In a first-of-its-kind partnership, Capturelife, an innovative digital platform that is reimagining attractions photography, has teamed up with IAAPA, the global association for the attractions industry, to orchestrate a photo program for its upcoming Orlando tradeshow, IAAPA Expo 2023.
Photographers will be stationed around the tradeshow at IAAPA Expo 2023 to capture memories and provide exclusive content for attendees to access in the official IAAPA Connect+ app, which launched last year.
Capturelife is integrating with IAAPA partners to make a seamless and fully digital experience for attendees. The partnership also helps IAAPA reach its sustainability goals, as its Trade Show Program is replaced by the greener alternative and additional resources on Connect+, IAAPA’s official mobile app. Attendees will find not only the complete IAAPA Expo agenda, networking tools, and a full list of exhibitors but also images of themselves and their colleagues throughout IAAPA Expo, as Capturelife photographers take photos and scan IAAPA Expo badges to provide a personal photo gallery.
Capturelife and IAAPA Expo: a win-win
Alex Pudney is the managing director at Capturelife. He talked to blooloop about the partnership, how it came about, and the benefits it brings to all parties involved.
“We were familiar with IAAPA, and had attended the trade show as an exhibitor,” he says. “I approached Cheryl Sulock, director of global sponsorships, as we saw a good way for us not only to help with the trade show itself as a way for IAAPA to have a stronger connection with the attendees but also as a cross-promotional item for them to draw more adoption rates for their native app.
“Eventually, after some further discussion, it grew some legs, and everybody was on board.”
In terms of the opportunities for the guests to the trade show, he explains:
“As guests are entering the trade show and a couple of the offsite events, they will be able to have pictures taken of them and their group. They can then access them easily in the IAPPA app itself.
“They don’t have to do anything. All the content is free. We have some pretty cool backgrounds that IAAPA has put together. There is some digital wall art, and there are some amazing engagement pieces. People can stop by and get a great photo – a keepsake and memory of their time at the trade show. It gets delivered straight to their personal photo gallery in Connect+.”
Photographers will be strategically positioned around the trade show.
“There will be some close to the entrances, and some at specially commissioned spots for specific items that IAAPA will have, such as sponsored entrance units and more.”
Integrating with Connect+
The integration process with the pre-existing Connect+, IAPPA’s official mobile app, was, he explains, relatively simple:
“It took a few phone calls for us to figure it out. We worked with their app developer, Swapcard. Part of that was an additional integration with CDS, the registration company.”
The fact that the app already existed was one of the reasons Pudney first approached IAAPA to suggest a partnership with Capturelife:
“I suggested they might be interested in a fun, engaging way for the attendees to be able to access their images, that would also help drive download and adoption rates for people to use the association‘s app.”
It was an impulse which has grown opportunities for all concerned.
“On our end, it is easy for us to integrate. We have a progressive web application. So, it’s easy to integrate into native applications without much legwork on the app developer side. It essentially allows us to fit within the native app, and then we take it from there.”
That integration with the guest registration system allows Capturelife to use the attendee badges to associate the photographic images to each guest:
“We scan their badges, we take the pictures, and then, magically, all their personalised images appear in their app.”
There are no kiosks involved: it’s a seamless, frictionless digital guest experience.
“We will also be doing some fun things with overlays that IAAPA designed to help memorialise the experience for the attendees. From our perspective, IAAPA is so much more than a trade show. It’s a super fun experience for anybody who’s attending, whether they’re exhibiting or attending to look at the exhibits. It is on brand with theme parks and attractions, where IAAPA itself is, effectively, an attraction.
“I saw it as an opportunity to enable a souvenir photo as a keepsake and help memorialise that experience.”
Building on the partnership
The plan is to build on the partnership, he explains:
“We’re potentially looking at the other iterations of IAAPA outside of the US. For instance, the trade shows in Europe and Asia. We are exploring the possibility of expanding this to opportunities with those other events as well as the future one here in Orlando.”
In terms of what gave Capturelife the edge over its competitors, he credits both his initiative in reaching out to suggest the IAAPA partnership and the firm’s unique offering:
“It was, I think, our ability to look to innovate and bring value to our partners. While this is promotional for us, and it’s very cool that we get to do it, we were able to demonstrate good value in terms of being something IAAPA would like to use, and that would be a fun and engaging way for their attendees to remember their visit.”
Capturelife’s client base spans the experience economy:
“We work with any type of attraction or event,” he explains. “Clients are zoos, aquariums, theme parks, popups, festivals, shows and professional sports teams. Really, any type of guest event, on a global basis.”
Partnering with tradeshows, particularly IAAPA, Pudney explains, seems a natural fit. It is something he had been considering for some time:
“Our company and the value that we bring with our products is ideally positioned for something like this. It’s a no-brainer when you think about what the lift is for both parties.”
