Posts filed under ‘News’
2011 in review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 7,400 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 6 trips to carry that many people.
Is it Time for Your Firm to Go on a Data Diet? (via Mitchell Osak Online)
Some good learnings for arts marketing and CRM in particular:
““less data is more.” How can your firm start a data diet?”
1. “Keep only the data that is needed for forecasting and execution”
2. “Collect only what is strategic to your business”
3. “Adopt a cross-organizational approach to data collection and management”
“How much information you collect will depend on the organization but the decision inevitably will boil down to the value and usability of the data versus the cost and risk of keeping it.”
Westpac and Moshtix wear the blame for Splendour Ticketing Meltdown
In a public relations nightmare for all parties involved, the eagerly awaited onsale for for the annual Splendour in the Grass festival hit had a major meltdown as reported in the Sydney Morning Herald. Online blogs were aflame with fans venting their frustrations with the problems getting hold of tickets.
Of course, the Fairfax Media owned Herald could not miss the opportunity to take a free jab at the Rupert Murdoch News Corp owned Moshtix.
We believe that we own the tickets we buy, but do we?
I have been watching this movement with interest since the start of the year.
The Fan Freedom Project rails against the “new restrictive paperless ticketing technologies under the guise of innovation and convenience.“
It is the terms and conditions that are now being applied to paperless tickets that the Fan Freedom Project sees as restrictive:
Two types of paperless ticketing, both of which have negative implications for fans of live events:
- Restricted transfer (closed-loop system administered by the ticket agent)
- Prohibition of ticket transfer (ticket tied to one credit card or ID)
While I applaud the sentiment and the call to action for change, I am not so sure about the statement – “We the fans believe we own the tickets we buy.” My understanding is that a ticket is just a licence to attend an event at a specific location, date and time (and maybe seating location). Does the consumer really own it and own what? Any opinions?
Take a look at the infographic for a quick summary of the issues.
A not so well kept secret has been let ‘out the box’
We always expected Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) take the opportunity to go its own way with ticketing. Particularly as it is #2 to Live Nation, now owners of Ticketmaster.
It is not surprising that AEG chose not to Ticketmaster’s system, surely this is an endictment of the decision and logic of the antitrust regulators?
AEG has entered a joint venture called Outbox Enterprises. Fred Rosen, former Ticketmaster CEO who steered Ticketmaster to dominance in the 80′s and 90′s, is the new venture’s CEO. Outbox originates from Canada and is responsible for the sexy Cirque du Soleil online ticketing interface written about in FULLHOUSES last year.
It will be interesting to see how the rest of the industry takes to the ‘white label‘ model that Outbox offers, removing the need for a central ticket agent online brand selling directly from the venue or event owners website. Is it the end of the agent middleman?
“This isn’t about trying to go out there and build a whole new brand around the name Outbox, … This is about service.” AEG Chief Executive Tim Leiweke
The Risk of Getting Tickets for the London Olympics
An interesting contradiction reported in How to get an Olympic seat.
THE ADVICE: Apply for lots of tickets, but beware if you get them – you will have to pay for all of them.
“The official advice is that to maximise your chances of getting tickets, you will need to apply for lots of things. But be warned: if you get everything you apply for, you are committed to buying all those tickets“
Won’t that just encourage a secondary market for scalpers?
“It will be illegal to sell tickets for a profit, unless you are an authorised partner, … So if you put tickets up on, say, eBay, you will be committing an offence. However, London 2012 is developing an online exchange through which people can resell them.“
I hope the online exchange is up and running and road tested well in advance of tickets going on sale.
Which way are you leaning – Mobile Web or an App?
Technology in the Arts has an interesting post as part of the Arts Marketing Blog Salon hosted by Americans for the Arts on the topic of whether arts organisations should be developing mobile websites or mobile applications to take advantage of the explosive growth in mobile device use for Internet access.
There are two posts referrred to:
- Technology in the Arts on Facebook – Going Mobile – Websites vs Apps
- ARTSBlog - Going Mobile: Website vs. App
Dave Dombrowsky offers some valid points to consider:
- User base: Mobile phone penetration is approaching 100%, BUT 62% of mobiles can not download mobile apps.
- Connectivity: Mobile websites require a live Internet connection, many mobile apps do not.
- Platforms: Mobile websites are accessible from all types of mobile devices, Mobile apps are device specific.
- Price: Mobile websites are cheaper to build than mobile apps.
- Expectations: It all depends on what do your patrons want from a mobile experience?
I would suggest adding another consideration:
Does your organisation wish to facilitate customer transactions i.e. sell tickets etc.?
It appears that the Mobile Web fits the bill for commerce sites better as it is always online and ubiquitous and supports open payment methods.
According to the Taptu report ‘The State of the Mobile Touch Web’, “19% of the mobile sites measured were Shopping & Services sites; compared to 3.6% in the same category in the App Store.“
Read the FULL HOUSES post on this topic back in March – Will the iPhone and App be replaced by the more open Mobile Touch Web?
More than 1/2 online ticketing websites may breach consumer laws
More than half of online ticketing websites scrutinised in a sweep coordinated by the European Commission appeared to breach consumer laws. Common issues included: “missing, incomplete and misleading information about prices charged“, and “the imposition of unfair terms and conditions“.
“Regulators from the 27 European Union countries, Norway and Iceland investigated 414 sites, and 247 rang alarm-bells … These will now be probed further by enforcement authorities to verify whether they broke any laws.“
READ FULL ARTICLE ONLINE Ticket websites breaking EU laws>>
Ticketmaster: Transparency or Attribution?
CEO of Ticketmaster Nathan Hubbard has launched a blog called Ticketology which appears to be part of the parent company Live Nation Entertainment’s efforts at greater transparency.
“We get it — you don’t like service fees. You don’t like them mostly because you don’t understand what the heck they are for.“
The mooted transparency appears to be more a case of attribution, however. Prices are not going down, fees are not being reduced and other than specifying some fees a little earlier in the sales process – the final price paid per ticket is still inflated by a diversity of fees and charges.
“Most of the parties in the live event value chain participate in these service fees either directly or indirectly — promoters, venues, teams, artists and, yes, ticketing companies.“
The promised “all-in-pricing” heralded by Live Nation Entertainment chief Irving Azoff still seems beyond his reach and the current sales process used by Ticketmaster gets in the way of that as suggested by Azoff on Twitter.
READ FULL ARTICLE Ticketmaster’s new blog: ‘We get it — you don’t like service fees’
Is Loyalty the Opposite of Dissatisfaction?
“You can’t create a lot of loyal customers until you consistently eliminate areas of dissatisfaction, so start there.“ – Bruce Temkin of Customer Experience Matters.
