Ancienne Belgique
For cultural venues, email is still the best way—by a country mile—of getting people to attend events. And yet, the medium is far from perfect. Until recently, for example, all AB fans received the self-same newsletter, regardless of whether they were fans of the angelic Angèle or the infernal Amenra. That meant people more often than not felt their tastes weren’t represented in the huge number of concerts on offer. The Brussels musical hotspot believed they could do better. So, after lengthy exploratory talks, they came knocking on Sparklink’s door. They joined in compiling all customer data and concert information in a single management solution, leading to more personal newsletters and smarter online marketing.
This project has been awarded twice, winning the Computable Awards 2023 for IT Project of the Year in the SMB Market and the EMAS Awards 2024 for Email Marketing Automation Excellence.
Who is Ancienne Belgique?
- Pop and rock venue in the heart of Brussels.
- Over 400 events a year.
- Rich musical history, since 1931.
- More than 350,000 yearly visitors.
- Weekly newsletter to 110,000 music fans.
CHALLENGE
"Backstage catalogue" - all fan and programming data under the same roof
AB possesses a treasure trove of information to help them make their fan communication a lot more personal and relevant: ticketing information, concert dates, personal preferences, you name it. It’s just that until recently, all the data was fragmented across different systems which—and that’s putting it nicely—weren’t always communicating very efficiently. The first step: collating the data into a single, large Salesforce database.
SOLUTION
On the fan side, we’re talking about ticketing information, preferences on the AB page, favourite artists on Spotify or Facebook, and click behaviour in the newsletters. For programming, everything starts with where and when the concerts take place, of course. But the accompanying copy (in three languages), pictures, videos, audio clips, press excerpts and YouTube links are just as important. Translators work directly in the tool and the images are automatically formatted correctly for the different channels. Sounds more like it, to hear the marketing crew tell it.
All these data are then connected and geared to each other, so that AB can send them from this content hub to the website, the screens in the venue, and the personalized e-mails, tailored to each fan.
All these data are then connected and geared to each other, so that AB can send them from this content hub to the website, the screens in the venue, and the personalized e-mails, tailored to each fan.
"Artist-to-fan mail" - the right content for the right music aficionado
In the past, those emails were put together manually. Now everything works automatically, based on Sparklink’s template engine. This is an addition to the Salesforce Marketing Cloud that we have created, which dramatically enhances personalization possibilities. The new smart dynamic content blocks we have created retrieve text, images, data, and business logic from Salesforce based on every customer’s unique profile, allowing for totally new scenarios.
Adding Content Automation into the mix
Apart from one-to-one personalized content, these blocks also take care of language and styling. So, emails are now created without a single letter being typed or pictures being cropped. Just add the desired content blocks to your template, and you’re done! We call it “Content Automation” — the ultimate dream of every data marketer, finally possible.
Bi-directional, real-time synchronization
While creating the enhanced dynamic content blocks, we also created a real-time, bi-directional sync between the Marketing Cloud and Salesforce. So if someone notices a typo or suddenly comes up with a genius title, they can still change it. The corrected and improved text goes straight back into the Salesforce database and immediately updates the AB website, as Salesforce is the headless CMS of the site.
"No shuffling" - perfectly timed digital marketing show
Sending smart, personalized emails is one thing, but the time when those emails are sent is just as important. That specific combo of timing and content is what makes all the difference here. Thanks to the extensive possibilities of the Journey Builder in Marketing Cloud in combination with the Content Automation features we have added, it’s now a lot easier to plan and automate who gets which message and when.
How about an example?
Someone who has linked their Spotify account to the website will automatically receive a fan alert email when one of their favorite artists is performing at AB. If, after a certain number of days, they haven’t bought tickets yet, they’ll get an email reminder. If they cave and purchase tickets, they’ll receive an automatic reminder with all practical details a day before the gig. The day after the show, they’ll get an email with pictures and videos of the concert to relive the night, as well as tips for similar concerts as the perfect conclusion to this customer journey. It also works great for those happy fans who might have some trouble remembering all the particulars of the night before.
This journey runs fully automatically in the background, sending out fan alert emails on a daily basis, while the marketing team of AB can focus on more interesting tasks.
GDPR causes email revival
Third-party cookies may be on the way out now that Chrome has decided to no longer support them. And due to new privacy laws, the authorization requirements change almost every other day. The result? Consumers are regaining control of their personal data. And that bodes well for email marketing. That’s because subscribers actively decided to give you permission to contact them, which means they’re interested in what you offer. In email marketing, you yourself decide what the message is, when it’s sent, and who receives it.
A quick recap?
Automating newsletters saves AB collaborators oodles of time. They can now work on more interesting things than cropping, cutting, and pasting. And thanks to the thorough personalization, ensuring every single fan receives a tailor-made email featuring the artists they love, more people are going to open the newsletters, click through, and … buy concert tickets.
Slimmer en efficiënter marketing bedrijven - Marketing automation bij concertzaal AB
By Patricia Lamper - Liplijn, working at Cultuurmarketing
The foundation that was laid here to make e-mail marketing smarter and more personal is a good foundation for improving other communication channels as well.
Modules we created for AB
Production planning app
All site information in one place. Welcome consistency, goodbye bottlenecks.
Asset management app
This way, all digital asset management (photos, PDFs, soundbites, videos and so on) can be done in Salesforce
Marketing Cloud
Sending relevant communications tailored to preferences at decisive moments through automated customer journeys in the Salesforce Marketing Cloud.
Resource planning app
Linking the right employee to the right job. Efficiently and timely, synchronised with their calendar in G Suite.
Service Cloud
All customer cases come into one customer service platform, allowing seamless and personalised support to be offered to customers.
Materials management app
The app allows you to know who is using which equipment when. A breakdown? Notifications come together in 1 central place. Easy to use thanks to optimisation for mobile.
BUDGET, ORDERS & INVOICES APP
All production-related budget data, orders and invoices in one place.
WEBSITE Integration
To manage all texts on the website via Salesforce.
Projects we are proud of