Here at Oniracom we are always on the lookout for great new tools on the tech horizon and it is with much jubilation that I introduce a new ticketing platform to keep us forever young:
Most of the digital ticket providers that have become staples for any saavy concert-goer or event attender are largely fan focused. While the efforts of these services are exemplary, focusing on the fans can be more harmful and chaotic than helpful in the long run.
CrowdSurge, launched in the UK in 2008 is a fairly young establishment with a big undertaking: CrowdSurge seeks to build a direct bridge between artists, events, venues, etc. and fans.
While this doesn’t really seem to be a new angle for ticketing services, many have failed to accomplish this task, often leaving enough of a gap in protection of the artists/events that scalpers and other nefarious types are able to exploit a good show. Creating a void in data collection for the product providers and a bad experience for the fans. In the case of this particular service, much of the control goes back in favor of the product providers rather than the fans, re-establishing a bit of order in the wild-west that can be ticket purchasing.
Allow me to further pontificate my claims through a brief analysis of some of their services.
First, CrowdSurge is highly integrative, allowing users to tailor specifically to the size and scope of any show or event. An example can be found in some of the case studies up on their site. For Paul McCartney, a performer with legendary following across the globe, CrowdSurge provided ticketing services along with lottery ticketing services. The benefit for a performer such as McCartney, is that fans have another chance to attend special shows on a lottery basis in lieu of being able to purchase a ticket for a typical show. This way fans get a nice experience rather than a chaotic purchasing experience. In McCartney’s case, using CrowdSurge created an opportunity to establish paulmccartney.com as the primary source of ticket sales all the while retaining 100% of the data. Check out the case study here.
Second, CrowdSurge’s API allows for third party platforms, seamlessly integrating with social media and analytics services. Allowing for a clean utilization of the usual suspects: Twitter, Facebook, Google analytics, etc.
Third, CrowdSurge provides a One Basket Solution. In short, it works with other platforms that might already be part of the merchandise selling for a particular artist or venue, and CrowdSurge merges itself into that system. Example: Biffy Clyro had exclusive pre-sale tickets merged into the Merchandise Store, allowing customers to purchase a shirt, a vinyl and a ticket all at once. What more could we really want?
This is by no means an exhaustive analysis of the services CrowdSurge provides. In fact, it barely skims the surface. Perhaps the most impressive consistency I’ve come across in learning about this new service is that in most of the case studies CrowdSurge was able to create a space for the artists’ or venues’ pages to be primary destinations for ticket sales. At the very least, this service was able to increase traffic for most clients in these case studies.
All in all, CrowdSurge seems to be establishing some order in a part of the digital world that has remained largely order-less.
If this has at all piqued your interest I highly recommend checking out their services summary.
Be sure to keep an eye out, we might just have to start utilizing their services ourselves…
