Delivered in partnership with ‘You. Smart. Thing.’ and Innovate UK, through the DCMS Create Growth Programme.
‘You. Smart. Thing.’ (YST), the UK’s leading travel demand management platform, launches EnRoute, a first-of-its-kind, content-driven travel innovation designed to reshape how audiences connect with live and cultural experiences. Developed in partnership with Birmingham Hippodrome, EnRoute integrates rich digital media with personalised, low-carbon travel planning, extending the audience experience beyond the venue and into the trip itself.
Image: EnRoute mobile interface displaying personalised sustainable travel options.
Responding to New Pressures in Live Entertainment
The live entertainment sector is entering a critical phase. While audiences have returned post-pandemic, cultural venues and events face growing pressure linked to sustainability, accessibility, audience expectations and financial resilience. Visitor travel remains one of the biggest challenges, often accounting for more than 80% of an event’s total carbon footprint. With Arts Council England now requiring National Portfolio Organisations to outline how they are addressing this impact, venues need practical, audience-friendly ways to influence travel behaviour – not just report on it. At the same time, organisations are seeking new ways to deepen engagement and create additional value for audiences and creators. EnRoute responds directly to these combined pressures whilst creating a new paradigm for creative content exploitation.
Just as Spotify and YouTube are marketplaces for the creative industries, the advent of mobile broadband combined with all-you-can-eat data tariffs opens new opportunities to design media assets and content curation services specifically for people on the move.
By engaging audiences en route, EnRoute reimagines the trip as part of the live experience. Attendees receive personalised travel recommendations, with exclusive digital content unlocked when they choose lower-carbon options such as walking, cycling or public transport. This can include behind-the-scenes insights, rehearsal footage, cast introductions and thematic storytelling designed to build anticipation and emotional connection before arrival. The result is a creative, behaviour-shaping touchpoint that benefits both venues and audiences, while supporting more sustainable and accessible travel choices.
Demonstrating EnRoute in Practice
Birmingham Hippodrome – one of the UK’s busiest cultural venues – has partnered with YST to demonstrate EnRoute, with the pilot launching during Winter 2025 and continuing in the months ahead. The project is generating new insight into how audiences travel, how digital content influences behaviour, and how cultural experiences can begin long before a visitor reaches the building. These findings will inform a national commercialisation strategy, with YST preparing EnRoute for wider rollout across the cultural and live events sector in 2026.
At its core, EnRoute strengthens two essential pillars of the UK cultural sector: the resilience of creative organisations and the acceleration of lower-carbon, more accessible audience travel. Early modelling suggests the approach could increase public and active transport uptake by around twenty per cent, while creating new value streams for creatives and publishers seeking to engage audiences earlier in the event experience.
Led by ‘You. Smart. Thing.’, with sector insight from Birmingham Hippodrome and guidance from an advisory group spanning the creative and mobility sectors, EnRoute demonstrates how travel can become a meaningful, creative extension of live experiences. The project establishes a scalable model for venues, festivals and cultural organisations seeking to combine audience engagement, accessibility and emissions reduction – not as a trade-off, but as a shared opportunity.
Image: Birmingham Hippodrome, one of the UK’s busiest cultural venues and a pilot partner for EnRoute. Picture by Simon Hadley/www.simonhadley.co.uk
Chris Thompson, CEO of ‘You. Smart. Thing.’, said:
“We’ve spent a lot of time thinking about where the live experience really begins, and EnRoute grew from the idea that travel itself can be part of that moment. By using creativity and technology, it opens up new ways to connect audiences with venues while supporting more sustainable and accessible travel choices. Working with Birmingham Hippodrome has shown just how powerful this approach can be – not only in shaping travel behaviour, but in strengthening the relationship between venues and their audiences. It feels like the start of something genuinely new for the sector.”
Jess Taylor, Environmental & Sustainability Advisor at Birmingham Hippodrome added:
“Progressive and Sustainable are two of our core values and this innovative project with ‘You.Smart.Thing’ truly aligns with these values and our ambitions. We’ve been really proud to collaborate on an original digital project and excited to see how EnRoute will enhance our audiences experience with the Hippodrome before they’ve even arrived through our doors.”
Editors Notes
About ‘You. Smart. Thing.’
Founded in 2015 by Chris Thompson (CEO), ‘You. Smart. Thing.’ is the leading travel demand management and visitor travel planning platform for destinations, venues, and events. Its technology enhances visitor experience and increases revenues whilst reducing the disproportionate carbon footprint created by visitor travel. Its intuitive online travel assistant interface can be tailored to optimise data capture, people flow, dwell time and revenue generation. It enables organisations to offer content-enhanced wayfinding and curated low-carbon door-to-door travel plans that nudge visitors towards ‘net zero’ travel.
‘You. Smart. Thing.’ has garnered significant traction with flagship clients, including deployments for the London Marathon Events, Live Nation, Manchester City Football Club, and Major League Baseball teams. The company’s innovative approach to sustainable travel management has earned recognition from industry leaders and positioned it for further growth and success.
About Birmingham Hippodrome
Birmingham Hippodrome is one of the UK’s busiest and most diverse cultural venues, welcoming over one million visitors annually. As an independent charity, the Hippodrome presents a world-class programme of theatre, dance, opera and festivals, alongside extensive education and community work across the West Midlands. The organisation is committed to innovation, accessibility and delivering exceptional experiences for audiences of all ages.
About Innovate UK
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, is the UK’s innovation agency. We work to create a better future by inspiring, involving and investing in businesses developing life-changing innovations. With an annual budget of over £1billion we provide businesses with the expertise, facilities and funding they need to test, demonstrate and evolve their ideas, driving UK productivity and economic growth.
