Pubs are a key part of UK local life and regional economies. The pub industry employs nearly 1M people in the UK and contributes £19.4bn/yr GVA to the economy. The industry faces financial pressures with 2% of pubs closing each year. Events such as live music in pubs increase footfall and raise revenues by an estimated 44%. Increasing the number and attendance of such events would boost the pub industry and local economies. Other types of venues e.g. comedy and sports clubs could also benefit. Consumers are increasingly using digital channels to discover and sign up for live events. Effective promotion of local live events via digital channels benefits enormously from CRM approaches: that is, building and maintaining opt-in lists of past event attendees, promoting future events to these people via appropriate channels such as email and Facebook, and crosspromotions (with user consent) between multiple nearby venues. Large pub and bar chains can invest in these approaches, but managers of independent pubs lack both skills and time to use these techniques. This project proposes a solution – GigExpert – which will package state-of-the-art digital CRM techniques for local event promotion in a SaaS tool that: is simple enough for nonspecialist managers in venues to use; manages customer contact details; automates best practice for event promotion via digital channels; and supports consent-based local event discovery for consumers and hyperlocal cross-venue promotions. This proof of concept will create a basic prototype of the GigExpert system and demonstrate via limited, localised live trials that (a) pub managers can adopt the system (b) it is acceptable to consumers (c) uplifts in event attendance and revenues can be achieved. Total UK revenues for GigExpert will be £4M/yr by 2020. The GVA benefit will be £50M/yr. Wider societal benefits include reducing pub closures, increasing footfall in town centres and increasing individual participation in local communities.