The Challenge

The last thing anyone would expect to find at a minor league baseball game are volleyball courts set up in the stands, and tiers of spectators competing against each other in a match. This is precisely the kind of shenanigans that the high-spirited fans of the El Paso Chihuahuas found themselves in when they attended a home game this summer at Southwest University Park. 

The Chihuahuas, if you’re not familiar, are the Triple-A affiliates for the San Diego Padres, and the beloved team representing El Paso, Texas in the Pacific Coast League.  They are currently division title winners and have a good chance at the series. 

The volleyball tournament was all part of a well-orchestrated promotion run by the team. The objective, was to build momentum during the game, engage fans and help motivate sales at the concession stands. The premise of the event was simple and playful 1) supply volleyball equipment 2) turn sections of the stadium into teams 3) set the teams loose in the arena 4) watch the fun unfurl. The strategy proved to be a huge success for the team and the fans, who like all serious contenders attacked their opponents head to head to earn bragging rights and a monetary reward loaded on their tickets.

Our Solution

Driving the promotion on the back end was Uptix, a fan engagement solution developed by Givex. The tool enabled the venue to load funds to the winning tickets in real time.  This in turn allowed the victors to redeem their prizes immediately for snacks, or a well- deserved celebratory beverage. In the end, the Chihuahuas experienced a significant lift at the concessions; with results so promising there are plans to run additional tournaments at future games.  In spring 2019, Southwest University Park will be the home field for the El Paso USL soccer team, and there are discussions to introduce Uptix at these venues as well. 

Prior to Uptix, planning events like this would have been challenging for the Chihuahuas. In the past the team distributed paper certificates to their season ticket holders. However, they quickly realized that paper certificates are impossible to keep track of, and there is no way to capture data about the user. Since there is no paper trail, if a certificate was reported lost or stolen it would be difficult to validate, or determine if it was ever redeemed.  

Earlier this year the team partnered with Givex, and installed Uptix. They liked the versatility of the program and the various features that run the gamut from gift, loyalty, patron portals, program administration plus an extensive range of reports.  They recently implemented another Givex program, the Employee Top-up Card, which is similar to an allowance card. The Givex top-up card number is mapped to the existing employee badge number. When purchasing a meal at the concession stand, the employee can present their badge as a form of payment. All transactions are processed against the mapped Givex number and tracked in the system. The operators and teams have complete control of the spending and monitoring of usage. The cards can be incremented on a daily, monthly, or annual basis.  Funds can be cancelled when an employee is terminated, and restrictions can be applied to specific merchandise such as alcohol so there is no opportunity for abuse. 

We love working with brands like The El Paso Chihuahua’s who take a fan-first approach at every event. Uptix allows them to initiate engagement in innovative and memorable ways and we are proud to be part of their team.

DEBBI BLACKBUR, VP BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, UPTIX

The Results

Givex provides the Chihuahuas with reliable solutions that help improve fan engagement, run promotions, and manage other operational facets of their business. With Uptix they can generate actionable data that delivers a vital link to fan behavior, spending preference, and levels of engagement. Givex supplies the kind of analytical information that was missing in the past, but will serve them well today to drive future success.  

Discover the fandemonium that only Uptix can bring!