Gantner Ticketing has been relaunched as Vintia, with a new brand identity and focus as part of the Salto Wecosystem. The firm speaks to blooloop about the transformation.
For nearly 35 years, the company has provided ticketing and booking solutions to attractions and leisure organisations of all shapes and sizes, helping them manage their booking and ticketing requirements. It has served over 1,000 clients worldwide. This includes the Royal Museums of Art and History in Brussels, Qatar Museums, The View from the Shard in London, and Efteling in the Netherlands. The firm is now poised for more international growth after its recent addition to the Salto Wecosystem.
Edwin Hemkes, CEO of Vintia, and Marc Handels, co-founder and CTIO of Salto Systems, talk to blooloop about the new brand platform. They share their thoughts on the new name and branding and outline their ambitions for the ticketing and booking firm under its new flagship.
From small family business to international supplier
Hemkes, a longstanding firm member for nearly two decades, witnessed its remarkable evolution. “I joined when it was a small family business,” he says. “Since then, we’ve expanded offices and diversified into other ventures. Today, as Vintia, we specialise in comprehensive ticketing and booking solutions within the dynamic Salto Wecosystem.”
Founded by Dirk Syx in 1990 as Syx Automations, the company has undergone strategic acquisitions over the years, broadening its scope and capabilities. “Maintaining our family-owned ethos, in 2013, I became a shareholder, alongside a Belgian private equity firm acquiring a majority stake,” Hemkes explains. “This move fuelled international growth, establishing offices in the UK and India.”
The company’s trajectory surged when it was acquired by Gantner in 2017. For the past 40 years, Gantner has been a trailblazer in NFC (near-field communications) technology. It is known for its access control products, such as electric locker lock systems, access control and cashless solutions.
Renamed Gantner Ticketing under the parent brand, it continued to thrive. Then, in 2020, Gantner transitioned to Salto Systems, a global leader in smart electronic access control solutions. This further amplified its reach and impact.
Positioned for growth
Hemkes explains the benefits of this latest acquisition:
“The partnership with Salto has brought about three key transformations. Firstly, Salto’s extensive international presence greatly amplifies our global footprint. Initially expanded through Gantner’s acquisition of Syx, our reach surged with access to Salto’s 40+ offices worldwide.
In addition, the firm can better integrate with Salto’s hardware products:
“For instance, their digital door lock solutions revolutionise access control, enabling users to unlock doors with a simple swipe of their mobile phones. These solutions are increasingly prevalent in hotels and attractions, streamlining customer experiences with features like session bookings and QR code access.”
Furthermore, the acquisition provides access to Salto’s professional services, enabling the firm to leverage its expertise and resources for enhanced operational efficiency and growth. This collaboration empowers it to elevate its standards and professionalism, driving positive change throughout the company.
“In essence, the partnership with Salto heralds a new era of progress and opportunity for us.”
Communicating a clear identity for Vintia
While many of these changes occur behind the scenes, they are represented publicly by the firm’s new name and branding.
“When we sold Syx Automations to Gantner, we decided to change our name to Gantner Ticketing. Syx Automations doesn’t necessarily work well internationally.”
In addition to adopting the Gantner name, it also migrated to the Gantner website.
“But by doing so, we lost some of our original identity. When potential customers looked on the Gantner website, the first thing they saw was someone opening a gym locker. And that’s not what we do. So, we were lost somewhere on that new website.
“We needed a clear identity so people know what our company delivers and what it stands for. ‘This is what we do. We develop software for ticketing for the View from the Shard in London’. Or ‘We work with Efteling in the Netherlands’. That’s what we build and what we’re proud of.’ And that’s what you can see on our website.”
Creating the Salto Wecosystem
The transition to become Vintia isn’t taking place in isolation. Salto has also launched its new Salto Wecosystem group branding, which will eventually roll out across all the group’s companies.
“Since 2012, Salto has been acquiring smaller companies, all with a different culture, brand look, typography, and website,” says Hemkes. “By the beginning of last year, we had many companies with different identities. We needed a platform that would allow us to make that group recognisable. We call that group the Salto Wecosystem.”
Handels explains:
“Salto is one of the world’s largest smart access control solutions providers, with more than 1,700 employees in over 40 countries. Every one of those employees, known as teammates, is encouraged to speak up, innovate, and bring their passion. We’re a community born out of a common goal: empowering access in every sense – access to places, experiences, and opportunities.
