By Adam Wakefield

Those who have been to a festival know the pain of running out of money, going back to their campsite to get more, then loading money onto a card before they can get the party back on track. This was after buying the event ticket from a vendor who has no association with those responsible for loading money onto that card, or the process that entails.

Howler, a platform first used last year at Ultra and fully rolled out at Rocking the Daises in the same year, brings all those functions under one banner.

“Essentially, what Howler does is consolidate all the different technologies we work with under one platform,” says Shai Evian, one of the founders of Nutickets.  

“At the moment, you have to use different platforms for different services. Howler is essentially a middleware technology on a completely different platform. It comprises the ticketing platform, the cashless system, and our access control system for an event.” They are currently also working on an event discovery app.

All these functions will take place initially online, from buying your ticket to loading money onto the service, before collecting your wristband at the event, which fulfils all these functions at once. Following the event, customers will be able to get back any money they did not spend. In other words, no more queueing.

A new tool for a younger audience

A statistic that points to those latching onto the advantages Howler offers is that 61% of users interact with the platform through their mobile phone, while just over a third do the same via their desktops.

“The events that we deal with are orientated toward a younger audience. We do events targeted at older audiences too, but we’ve found our niche in the festival-type market. They are on mobile all the time,” Evian explains.

“Over the last two years, we’ve seen a shift towards mobile. When it comes to Howler, if you are out with your friends and you are looking for an event to go to, you will be able to buy tickets quickly on your phone, and load up money before the event begins. The shift is happening more and more.”

A streamlined event through better data

While the customer receives an improved, streamlined experience through using Howler, perhaps its greatest gift will be for event organisers and brands themselves. With all transactions taking place on a single platform, from event cradle to grave, the amount of data Howler is able to collect is “unbelievable”.

“Every single transaction, from tickets, to food, to alcohol, peak bar times, it all helps from an event organiser perspective to streamline operations,” Evian says.

“Let’s say you run a bar with 100 bartenders. Howler will be able to tell you that you only need a full complement between this time and that time, and you are able to scale the staff up and down accordingly.”

This results in cost saving for organisers. Judging by how Howler performed at Rocking the Daises, Ultra, and the smaller events where it was used, being able to load money and spend via the same platform has also led to increased spend.

“It is easier for people to spend. We are seeing better transaction processing times at the bar itself, with the bartenders not having to deal with cash, credit cards, or change. It removes one layer of friction between the vendor and the consumer.”

Howler and Africa

While Howler has already been used at events across Southern Africa, including Bushfire in Swaziland and the Vic Falls Carnival in Zimbabwe, Evian and his colleagues at Howler and Nutickets have ambitions that stretch across the rest of the continent.

“The eventing and outdoor festival market is exploding globally, which opens up a lot of opportunities. Africa, historically, is a very complex market from a payments perspective, so it’s quite challenging,” Evian says.

“Each market is different in terms of the payments they use, from mobile money, to credit cards, to non-credit cards and so on. We are working with festivals in East Africa and Nigeria where we are going to be running some pilots over the next couple of months.”

Howler aims to build a truly African platform so those even travelling across borders, tourists included, will be able to easily find and buy tickets, load money in the right currency, and do it in a way they are most familiar with.

“The big international ticketing companies are scared of Africa, so we are hoping to get a footprint on the continent, and see what happens,” Evian says.

Already this year in South Africa, Howler has partnered up with the likes of Cape Town 10s, several beer and food festivals, Ultra 2017, and they are in discussions with a couple of well-known events in Johannesburg.

One way or another, it is possible that Howler will be on your mobile sooner than you expect.  

For more information, visit www.howler.co.za.