Successful partnership between Golazo and iXpole

International sports company Golazo relies on the expertise of iXpole for the automation of the VIP customer journey at major events. The two companies have already worked together successfully at the EuroHockey Championships and Road Cycling Word Championships, among other events.

The collaboration of Golazo and iXpole began at the 2019 EuroHockey Championships. Because of the size of the event, which took place in Antwerp, the company went looking for a partner to help with the distribution of VIP tickets.

With ten thousand VIPs, Gracias, Golazo’s hospitality arm, had the tricky task of making sure the tickets were distributed without a glitch. With the help of the VIP Portal of iXpole, they were able to do just that. It gave Golazo’s customers who wanted to invite VIP guests to the event access to a personalised online portal.

Thanks to the portal, these customers had a clear overview of their tickets, as well as any other facilities they had purchased. The portal enabled them to manage every single ticket individually and send it to the right VIP guest. Customer feedback was very positive.

Flanders 2021

With the return of big events after the lifting of pandemic restrictions, iXpole and Golazo resumed their collaboration. Flanders Classics and Golazo organised Flanders 2021 together, the 100th edition of the UCI Road World Championships. With Golazo/Gracias once again calling on the support of iXpole to automate VIP activities.

For ten days, more than 16,000 VIPs were welcomed across eight locations in four cities. Tom Simons, project manager at iXpole: ‘The Road Cycling World Championships are our biggest event to date. Our VIP Booker more than proved itself managing the large volume of online orders received. With the VIP Desk, we were able to channel the big influx of VIPs smoothly on the day of the event itself. It helped us keep queues to a minimum.’

Long-term relationship

The success of the collaboration marked the start of the long-term relationship between Golazo/Gracias and iXpole. The management of Golazo/Gracias has confirmed that iXpole’s platform will be used at every major event they will be organising.

‘Golazo and Gracias have chosen to rely on iXpole as its digital backbone for all its VIP activities,’ says Tom Simons of iXpole. ‘It allows them to give their customers a consistent experience, both online and offline.’

Football events, gymnastics tournaments, cycling races: the two partners will be working together at events across a wide range of sports disciplines. iXpole is entrusted with automating the full customer journey at events with a large number of VIP guests, before, as well as during and after the event.