With more than 1.5 billion subscribers, Discovery needed a better way to manage live events.


Discovery Communications, with 1.5 billion subscribers across 210 countries and territories, had an outdated event registration system that was cumbersome, provided inadequate tracking, and did not allow for a full branding experience.

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Discovery Communications consists of numerous brands, such as Animal Planet and the Discovery Channel, and hosts live events throughout the country to promote the content of their 28 different networks. Events include multiple simultaneous live events for Shark Week across the country, the Discovery Channel’s most popular series with 21.4 million viewers in 2012. Social media metrics show that it was talked about more than the NFL Hall of Fame Game and Justin Bieber’s documentary.

Discovery was using an outdated, inflexible system to manage invitations, reminders, and thank you letters. Essential marketing metrics like attendee tracking, attendee history with Discovery, and actual attendance was difficult to track. Additionally, the system did not allow Discovery to create a fully branded experience that allowed the different channels to differentiate themselves.


Caktus worked with Discovery Communications to develop a tailor-made Django events management application that provided them with the reporting and brand customization required to host concurrent events across numerous networks.

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Caktus worked closely with the Discovery Communications to create an event management application that could properly track individuals who often attended multiple events during popular promotions like Shark Week. An iterative development process allowed a cycle of constant development and feedback.


To help Discover create a full brand experience for each event and network, Caktus created the following:

  • Design of the Discovery Communication’s overall RSVP page, the portal to access each network’s customized events
  • Themes for each subsidiary of Discovery for network-specific branding
  • Ability to customize emails and registrations forms for each event
  • Custom event image uploads
  • Option for networks to create unique URLs for events

Event Management & Reporting

We worked with Discovery to implement the following:

  • Tablet and mobile optimization so event organizers can check-in attendees at the door and access information regarding the event while it is occurring
  • Bulk invitations via the Django admin
  • User and permission system that stores profiles of invitees including how many events attended vs. invited
  • Tracking throughout the RSVP process, including who was invited, RSVP’d and checked-in


Discovery now has an easy-to-use event application that allows them to quickly launch events and track their marketing success.

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At the end of development, Caktus delivered an intuitive application that Discovery Communications now uses to manage all of their events, and which provides a fully branded experience for invitees.

Discovery now has a fully customized, intuitive application to manage their events across the country. A centralized web-based system decreases the workload for event administrators. They can focus instead on the events themselves. New marketing metrics also now give Discovery the ability to quickly discover patterns in what makes some invitations more successful. Staff can make data-based decisions.

Discovery will now use the application we developed to manage all their events.