Business in the spotlight: Pixmob

DCMTL Blog had the chance to interview Pixmob’s Marketing and communications director Simon St-Germain.

We see their technology a little bit everywhere these days. Did you have a chance to attend Montreal’s Fashion Tech event, at the McCord museum, organised by Montreal’s digital spring? Those white luminous watches that doubled as business cards 3.0, were actually provided by PixMob. This week we are placing the spotlight on Pixmob.

We see your Klik technology at many events throughout Montreal, where else can we expect to see Pixmob or Klik in the near future?

We will be showcasing the Klik technology at the Shake IT Montreal event (19/04/17) taking place at New City Gas on April 19th, 2017. Otherwise, we will be at CultureFest this Wednesday April 12th, 2017, with the GSOFT team, which will be taking place at the TOHU center. We’re are really looking forward to meeting all those in attendance.

If I’m being honest, our biggest news is regarding C2 Montreal. We will be the “wearables” for the event. Everyone will receive a Bluetooth badge that facilitates the exchange of contacts and also acts as a wallet-less payment system, using the Connect and Go System. On top of that, if there is a particular conference that you particularly enjoy, you can click and automatically receive all the related info.

We are also very proud to have signed a  3-year partnership with C2 international. C2 organises events all around the world and we will have the honour of being present at all of them. We will be in at the San Francisco event in two weeks with EY (Ernst and Young), and they will be using our products. We are happy to announce that Klik will be part of their basic service package at all their events.

The following weekend, C2 will be organising Movin’on, Michelin`s flagship event, taking place at l’Arsenal. The event is inspired by a European conference that covers all topics related to movement and mobility (public transit, aviation). They will be using the same installations as the euro conference, and including our devices.

Have you noticed an increase in demand for your services lately?
Do you still feel the need to go out and find business?

Yes. We’ve actually done very few events in Montreal and Quebec. To be honest, we aren’t really well known in Quebec. Pixmob is actually better known in the US, which is a little strange (laughs).

When we started, we relied on cold calling and “outreach”. We used to approach people based on the venues or the events we came across. Now the opposite is happening. People are coming to us , especially for Klik and while it’s new we think it’s normal. Klik is a brand that didn’t even exists a year ago. We sold the product in the US. We had clients who used the technology, but the brand and the related marketing campaign didn’t officially launch until November. Slowly but surely, we started seeing results.

Pixmob helped bring visibility to Klik technology by developing the first relationships. We had corporate clients with whom we held our first light show events. We went back to those same clients when we developed our new products and said: “ Hey! we have a new product that facilitates interactivity!” This helped us penetrate the market. What you need to know is that this is an extremely competitive market. We are competing against applications, other wearables, websites, interactive installations, so we believe that this partnership with C2 will allow Klik to increase its growth and help us reach a new level in the industry.

Moving forward, is PixMob going to focus more on corporate events or festivals?

When we founded PixMob, our first objective was to provide entertainment on the international level.

PixMob was therefore founded on that principle. Luminous objects in a crowd is a concept that seduces everyone. All our clients are really impressed, there’s something magical about it. Aside from the marketing world, when people look at their bill, people all ask the same question: what is the added value? We did not want to answer “ the magic” (laughs). We wanted to give them something measurable and concrete. A PixMov show is difficult to quantify, even today. Nevertheless, we wanted to overcome the challenge of justifying the value of PixMob. That’s where the idea for data exchange came into play.

PixMob is a technology that allows us to send a signal to a bracelet, the bracelet then illuminates and that’s the end of the of that function. With Klik, there is an exchange of information, we receive it and are then able to generate amazing data. That’s what attracted C2. When you invite an expensive speaker, you want to be able to know if people attended and stayed for the talk, if they liked it and if it was something that interested them or if they left after 5 mins. With our technology, we can know all of that. That’s why Klik is the logical next step for PixMob

Long term, we want PixMob to offer the same functionality. Will it be the same type of information and the same type of engagement? Probably not. That being said, there will be a way to install movement sensors in our bracelets and be able to know the exact moment the crowd becomes completely ecstatic. Maybe cardiac receptors will become more mainstream, and that would be a way for us to know which songs people like the most. These are the types of ideas we are looking into.

User experience is at the heart of PixMob and Klik. We also place a lot of importance on the organisation of events and the programming. Technology should never come in the way of experience, and this is the driving force or our vision.

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Virginie M Savoie

Virginie M Savoie

Rédactrice en chef- Editor in chief Très curieuse, Virginie adore sortir et profiter de ce que la ville à offrir. Book worm, geek et amoureuse de l'Art avec un grand A. Very curious, Virginie sure enjoys a night out in the town. Book worm, geeky and Art lover.

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