Fans are back, back again… who didn’t love that half time show! We are still tapping our toes every day thinking about it and so are the fans who got to experience the event live. Fan expectations were set extremely high for Super Bowl LVI at SoFi Stadium, one of the world’s most exclusive and fan worthy events, which had to deliver at all costs. If the halftime show wasn’t enough to motivate fans to purchase a ticket, the NFL Super Bowl game hosting the LA Rams at home was. So was every connected fan experience before, during and after the game, all designed to deliver next level fan engagement!

Connecting those fan experiences was PAM, the world’s most intelligent and intuitive Smart Navigation platform. Using static Super Bowl district maps are a thing of the past, they have been transformed to virtual maps accessed by scanning QR codes on digital signs. Smarter Navigation connected fans to every experience using dynamic digital signs and fans mobile phones. 

PAM collaborated with Hollywood Park Technology Alliance partners and NFL Super Bowl event planners, PPW Inc. to digitize the world class wayfinding. Commissioned by the NFL, PAM delivered contextual directions to fans throughout the day using hundreds of digital signs and interactive eXplorer maps. This is next level wayfinding integrating branding on both digital signage and eXplorer maps.

The PAM Smart Navigation platform is a permanent feature of the digital infrastructure as used at SoFi Stadium & Hollywood Park to run all navigation on digital directional & promotional signs, parking signs, interactive fan kiosks and mobile phone eXplorer maps. Taking this smart city district into the future and giving fans the ultimate experience every time they want to do something they can’t do at home!

Connected fan experiences like never before

In such a big, busy and awesome place, visitors used PAM to find the quickest way into district entries, fan experience zones and of course the best entry point to the main event. The NFL used a specific Super Bowl “PAM Navigation Playbook” to provide eXplorer maps and dynamic sign content as the day progressed. The event organizers and operational team used PAM to immediately control and change directions on any device, at any time, making the whole experience safer and more enjoyable.

“PAM is our brilliant signage and wayfinding platform and rockstar partners. Absolutely would not attempt a project of the scale and complexity of Hollywood Park without having them involved.”

Skarpi Hedinsson, CTO SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park.

From over 70,000 eager fans at the Super Bowl, an unprecedented number of fans engaged with QR codes on interactive kiosks and digital signs. Guiding fans to experiences, NFL store, food, entrances, restrooms and parking using the NFL Super Bowl eXplorer map.

The PAM Smart Navigation Platform manages run dynamic content across a mesh of 237 digital district signs across Hollywood Park from the perimeter of the 300 acre site right into the stadium. PAMOS provides user friendly and efficient tools to deliver dynamic branding and navigation to fans. The PAM eXplorer maps unlock new virtual branding opportunities for sponsors to connect with fans.

Navigating tangible outcomes for Venue Ops

There is nothing quite like a last minute drama to test the resilience of both technology and teams! Functionally connecting all digital navigation signs across the Hollywood Park District IP network was the PAM360 Connect App installed on all Media Players.

To be clear, this is not an App for fans on their phones, it’s an App for IT teams running digital signage across IP networks. The resilience of the PAM360 Connect App installed on every media player was highlighted when a network switch was swapped out the day before the Super Bowl resulting in random IP addressing and incorrect content appearing on signs across the district. The on-site team were notified the moment it happened and content on geo-location signs with IP address was immediately reassigned to rectify the issue. Phew!

Not only did the PAM360 Connect App manage those network issues, it was also used by Samsung and the Hollywood Park IT teams to identify signs with dead pixels in the lead-up to the Super Bowl. Those broken LED sections were quickly replaced and the signs were functioning at peak performance for the big event.

From a UX perspective the PAM eXLabs team delivered significantly improved legibility on signs implementing a custom made pixel perfect font and embedded QR codes on navigation signs throughout the district. This improved UX by increasing the reading distance of digital signage by 200%!

White Paper: Super Bowl Smarter Navigation

PAM collaborated with the Super Bowl Operations team and event organizers PPW to capture their feedback on the lead up to and day of the event and the proceeding days. A collaborative team has been formed and are in the process of preparing a white paper on the ‘Super Bowl Smarter Navigation Experience’. This will comprise of insights on the technology platform architecture, operational data points to deliver a ground breaking fan experience for crowd management and the operational efficiencies achieved.

Engagement data provided further insights of when and where fans utilized the QR codes, the search terms they used to find destinations and experiences and for how long they were engaged. This kind of data provides a wealth of insights for operations and events teams to understand and build a more valuable connection with their customer. Operational teams will also benefit from these insights to deliver incremental improvements to the environment and crowd management processes to drive better outcomes for fans and customer experience teams.

Please use the form below to register your interest. This Super Bowl LVI Smarter Navigation white paper will be only shared privately to those who register. So get ahead of the game to achieve next level wayfinding and smarter navigation at your next major event.