BOCS, ENTA, Databox, PASS are code-names of a sort. Choose right, and your arts organisation may find itself an example of ticketing system success. Make the wrong choice, and the ramifications could be devastating.
Arts organisations now exist within an industry that is increasingly dependent upon ticketing and marketing technologies to stay afloat. For industry players, therefore, the existence of an information service that can make clear some of the complicated terminology surrounding ticketing systems is vital. And this is the intended role of the Arts Council of England-funded online information service ‘Ticketing.org.uk’.
Commissioned by ten UK arts management bodies, and hosted by the Arts Marketing Association, the website aims to provide help and advice to keep venues and producers informed about changes to ticketing and marketing technologies. The site provides in-depth analysis of the issues surrounding the successful implementation of a ticketing system, including market forces, ticketing technology suppliers and companies, individual ticketing systems, accompanying fees and charges and internet ticketing.
Site manager Roger Tomlinson, who proposed the original project, says that the concept developed out of a need for arts organisations to understand the ticketing environment, and for workers within the arts industry to have a forum for frank communication about the business needs of their venue.
‘The site aims to do two things, really,’ reflects Tomlinson. ‘In a sense, one of them is to demystify ticketing and marketing technologies and to create a more level playing field of knowledge and information about how they work – what the different systems do and what you need to think about when choosing a supplier and system.’
The other, says Tomlinson, emerged from the realisation that ticketing technology suppliers ‘were suddenly looking at arts organisations and thinking: “oh, ticket inventory. We could sell those tickets over the internet, charge per-ticket fees and we’ve got a whole new profit strand.” Arts management bodies in the UK, as well as the government, saw a need to be more open about the kind of deals being struck, and decide how they wanted to deal with the suppliers, and tackle issues such as who owned the inventory.’
‘So, on the one hand,’ continues Tomlinson, ‘there’s the industry working together to understand the ticketing environment, and, on the other, there’s a need to learn about what the suppliers want to do, and to be plain about the way the arts and entertainment industry wants to do business.’
Also of importance, he points out, is the need for arts organisations to realise the ways in which an efficient ticketing structure can become an essential marketing tool. In Tomlinson’s view, the box office should be the heart of any venue’s marketing plan.
‘At the end of the day, selling tickets effectively is absolutely mission-critical,’ comments Tomlinson. ‘You could have a wonderful show and a great target market, but you have to put the two together in a way that works effectively. And, for most arts marketers, that’s also a way in which you find out who those people are, in order to start a relationship with them and in order to bring them back in the future.’
Further, Tomlinson adds that comprehension of the range of ticketing systems available is essential, in light of a marketplace that is increasingly saturated with young, industrious audience members, more inclined than before to make spontaneous leisure-time decisions, and more dependent than before on the available technologies for ticket bookings and purchases.
‘One of the reasons for making sure that [arts organisations] understand… available technologies, and how to get the best out of them, is the fact that, obviously, a lot of people are now willing to book over the internet,’ comments Tomlinson.
‘And they’re willing to do that sometimes at the last minute from their offices, in order to go out that evening. People are also starting to buy tickets on their mobile phones… It’s making sure [all arts workers] understand the availability of these technologies and how they work.’
While still in development – there is more functionality to come, in the form of a bulletin board, discussion forum and monthly email letter for registered members – Tomlinson says that the site has already attracted an active interest from arts communities in the UK and around the world.
‘The people that seem to be visiting the site at the moment are from all kinds of arts organisations – large and small – from eighty countries around the world,’ he says.
‘I’ve had emails… saying that nowhere else are people putting together the [information] on these issues… One of the things that I was consciously chosing to do was put that information in the public domain.’
For more information about ticketing.org.uk Click Here.
