into your wine festival 

“I teamed up with someone who does fine art, and we now have three of the top festivals in the country, as rated by Sunshine Artists,” he shared. With that additional element, he’s able to drastically increase the amount of attendees. Serious art collectors are also a high-value audience that pairs well with the wine tasting.  

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What’s Next

Expect more events from Arizona Wine Events and Willcox Wines starting in October. At that time, they’re looking at ways to amplify the wristband ticketing experience even more. Pigford has some more surprises coming, but shared information on one new addition.“We’re talking about putting up some kind of kiosk where people can check their remaining ticket count. We want to put in a little device and something.”

Arizona Wine Events and Willcox Wines have excelled at wine tasting festivals for years and we’re happy to partner with them to help create amazing experiences. We would love to work with you as well. No matter if you’re a seasoned event planner, or just planning your first tasting event, we can help.  Book a free consultation with our team, and let’s chat!