“The transition to a brand platform presents a unique opportunity for all of us to showcase and strengthen our brands’ and companies’ core values. By aligning on what matters to our partners, customers, employees, and the surrounding community, we are building a strong sense of community and culture at Salto Wecosystem.
“With the transition to the new brand platform, we have an exciting opportunity to create a unified identity and reinforce our core values. By focusing on what we have in common and leveraging the enthusiasm among our team, we can ensure a smooth and successful transition that benefits everyone involved.”
Evolution of the brand
Salto, Gantner, and Vintia are three core brands and three operational companies working closely together within that platform.
Hemkes explains: “These three brands sit within the Salto Wecosystem but still have their own identities, such as their name, brand action and value proposition.”
Handels adds: “The visual identity evolves for each core brand. Introducing a new visual language, including a logo, colour scheme, and typography, signifies a fresh and modern approach to their branding. It will be interesting to see how this new visual identity will be gradually implemented across all marketing materials, digital and hardware products, packaging, and branding assets, which can help enhance the overall brand presence and recognition in the market.”
“The development of Salto Wecosystem allowed us to take Gantner Ticketing and its 35-year history and give it its own identity under a new brand name,” Hemkes comments. “Vintia’s all-in-one ticketing and booking management solution for the leisure industry deserves to flourish on its own as it has the power to improve the visitor experience during some of the most important memory-making events in a person’s life.”
The group selected Saffron, an international branding agency, to help realise this vision. Saffron is renowned for creating distinctive brands which span strategy, design, and product. Its clients include YouTube, V&A, Meta, Art Basel, Gulf Air, and AzkoNobel.
Vintia‘s shared values
Part of the objective was to improve customers’ and employees’ feelings of belonging.
“Customers will better understand who we are and what we can provide,” says Hemkes. “We also wanted employees not to feel that we all work for separate companies. We all now work for the Salto Wecosystem and have shared values.”
These brand values are called the WeConnectors:
“We all share the same values, which connects us to that Salto Wecosystem. That was very important for us. Our central statement is ‘Access more together’. Access to a locker, a theme park, or a hotel room is all access. And we’re doing more together with our dealers, partners, and employees.”
“This provides a framework for us moving forward. If other companies join the group, they understand the core values; it’s much easier to understand that way.”
Handels says: “The Salto Wecosystem embodies the commitment to innovation of each Salto company and demonstrates the collective power of smarter access to places, experiences, and opportunities. By redefining its brand platform and establishing Salto, Gantner and Vintia as core brands under the umbrella of a single-brand platform ecosystem, Salto aims to foster a more sustainable and connected future, driven by the strength and expertise of each brand.
“This ecosystem allows for a more cohesive market approach, creating further value for our partners who can leverage the strengths of each brand to deliver innovative solutions. The ability to retain distinct solutions, technologies, and brand characteristics while sharing and enabling one another’s synergies is a testament to the strength of the Salto Wecosystem and the collaborative spirit within each brand.”
Centrepiece of a new strategic vision
The new branding and Salto Wecosystem are crucial to the group’s long-term strategy.
Handels explains:
“The new brand platform and strategy will help us to advance our long-term strategy and accelerate growth across the markets. Our brand platform evolution will help reinforce our market position as a leading global brand specialising in smart access solutions. It will strengthen the foundation for a bright future marked by innovation, market-oriented approaches, and expansion.
“While company strategy was the impetus for our brand evolution, our customers and partners should know that the execution of this transition was planned with their considerations taking primacy.”
In January, the new branding was revealed as the centrepiece of Salto ‘Expanding Horizons’ internal congress. Almost 500 employees and guests attended the four-day event in Spain, which included presentations, challenges and tours.
“We didn’t only talk about branding, but also about the new goals and ambitions for the company,” Hemkes shares.
“We have a new goal that we all have to live up to and grow into: to at least double the company by 2030. Vintia plays an essential role in that. We have a new CEO on board, Marc Gómez. I am part of a new leadership team leading the company towards this new goal in 2030. Our former CEO, Javier Roquero, will take up a board member position and work for the Salto Foundation.
“To realise these goals, we are looking to address new markets and have many new products to come. We are considering introducing Vintia products to the United States, our biggest market from the Salto group.
“There’s lots more to come.”
