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Click the image above to check out Darren Rovell's tweet!
Dear Faithful Readers,
College Football season can be summed up by one word: amazing. Whether you are tailgating and attending the game or watching from home or a bar it is hard not to get wrapped up into each game.
But it is not a secret that there are colleges that have started to see attendance slip at their games. The University of Arizona has found a simple way to make sure they sell more tickets. Tailgating is a huge part of every sports event and Arizona has found out that many of their tailgaters were not actually attending the game. There are many reasons for this but one of the reasons is accessibility.
People (myself included) like when things are easy, so the University of Arizona developed a mobile ticketing team, which goes around the tailgates and makes it easy for people to purchase tickets. It is a great idea and I definitely expect more universities to try this strategy out for themselves.
Hope you enjoy the read.
Ryan
P.S. - Feeling creative? Send in your best marketing and advertising campaign from 2014 and your team could be the next feature in "Selling It"!
PROGRAM TITLE
University of Arizona: Mobile Ticket Team
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OBJECTIVES
Even though the University of Arizona has a strong fan base, they noticed many people are not coming to their team’s football games. Instead fans are staying outside to tailgate. A large amount of fans consistently tailgate outside of their stadium with friends, and they believe this is partly due to the inconvenience of getting a ticket. Their stadium contains a total of 56,000 seats and has an average attendance of 45,000 people. They wanted to find a way to bring the large number of people tailgating into their stadium to fill the empty seats. The University of Arizona established a Mobile Ticket Team to increase the convenience of purchasing a game ticket
Ben Chulick, Assistant AD for Marketing states, “We’re utilizing a mobile ticketing team to make our fans aware of a new, easy, and convenient way to purchase tickets to our events. Our focus is on fans without football tickets in our tailgating areas. Those fans have made the effort to get on campus on game day. They’re just a few blocks away from the stadium. We’re hoping mobile ticketing will help get them to the game.”
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
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Prior to the creation of the Mobile Ticket Team, students and fans walked to the ticket office on campus and waited in a long line to receive a game ticket. This became time consuming and was rather inconvenient. The day and age of mobile devices was an opportunity to make obtaining a game ticket more convenient for fans.
A significant number of the fans in Tucson, Arizona are older, retired, and not technologically savvy. This contributes to tickets not being sold. To fill this void, a team of students, wearing neon green shirts with the university logo on the front and “Mobile Ticketing” on the back, would go around to tailgaters and teach them how to buy tickets on their own through their mobile devices.
The Mobile Ticket Team teaches a step-by-step process of how to purchase a ticket through their mobile device without having to wait in long lines. There are no immediate credit card transactions occurring when being assisted by the Mobile Ticket Team. Once a ticket is on the mobile device, a barcode will be scanned to enter the games. The Mobile Ticket Team’s mission is to provide awareness of the convenience of obtaining game tickets through their mobile devices. This program will surely increase the in-stadium attendees.
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Click the image above to check out the University of Arizona's Ticket Center!
PARTNERSHIP
The University of Arizona partnered with Paciolan, the largest ticketing provider in college sports. Paciolan was founded in 1980 and has provided sports and entertainment venues with the software needed to facilitate automated ticketing. This partnership with Paciolan will help the University of Arizona fill empty seats, generate revenue, and strengthen their brand.
RESULTS
The Mobile Ticket Team did an excellent job aiding many tailgaters in buying tickets for their upcoming games. After three games against UNLV, Nevada, and California, the University of Arizona had an average of 767 additional tickets because of the Mobile Ticket Team’s campaign. This is an added number of occupied seats that would not have been filled without the Mobile Ticket Team. The University of Arizona achieved their goals of bringing more tailgaters into the stadium and making aware the convenience of attaining a game ticket through a mobile device. The Mobile Ticket Team has yielded extraordinary results for the University of Arizona’s football team and will continue for other sporting events.
LOOKING AHEAD
The newly established Mobile Ticket Team was first created for football games, but the University of Arizona will continue this program for other sporting events. This program has proven to be successful in a prominent sport such as football and they believe it will have success for less attended sports. One area they are looking to improve in is wireless connectivity in the tailgating area. Connectivity can slow down due to the increased use, which may cause a delay in the ticket purchase. In the end, the Mobile Ticket Team is an excellent idea to bring fans to the games and will prove to be a success for the University of Arizona.
CONTACT
For more Information, contact:
Dan Heck, Associate Director - Marketing & New Media, The University of Arizona
Gary Styve, Client Rep, Paciolan
949-823-1669
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