Copyright © 2016. No duplication is permitted without permission from Bob Larson Tennis.

A small company has gained big business thanks to its presence at the Australian Open.

Australian events company Social Playground is now a $1.1 million business, having gotten its start at the tournament in 2013. It allows people to recent print copies of Instagram photos by attaching a tag to their pictures, which are then printed by the company and can be picked up at an arranged location.

Company owner Annabelle Smith began by partnering with an industrial designer and events company to develop its own version of an Instagram printer, having seen them while working in social media marketing in the States, but returning and noticing that there were none in Australia.

The concept took off when Australian Open sponsor Jacob’s Creek booked it for the tournament in 2013.

“It was a technology that nobody in Australia had ever seen before and we were set up in the Jacob’s Creek area with the big screens and the bar and everything,” Smith says. “So just out of intrigue most people were like ‘What is this.’. . .  That catapulted us into the awareness of everyone [working] in events.”

Now, there are two sponsors involved and spectators can send photos to be printed by using #JacobsCreek or #MyWilson, picking them up at a special location.

The company does about 300 events annually. It has also begun producing shareable animations for spectators.

The photo prints are a popular attraction at the tournament, increasing customer awareness for the companies at the event.

Copyright © 2016. No duplication is permitted without permission from Bob Larson Tennis.