This year’s theme was “Empowering fans. Accelerating your business.” – which set out to show that at Ticketmaster we pride ourselves on knowing your fans better than anyone else. 40 years of experience coupled with innovative technology and an unrivalled scale of in-depth data about fan behaviour gives us more insight into buying habits and regional trends than any other ticketing partner.

 

 

With more than 30 speakers, ranging from Ticketmaster leaders to industry experts, here’s our Top 8 takeaways.

 

1. Introducing EventBase 

EventBase now makes it simple to plan your event and set prices. You can create your own floor plans with simple drag and drop tools, adjust sections and stages and share your scenarios with team members and stakeholders. All in your browser, wherever you are.

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2. We value your fans and we value your business!

At Summit, we announced a new wave of fan-friendly products and services. From the new Fan Platform, to Fan Guarantee and Verified Fan, this new technology ensures YOUR fans get the VIP treatment. Our tools also help you find your fans and make it easier for you to deliver the best end-to-end experience, making the connection to fans more seamless and engaging than ever before.

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Our new Fan Platform is fully responsive and flash-free. Customers will have a more streamlined and smooth experience when buying tickets and driving up conversion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Ticketmaster Fan Guarantee promises 100% official tickets, three days to get a refund, the ability to exchange or upgrade tickets and transfer tickets to friends or family. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Verified Fan is coming – using Ticketmaster technology to get your tickets into the hands of true fans.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Small data, big insights – how fans turn ideas into purchases

Insight-driven marketing plays a huge part of how customers discover and decide where to spend their time and money. With such a wide range of experiences and emotions involved in the ticket buying process, we took an in-depth look to better understand how our customers discover and buy tickets. Taking learnings from our wealth of data as well as real customer experiences in the form of focus groups, we unpacked and explored how fans become customers, and how our marketing looks to better serve fans with increasingly tailored and relevant content.

Fans have developed their own discovery and purchasing mechanisms – some are ritualistic, whilst others are a bit more random. The process can at times be long and complex, but getting the word out there is the first and often most important step. Email, social media and a strong brand all play a very important part in that journey, which we are continuously investing in understanding and improving.

 

4. State of Play: Grime report

In the last few years, Grime music has increased in popularity in mainstream media, appearing in unlikely spaces like politics and an uplift in visibility on festival bills. Its increased popularity has meant that the genre has faced multiple misconceptions and exposed hindrances like Form 696.

To help map the rise of grime, its impact and influence on popular culture, we worked with Westminster University’s Black Music Research Unit and leading youth culture agency Disrupt to carry out research into the genre.

State of Play: Grime is the fifth report we’ve produced, having already looked at festivals, theatre, comedy and dance music

The study aims to profile the need for proper industry recognition of the genre, bridge the gap between the Grime community and the music industry as a whole, improve diversity and position Grime within academic study.

Our panel of industry experts, Mykaell Riley (Westminster Uni), John Tunley (Live Nation) and Matt Thorne, led and moderated by broadcaster/journalist Kieran Yates discussed and debated the findings. One thing rang true…

“This is British heritage music now”

Read the full State of Play: Grime report here now.

 

5. One Love Manchester, Q&A with Melvin Benn

The highlight for many of our attendees, was a Q&A with Festival Republic Managing Director Melvin Benn and Music Week Editor Mark Sutherland regarding the One Love Manchester show.

The interview with Melvin, who was instrumental in the organisation the special benefit concert to help aid Manchester attack victims and their families in June, alongside SB Projects, led by Scooter Braun, Simon Moran & SJM Concerts, Live Nation and Ticketmaster, spoke candidly and emotionally about how the industry came together in the face of adversity to put on one of the biggest events of 2017 in just 9 days.

     “We showed the world that we weren’t going to be defeated”

     “The whole industry came together and it was the most extraordinary night”

                                                                                    – Melvin Benn 

 

6. Code Your Future

Ticketmaster is a proud partner of Code Your Future and at the Summit we were honoured to introduce  Germán Bencci – one of the founders to talk about the fantastic work that they do.  In short, a non-profit organisation supporting refugees with the dream of becoming developers.

In their journey of interrupted lives, unfinished studies and integration challenges, many asylum seekers and refugees yearn to update their tech skills, but lack learning opportunities. Code Your Future want to change this.

7. Introducing the Nexus Certified Partner Program

It was great to meet some of our Nexus Certified Partners at Summit. The Partner Program lets you take advantage of an array of third-party solutions to enhance the fan experience, capture more actionable data and boost revenue. 

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8. World-class entertainment, cause we’re all fans too!

It wasn’t all tickets and tech, we had the pleasure of a number of world-class performances throughout the Summit. 

Our Ticketmaster Sessions, a series of live gigs from some of the hottest emerging acts. We had Harry Pane, LOCKS and Smoke Season who drew in crowds the ultimate soundtrack to our networking breaks. 

Fresh from her stint at Edinburgh fringe and regarded as one of the “must-see comedians on the circuit” by Broadway World, Welsh-born Keri Pritchard-McLean.  

The casts of the biggest West End shows The Lion King and Aladdin with a medley of singalong hits – it was interesting to see who in the crowd was having a Disney fangirl/boy moment. 

 

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For more info on any of our products and services, please contact your account manager or say [email protected].

To keep up-to-date with all Ticketmaster UK news, make sure you follow @TicketmasterB2B on Twitter.