PatronManager

New York, NY – Patron Technology today announced the release of i’ll go!, a new application on Facebook Platform that lets New York arts organizations list their events and offer special discounts to Facebook users.

The i’ll go! application provides:

• A way for Facebook users to identify events they want to attend, and to invite friends to go with them.
• A way for Facebook users to broadcast to their network of friends their interest in going to cultural events.
• A way for arts organizations to offer discounts directly to Facebook users, to motivate first-time arts attendance.

i’ll go! was conceived as a challenge from Patron Technology’s president, Eugene Carr, to an in-house team of twenty-something “Facebook-addicted” employees. The goal was to figure out how to market cultural events on Facebook in a creative and relevant way and to create something that they would actually use themselves.

Carr says, “No marketing technology out there works as well as word of mouth, and the central feature of i’ll go! is to enable friends to help each other recommend and discover the arts. If you want to reach a younger audience online today, there’s no better place to do it than on Facebook Platform.”

At launch, over 25 New York area arts organizations have listed discount events on i’ll go!, including The Public Theater, Symphony Space, and the World Music Institute. “We’re really excited to start using the new i’ll go! application. We’re always looking for innovative ways to reach out to younger audiences, and welcome the opportunity to expand our presence on Facebook,” says Stacey Trzesinski, Assistant Director of New Media and Database Marketing for the New York Philharmonic. Additional cities will be added to i’ll go! during the next few months.

Patron Technology has a history of innovation in helping non-profits bridge the gap between the world of technology and the arts. According to Carr, “i’ll go! fits our company’s mission of offering innovative products and services by introducing new and cutting-edge products that help arts and cultural and non-profit organizations leverage the power of the Internet to build audiences and donors for the future.”