ACT CONSULTANT SERVICES

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The Old Wood Mill, Church Lane, Madingley,
Cambridge CB3 8AF Telephone [phone]
www.actconsultantservices.co.uk
ACT CONSULTANT SERVICES
Arts About Manchester/Audience Alliance
Cumbria Integrated Whats On On-line
Ticketing O n l y C o n n e c t Joined up
thinking Closing the gap between the arts and
audiences Roger Tomlinson - rtomlinson_at_actconsult
antservices.co.uk Ben Le Jeune - ben_at_aam.org.uk
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This IS about audience development

• Expanding knowledge of choices and closing sales
• Meet the needs of potential attenders who have
  decided they want to go out but NOT decided what
  they want to see/do
• Satisfy visitors and other users with a specific
  time frame for their potential attendance help
  residents with VFR
• Increase attendances by encouraging people
  looking for Whats On to try new things and
  cross-fertilising audiences
• Fundamentally supply persuasive information to
  sell events to people - equality for visual and
  performing arts

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21st Century development opportunities

• The web is now the medium of choice
• Higher for ABC1s and travellers
• First port of call for information for 85 of
  connected people
• Enables push and pull of persuasive
  information and joined-up thinking
• Enables self completion of transactions with
  customers/visitors in control
• Supports self packaging

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21st Century development opportunities

• Web 2.0 transforms what can be delivered
• Gives visitors tools for planning their visit
• Enables personalisation to match content to
  individuals
• Allows easy links for related purchases such as
  travel and hotels
• Enables lifestyle context and imagery, tailored
  to the user/visitor
• Supports inter-action and user created content,
  with moderation e.g. Trip Advisor

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21st Century development opportunities

• Focusing on helping buying
• Last moment ticketing - from distressed inventory
  to premium tickets
• Distributed ticketing - outlet sales where you
  wish
• Special offers and promotions, all time-based
• Packages to meet visitor needs
• Do something different

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21st Century development opportunities

• Clarifying the offer and adding value and
  impact
• Full spectrum of Whats On through visual and
  performing arts - remember time as the unit of
  value
• Alternatives and Do something different
• Reviews, endorsements and recommendations
• Concierge service
• Tailored communication service, with customised
  newsletters, email prompts, news updates

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Key principles for implementation

• Essentially, the ticketing portal needs to
  deliver new audiences, including visitors, and
  increase attendances across artforms, to satisfy
  organisations and justify any investment.
• Organisations would prefer that a ticketing
  portal was not paid for by a large per ticket fee
  imposed on either the purchaser or the inventory
  owner.
• Organisations want to retain their own ticketing
  systems and websites

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Marketing comes first, ticketing second

• No point in integrating ticketing without
  effective e-marketing first
• Whats On listing
• E-marketing campaign and Newsletter services
• Media life-style back-up to the offer
• Its NOT about technology

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Portal for web marketing first, ticketing follows

• Think telephone directory and telephone exchange
• Portal as database and directory of links to be
  served up on many different sites
• Special access sites developed to meet specific
  needs e.g. family friendly, under 26
• Microsites for specific campaigns
• It IS about technology
• Joining-up what is on offer across the region
• Automated feeds from ticketing systems to
  populate website content management systems

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Integrated ticketing - linked on the web
Portal Web Server Integrator Website
Home PC
Outlets
TIC
TIC
Internet
Last Moment Ticket Shop
Office PC
Venue D
Venue A
Venue B
Venue C
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Practical solution

• Automatically draws together inventory from the
  different ticketing systems used by individual
  arts organisations.
• Compiles a Whats On with rich tools to help
  people discover their options/choice
• Delivers a shopping basket in order to make
  multiple purchases of different items from
  different venues.

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Practical solution

• Payment is made back to the originating
  venue/organisation, through the credit card
  payment mechanism of their ticketing system.
• Dispatch of the tickets is either by the
  originating venue/organisation, unless the venue
  is willing to offer Print-at-Home or
  Mobi-Tickets.
• Sales can be of merchandise and other items or
  packages.

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Next steps

• Every organisation which wants to sell, optimises
  around appropriate software systems.
• Websites and e-marketing developed around
  personalisation and Web 2.0.
• Get webby - develop rich content push out,
  draw in content through all channels, social
  networks, blogs and twitters.
• Create a web of sites cross-linked for all the
  target markets, with relevant external links
• Join the portal.

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The Old Wood Mill, Church Lane, Madingley,
Cambridge CB3 8AF Telephone [phone]
www.actconsultantservices.co.uk
ACT CONSULTANT SERVICES
Arts About Manchester/Audience Alliance
Cumbria Integrated Whats On On-line
Ticketing O n l y C o n n e c t Joined up
thinking Closing the gap between the arts and
audiences Roger Tomlinson - rtomlinson_at_actconsult
antservices.co.uk Ben Le Jeune - ben_at_aam.org.uk