Capturelife and IAAPA
Outlining the partnership from IAAPA’s perspective, Cheryl Sulock says:
“Alex reached out to me a little bit before last year‘s IAAPA Expo and started the conversations around what he could offer. I was very intrigued by what it might be able to add to the attendee experience at our expos.”
Accordingly, she set up a meeting with him:
“We met at last year’s show to take a look at the technology he had. I thought it was great, so I pitched it to our internal teams following last year’s expo. Everybody loved it immediately and was on board.”
From there it was a matter of establishing whether the reality would fulfill the expectations of the concept:
“It was a great concept, but could we pull it off? Would the technology work the way we intended it to? The idea of their photographers scanning the attendees’ badges and those photos magically appearing in the app sounded lovely, but we wanted to make sure all the integrations would work.”
The project moved to the next phase:
“We moved into a proof-of-concept testing phase,” she explains. “We were working with both our registration company and our mobile app provider. Capturelife had a couple of meetings with them to make sure that everything would function the way that we intended it to function.
“What we found was that it was going to be a very easy, seamless process. It wasn’t going to take too much adjustment on the integration side, and we were going to be able to pull it off relatively easily. We moved forward and hammered out the details of the IAAPA partnership and sponsorship with Capturelife.”
An enterprising spirit
It was, she says, enterprising of Pudney to get in touch and propose the partnership:
“We love that, here at IAAPA. In terms of our sponsorship programme, we do have traditional sponsorships where you get a long list of benefits and recognition, but we’re also always open to those custom sponsorship opportunities – and to finding ways to not only engage our attendees but let them experience the latest and greatest in the industry. Our exhibitors and our sponsors have the best technology, products, and services, so if we can find unique, engaging ways to bring those to our attendees and incorporate them into our event, it’s a win-win on both sides.”
IAAPA launched Connect+, its mobile app and digital platform for all IAAPA Expos, regional events and summits, in 2022. Sulock says:
“It was a brand-new initiative for IAAPA and has accomplished multiple goals for us.
“Firstly, we wanted to make sure that we had an easy way to get a great deal of information out to our attendees. We used to have a huge tradeshow book with a ton of pages because there was so much information to cover. It was great, but it was not accomplishing our sustainability goals, because we were printing thousands of copies, and it was only good for that week. We wanted to figure out how we could get that information into a digital platform in an easy-to-handle, manageable format.”
The benefits of Connect+
Connect+ is the answer.
“It gives the attendees all the information they need: access to the agenda with full descriptions and speaker biographies, the floor map with the exhibitor list – you can even find directions directly to an exhibitor’s booth. You can find all the general information about first aid, bag check and parking that you might be looking for. It checked all those boxes for us and helped us to reach those sustainability goals.
“More importantly, Connect+ gives everyone the option to connect and network in a digital space. Our attendees and our exhibitors can connect. They can chat, they can set appointments, and have that communication both on-site and then following the event.”
The value of the app is clear. However, she explains:
“It was also important for us to spread the word, and increase the attendee engagement and usage of that app. When Alex approached me with this fun idea, I realised what a great way it was to encourage people to download Connect+ and use the app.”
From the perspective of IAAPA, she comments:
“We are driving people to the app through this partnership. You need to have the app to access your photo gallery, and then we’re adding a fun engagement piece to the event. The photographers will be on the show floor throughout the expo days. They’ll be at IAPPA Celebrates at SeaWorld on Thursday and throughout the public concourse at several different photo opportunities.
“They will take your picture, scan your badge, and your pictures will show up in your photo gallery, available in three unique ways: as the original picture, and then with two different IAAPA expo frames that you can download and share on social media. I think our attendees are going to love and have a great time with it.”
Capturelife and IAAPA to continue partnership
It is also a useful marketing tool, as the IAAPA-branded photos are shared across social media platforms:
“We have to take advantage of that, as well,” Sulock acknowledges. “And really, if you can have a professional photographer take a great photo of you, especially against a nice backdrop – and we have a ton of really exciting photo opportunities at this year’s event, including some great entrance units, and some fun shimmer walls, as well as other photo backdrops, and if you add the fun IAAPA-branded frames, it just elevates your standard selfie, and takes it to a whole new level.”
In terms of future engagement, she adds:
“We’ve talked about continuing the partnership not only next year for Orlando but also potentially bringing the same technology into our other regions in Asia and Europe. At this point, we’re waiting to see how this year’s event goes so we can collect some attendee feedback on it, and then we’ll make the plans for 2024.”
IAAPA Expo 2023 runs from 14 – 17 November in Orlando, Florida and Capturelife will be showcasing its newest platform updates and features at booth #964.
IAAPA Celebrates takes place on Thursday 16 November at SeaWorld Orlando.
