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Goodbye ticketing, thanks for the memories….
By bear | December 13, 2008
The time has come to say goodbye to Ticketek and reflect on 5 years in the ticketing game. During that time I’ve been part of an organisation that has grown from a technology-driven ticketing agency to a full-service ticketing, marketing and media platform – and not without considerable upheaval along the way.
On a personal level, those 5 years have seen me meet the woman of my dreams, get married, survive a near-fatal accident, have two beautiful children, return to study and purchase a family home.
On a professional level I’ve had 5 different managers, 3 different CEOs and seen three full-blown restructures. I’ve also worked with three different website platforms, seen the e-commerce capacity increase by 700%, watched email campaign volumes increase by 800% and been instrumental in building a media platform that has grown ad revenue by over 1000% in three years. I’ve seen four major strategic partnerships signed, and countless numbers of major Australian venues (including the MCG) sign over their business. In effect, I’ve watched Australia & New Zealands’ biggest and best known ticketing brand grow from strength to strength.
I’ve also managed to get to a few gigs, including amongst the most memorable; Rolling Stones, Guns ‘n’ Roses, RWC 2003 semi-final (Wallabies v All Blacks), and countless Waratahs games (both in Australia and New Zealand).
I’ve worked with an amazing and diverse array of people, who have all shared a true passion and dedication for live entertainment. Likewise, I’ve followed the “work hard, play hard” mantra for much of my tenure (ok, I admit, kids DID slow me down in the end!).
I’ve enjoyed Kerry Packer’s fabled Christmas hampers (sensational!) and felt the loss when they were stopped.
I’ve seen a marketing department grow in headcount by 500% in three years.
I’ve put together Australia’s first commercial (non-telco) rich-media MMS campaign and watched in awe at its success in terms of consumer engagement…. but in horror in terms of cost!
I’ve explained perhaps 3 million times why a media platform (ie advertising) can successfully sit alongside an online transactional business.
I’ve learnt that no matter how sexy social marketing, mobile marketing, experiential marketing and any other channel of marketing seems to be – one to one marketing using rich data and email still delivers the highest ROI, hands down.
I will feel a little sad leaving the world of live entertainment, mainly becase of the wonderful people I’ve had the pleasure to work & play with. But all good things must come to an end and I’m sure the Ticketek business will continue its success for many years to come yet. Adios, amigos…
Topics: Marketeer Babble | 4 Comments »
February 11th, 2009 at 11:25 pm
More on ticketing – see my interview with Digital Strategist Mark Pollard on his blog:
http://www.markpollard.net/why-is-online-ticketing-in-australia-so-broken/
March 27th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
Ahhhh shame you’ve left the ticketing biz. The gals came back to the office raving about your presentation at IM on Wednesday. Hope you’ll keep sharing insights from HotelClub. :-)
Rae
March 27th, 2009 at 10:37 pm
Thanks Rae, that’s lovely feedback! Will certainly do my bit to share more insight as soon as I find a few spare minutes in each day! ;)
Keep in contact, add me via LinkedIn if you like:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/seanpaulsmith
Cheers,
Sean
April 7th, 2009 at 2:26 am
[...] Goodbye ticketing, thanks for the memories…. [...]