Up to 13,600 fans crowd the hallways of the arena from 90 minutes before the face-off and during the breaks at Adler Mannheim home games. Seats have to be found, toilets visited, snacks and fan merchandise purchased. And all of this, if possible, without wasting too much time. Hectic and hustle and bustle instead of relaxed anticipation of the game are more the rule than the exception.

So how do you make the fans’ stay as pleasant as possible – regardless of whether they are season ticket holders or newcomers to the arena – and provide them with a visitor experience that binds them to the club and encourages further visits, regardless of the match result?

“Good orientation is an important point from our point of view in order to feel comfortable as a guest. What has been standard in road traffic with navigation apps for many years is now also very easy inside the SAP Arena,” said SAP Arena Managing Director Daniel Hopp, pleased with the indoor navigation solution implemented by Favendo,

639 beacons were installed by Favendo in the SAP Arena for this purpose. Every visitor who has the Adler Mannheim app on their smartphone can use the interactive map integrated into it to find their way around the arena and be navigated to the desired point of interest in real time. The solution was integrated via Software Development Kit (SDK) into the Adler Mannheim App for iOS and Android, which was programmed by a third-party provider.

Whether it’s to the next snack stand, the nearest restroom, the seating or standing area, or the fan store – the app pinpoints the location and navigates visitors to their destination in the fastest way possible. At the same time, the proximity function can be used to play out tailored marketing campaigns via push messaging. For example, to advertise discounts in the fan store or specials at the snack stand.