Celebrate with us as we mark the 200th release from Peppered’s development roadmap, a platform that has redefined the digital landscape for arts and culture venues. From its ground-breaking beginnings in 2009 to its current state as a powerhouse of integrations, time-saving automations and personalised experiences, Peppered continues to evolve and empower cultural organisations around the world.
But how did we get here?
A fresh approach to building websites
At CultureSuite, we have over 20 years of experience building websites for arts, culture and entertainment venues. Before Peppered became a SaaS platform, we operated as a traditional web agency building bespoke websites.
Those formative years taught us that many website platforms, CMSs and tech stacks simply aren’t made to handle the processes required for running a website for arts and culture venues. Generalist CMSs like WordPress, Drupal and Contentful need to be heavily customised to fulfil the unique challenges that arts and culture venues face.
But this is costly to the sector. And if a venue changed to a different platform, those modifications would have to be rebuilt at great expense. Couple this with the need to website refreshes or full rebuilds every 3-5 years and you’re left with a situation that creates a financial and technological burden on venues.
This is why we moved away from building bespoke websites to develop a CMS that tailored to meet the needs of ticketed and cultural venues. With this approach, we could help promote and foster digital sustainability in arts and culture.
Right out of the box, Peppered comes with all the essential tools venues need. Integration with ticketing and event planning systems, automation based synced data to empower arts marketing teams, personalisation for audience engagement, and compliance with the latest accessibility, GDPR, SEO and security standards so that venues don’t have to take on that technical burden.
On top of that, the platform receives updates every three weeks to ensure it meets the latest best practices and evolving digital needs without having to go through long, costly tender processes. This makes digital investment predictable while having a platform that grows with you.
Now, with Peppered’s 200th release, we celebrate a platform that has successfully made digital investment more sustainable while empowering arts marketing teams to grow their audience.
Here’s a breakdown of some of the key features that have been developed for Peppered over the last six years.
The journey of Peppered: A year-by-year breakdown
2018: The beginning of a new era
Enhanced Design Flexibility:
- Introduction of Themes for customisable website aesthetics
Expanded Content Types:
- New production types: Movies and Long-term events e.g. exhibitions
GDPR Compliance and Communication:
- New opt-in structure with activity logging
- Mailing system aligned with new opt-in data
- Introduction of mailing template V3
Improved Internationalisation:
- Full multilingual support for Peppered websites
2019: Advancing mobile experiences
Mobile-First Enhancements:
- Introduction of mobile HTML e-tickets replacing PDFs
- New seat selection app optimised for mobile devices
Digital Signage Upgrade:
- New HTML in-venue digital signage, replacing Macromedia Flash
Advanced Personalisation:
- Banner visibility based on visitor account tags
- Special access tool overlay on website
Expanded Content Types:
- New 'Courses' production type added
2020: Adapting to a global crisis
Enhanced Mailing and Analytics:
- New mailing dashboard with advanced statistics
COVID-19 Adaptations:
- Transaction report with direct links to PSP for quick refunds
- Automated seat selection with social distancing measures
- Additional health checkbox in order process
- Cancellation survey module for individual events
- Paid livestream ticketing for online events
Improved User Experience:
- New brochure layout option for 'What's On' pages
- Page visibility personalisation based on visitor tags
Expanded E-commerce Capabilities:
- New products module for selling memberships, vouchers, merchandise, and donations
2021: Personalisation, security and e-commerce
Enhanced User Experience:
- Quick purchase option: Skip cart for direct single event orders
- Personalised, curated order success page
- Light login flow with password-less options
- Apple Pay support for mobile devices
- Abandoned cart notifications
Improved Security and Accessibility:
- 2FA authentication for Dashboard access
- ReCaptcha 3 implementation
- Accessibility project with HNT
Advanced Personalisation:
- Peppered visitor tags for targeted content
- Product visibility in purchase path based on account tags
- Introduction of 'Stories' feature, linkable to productions
Streamlined Operations:
- Query Builder beta release
- Web parts customisation via Parameters (reducing dev dependency)
- Upgraded hosting environment with Procolix
Partner Ecosystem Expansion:
- Partnership with Mondo Marketing
2022: Enhancing data and audience engagement
Enhanced User Experience:
- Ambassador feature: Invite friends for ticket discounts
- Secure e-tickets: Barcode available hours before event
- Time slots for presales, eliminating queues (requested by De Kleine Komedie)
- Kiosk feature for in-theatre online ticket purchases
- Flexible 'What's on' page layouts (grid, list, brochure)
- Cinema planner layout for compact movie overviews
Advanced Personalisation and Marketing:
- Query builder enhancements, including purchase data queries
- Meta and Google remarketing management per event
- Provisional visitor tags for temporary personalised content
- Product/page visibility control based on visitor tags
- Collections feature: Grouping stories and productions
Improved Data Management and Integration:
- Daily import of offline sales data from integrated ticketing systems
- Peppered Event API for third-party content exposure
- Integration with Tixly ticketing system
Compliance and Communication:
- New DSA/DMA compliant cookie banner
2023: A focus on speed, integration, and usability
Enhanced Content Management:
- Feature stories in newsletters
- Subsites within main website
- People & roles module, linkable to stories and productions (funded by Antwerp Symphony Orchestra)
- Content library module for reusable page elements
Advanced Marketing and Personalisation:
- Query builder integrated with mailing module for targeted campaigns
- Smart cross-sell recommendations based on personal order history
- Secure e-ticket access via SMS unlock code (funded by De Kleine Komedie, developed with Ovatic)
Improved User Experience:
- Dark mode for Dashboard (requested by De Doelen)
- Significant site speed improvements through smart caching
- New dashboard development initiated
Expanded Integrations:
- Tessitura integration
- VoorDeMensen (Ticketing) integration
- Salesforce integration (event updater)
- Peppered Stories API for third-party content exposure
Operational Enhancements:
- New hosting provider: Exonet
- 'The Machine': Standardised quick implementation for mailing and TNEW purchase path templates
2024: Looking Ahead
Enhanced Mailing Capabilities:
- Unsubscribe headers for mailings
- Query builder activation for all mailing users
- Retirement of old mailing system
Improved Data Management and Privacy:
- Google Consent Mode v2 integration in cookie banner/tag manager
- Server-side tagging implementation
- Query builder archive feature
Expanded Integrations:
- Spektrix integration
- SeatGeek/eSRO integration
- Active Tickets integration
- iTheatre integration
Next steps
No matter what stage you're at in your search for the perfect web platform or digital marketing tool for your venue, we'll help you get the information you need to make the right decision.
- Want to see how Peppered works?
We’re proud of how easy we make it for venues to manage their website. That’s why live event venues around the world trust Peppered. Book a personalised demo. - Looking to partner with us?
If you’re a technology provider, design agency or supplier for the arts and culture sector, we’d love to hear from you. Contact us here. - Want to learn more about digital tools for venues?
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