Festivals are changing. Audiences want experiences that involve them more deeply and stories that feel personal. Boomtown and CeXFest were among the first to explore how this can work in practice, using real on-site interactions to shape the way people move through their events.
To achieve this, organisers need reliable data captured at every moment. Weezevent’s cashless ecosystem makes this possible. When ticketing, access control and cashless payments operate within a single system, every scan and tap becomes accurate behavioural data. This closed loop approach, trusted by festivals such as Tomorrowland, Lollapalooza, Rolling Loud, Hellfest and Rock Werchter, gives teams a clear view of how audiences behave.
With the combined power of Kaboodle and Weezevent, Boomtown and CeXFest used this data to create missions, factions, challenges and personal stories that shaped the experience from start to finish. Their work shows how technology can unlock new ideas and create moments that were not possible a few years ago.
Summary
The story behind Boomtown’s data-powered experience
On-site gamification and sponsor opportunities
In 2025, Boomtown extended its world-building with on-site interactions powered by the closed loop ecosystem of Weezevent and Kaboodle. Hidden scan points across the pop-up city encouraged exploration, while the official app responded to each attendee’s check-in and choices.
Brand partners were integrated into the narrative. In the Red Bull Reactor Zone, actors with handheld scanners became part of the performance, creating a mix of theatre and technology. Certain activities were restricted to a single interaction per person, controlled directly through the system.
For partners, the benefit was clear. They could track unique engagement and see how many participants later made purchases at nearby bars, giving them a more accurate understanding of impact.
When we interviewed Toby Gwazdacz, Commercial Director at Boomtown, he shared this perspective on the creative approach:
“We are always pushing the boundaries, trying to innovate and move into places no other festival has explored.”
Boomtown Unboxed and the creation of a personal festival story
This interactive layer allowed Boomtown to introduce something entirely new: Boomtown Unboxed, a personalised digital recap created for every attendee. The project used all the data collected across the weekend through the Weezevent devices to build a narrative shaped by real interactions.
Toby explains the concept:
“We are collecting all the data points, locations, sales and check-ins to build a unique profile for each person. Using AI, we weave that content together to give you your own personal Boomtown story.”
The Boomtown app, delivered by Amplify, guided attendees through short prompts and connected their activity across the city, turning each scan and choice into part of a bigger picture.
“The app meshes all that data together to give you a complete, unique journey.”
For Boomtown, this was a step into new territory.
“Boomtown Unboxed harnesses the Weez system and all the data a customer builds over their time, from artist likes to purchasing and location data, to create a personalised story. It is a world first and we are stoked for it.”
CeXFest: Gamification as a collective challenge
While Boomtown focused on personal storytelling, CeXFest used the same closed loop foundation to create a shared world of competition and play.
Gamification was built into the event from the start. When attendees registered through WeezTicket, they answered a set of questions that automatically assigned them to a faction inspired by D&D’s fantasy roleplaying. These groups were displayed on a live leaderboard, encouraging friendly rivalry all weekend.
Actors walked across the site with top-up devices, surprising participants with Gold Coins and free credits whenever they won games or took part in challenges. Every credit was applied instantly to their cashless wallet, and every interaction counted towards their faction score.
At the end of the festival, the winning group received a free happy hour, applied automatically through the cashless system. The experience felt simple for participants, but the logic behind it relied entirely on the accuracy of the Weezevent ecosystem, which connects ticketing data with access data and cashless activity.
CeXFest proved that you do not need a large-scale theatrical world to deliver gamification. You only need a system that reliably captures behaviour in real time and uses it to drive rewards, challenges and group dynamics.
How experts see the next chapter of festivals
At Amsterdam Dance Event, the founders of Boomtown and Weezevent outlined how the next evolution of festivals will be shaped by real behaviour captured on-site. Access and cashless activity are moving beyond operational use. They are becoming creative tools that allow organisers to build experiences that react to their audience in real time.
Experts on the panel explained that when ticketing, access, and cashless systems operate within a closed loop, organisers gain a complete and dependable picture of how people move, interact and spend. This level of insight enables missions, personalised moments and brand activations that are meaningful, measurable and easier to adapt as the event unfolds.
Boomtown and CeXFest have already demonstrated what this future can look like. Their use of closed loop data shows that festivals can create journeys shaped by participation, encourage collective play and offer partners accurate engagement insight. These projects signal the beginning of a broader shift. Events are becoming more creative and more intelligent, built on a deeper, more accurate understanding of audience behaviour.
For organisers, this opens the way for experiences that feel more personal and more memorable, designed not only by imagination but by the reality of what people do on site.
From gamification to storytelling, the experiences at Boomtown and CeXFest highlight a broader trend: data is becoming the driving force behind event experiences. By connecting ticketing, cashless payments and access control, Weezevent and Kaboodle give organisers the tools to turn interactions into stories. This approach paves the way for a new generation of events, more creative, more intelligent and built on a deeper understanding of audience behaviour.
