Festival-goers at the Summer Sundae Weekender festival in Leicester this August enjoyed problem-free entry to the event thanks to the tout-beating, mobile phone-based ticketing system provided by tixmob.
The independent festival, headlined by Macy Gray, Supergrass and the Coral, has pioneered the use of mobile tickets, demonstrating that music fans are happy to use the new technology for event entry in place of the traditional paper ticket. The system, which was adopted by the festival for its ability to outwit the touts, has lived up to the expectations of the organisers.
“Our primary objective was to cut out touting and the tixmob system worked exceptionally well,” says Summer Sundae’s Festival Director Richard Haswell. “The event went very smoothly on the door.”
tixmob’s system allows customers to purchase their ticket online and receive a texted barcode on their mobile, with the alternative option of receiving an email for home printing if they prefer. About 5,000 of the 6,000 festival-goers at the popular event used their mobile phones or printed barcodes to gain access to the festival.
In addition, Summer Sundae organisers benefitted from another feature of the system, which allows an event to build up a database of existing customers. Richard’s team used this effectively to communicate to fans after the event by sending them a ‘thank you’ message. This had the effect of cementing their loyalty and successfully encouraging them to buy tickets for next year. Indeed, ticket sales to Summer Sundae Weekender 2009 have already got off to a flying start.
“We have comprehensive, highly targeted electronic database of our customers,” says Richard. “It’s an instant way of communicating with a focused group of people, which has got to be good.” The Summer Sundae experience is a demonstration of how festival organisers can use the tixmob system to communicate effectively with their ticket-buyers and build brand loyalty.
“We are delighted that Summer Sundae was happy with the system’s overall performance, particularly in stamping out touting and forgeries at the event,” says tixmob’s Managing Director Ariya Priyasantha. “We will continue to work closely with the organisers, operations staff and consumers to improve our system further.”