For Jennifer Brisman, no matter the environment the guest is the gold. She is the founder and CEO of VOW, a one-stop shop platform for event orchestration to help products and planners coordinate every moving part of the live experience in real time. Brisman has helped produce more than 600 events from Saturday Night Live to the Tony Awards and has broken through in the sports space with the PFL (Professional Fighters League).
The MMA company uses the platform specifically for VIP experiences. It manages key sponsors, fighters’ families, and stakeholders through grand scale seating assignments and list management tools in real time. She looks to grow capabilities from 10,000 people to 25,000 in Q1 and 50,000 Q2. Brisman has set aggressive benchmarks looking to stand at the forefront of live event organization technology and expand further in combat sports.
“What’s really exciting about wrestling is first you’re super close unlike more broadly sports or sports adjacent events. You are close to the smell of the sweat. That is the first thing true live action. No matter where you are in that arena or that space or event, you feel it, you can touch it. Wrestling fans are just an unbelievable unique make and model and they are dedicated to that sport,” Brisman said, bringing her perspective to what WWE has done. “What’s interesting in wrestling in general and action sports is not that you’re just close to the action, but it’s the way they deal with VIP experiences. All of these groups have VIP experiences that might relate to hosts to corporate groups to private groups.”
She continued: “They are bringing them in, pulling them through, but you also have to remember, for the most part you are 360 around the ring right around the action. You also have to think about who is sitting around the ring that the broadcast is hitting. This is such a key component only our software allows you to do because everything in it is real-time with live data and where people are sat and where groups are sat that allows broadcasts to focus. This is a big thing for WWE and other similar groups to be able to ensure that key faces are near the sponsor where broadcast is hitting a sponsor logo or sponsor name.”
As companies like TKO with WWE under that umbrella, VIP focus and experiential packages have become priority. Not to mention big moneymakers that weren’t prevalent to what it has become in recent years. In her eyes, little things like who is rubbing elbows with who matters in the short-term and long-term.
“They really think about who is sitting around the action, who is sitting around the ring. How that camera is going to pan to those faces or guests or sponsors. Again because it’s 360, that’s significant and major,” Brisman. “Also, wrestling moves. They are moving venues in different cities, sometimes a little different than teams and leagues so they have amazing partners across broadcast partners. Our platform would allow them to ensure to have all seating information, VIP guest attendee fan information, all in real-time. Wrestling is really unique and super exciting. They’ve really doubled down on VIP experiences and hospitality moments.”
Brisman appreciates what TKO has created by consolidating partnerships and expanding in different areas. It comes down to the question of what drives a sponsor to come on to a major brand. Also, what brings fans coming back while leveraging the live event experience to keep fans, sponsors, and stakeholders invested.
“It’s the rinse and repeat with what can be done and creating stable revenue,” she said. “It’s brilliant what they’ve done and certainly commend them for thinking about what their fans want and really broadening that base.”