Episode Summary
On this episode of The Business Spotlight, Peter Anthony sits down with Mike Gardner, co-founder of Illumicraze, the fan engagement company whose product changes the color of a cell phone light with a simple sticker, turning entire stadiums into coordinated light shows. Mike Gardner opens with the advice that built the company: take risks, because scared money does not make money.
The idea arrived in 2018 while Mike Gardner was watching the Super Bowl halftime show and noticed every phone light in the stadium was white. After going down the rabbit hole and finding nothing like it existed, Mike Gardner and business partner Tim pursued the concept, and today Illumicraze holds a utility patent on the method of use for a crowd cooperative light show with a cell phone.
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The proof of concept came at the Monster Cup Supercross event in Las Vegas. Illumicraze brought twenty thousand red units and twenty thousand blue units to a stadium of roughly forty thousand fans, and when the opening ceremonies began, the stadium lit up red, white, and blue during the national anthem. Every fan documented the moment with their own camera, and the moment was tied directly to the sponsor.
The marketing engine sits on the card. Each event card carries QR codes, sponsor branding at no extra charge, schedules, and keepsake value, while the reusable sticker lives on the fan's phone after the event. The Pittsburgh Penguins painted their arena gold for PPG Paints and purple for a cancer research partner. Minimum orders start at one thousand pieces at ninety-two cents each, and pricing drops to roughly fifty-five to sixty cents at forty to fifty thousand units.
Now Utah proud, Illumicraze is building inventory, making contacts, and working toward the Utah Jazz and the Utah Mammoth. The marketing lesson runs through every chapter: brand experience is the product, and a crowd that participates becomes a crowd that documents. Find Mike Gardner and Illumicraze at illumicraze.com.
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