20 years with the biggest comedy festival in Australia
- Festival & Events
- UX Research
- Visual Design
- Web Development
- Hosting
- Support
- Laravel
How do you keep the jokes alive when the comedy stops?
Now in its 35th year, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival is one of Australia’s largest events, and a firm favourite on the calendar for locals and visitors alike.
Calico has been the digital partner of the MICF for the past 15 years – this cultural giant was our very first client and continues to be an enduring partnership.
Now one of the biggest comedy festivals in the world, the MICF boasts over 500 shows, an audience of a million-plus, and almost $10 million in online ticket sales over its four-week period.
Website ticket sales have doubled over the past five years, making the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Australia’s largest ticketed cultural event.
Through it all, it’s Calico’s crowd-pleasing website that has kept smiles on the faces of administrators, performers and festival-goers alike.
Keeping the laughter going
Over the past few years, the events industry has had to adapt and evolve in order to respond to the ongoing challenges of the pandemic.
In response to this ever-changing events landscape, we set a new focus for the MICF’s 2021 season – to help connect as many people with the event, even from home.
Key to this strategy was the launch of a brand new Digital Hub. Within the Hub was the ability to sell tickets and stream Live and On Demand content from the world’s brightest comedians. Functionality to connect the audience to multiple external content and communication platforms like Vimeo, YouTube and Zoom was built in, to suit the needs of all comedic creators.
Account management for users was also strengthened as we developed a new account section for users to access their festival tickets and video content. Users were able to log in via multiple devices, to ensure they could connect with the festival no matter where they were.
Cheers for many more years
The result was a site that did double duty – a seamless user experience for customers and a user-friendly platform for performers.
Customers can now find what they’re looking for quickly and intuitively, through an optimised search functionality that allows them to search by name, date or location (or all three). Favourite shows can be shortlisted and tickets booked in an intuitive and engaging customer journey.
Meanwhile, administrators and performers can make real-time updates using posts, video, and audio as the season progresses, rewarding return visitors with additional content and providing ongoing opportunities for audiences and performers to connect.
With Calico, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival is now fortified for any future disruptions, while remaining optimised for when the lights go down and the applause begins.
Visit the Melbourne International Comedy Festival site now to discover the full experience Calico developed.
