The use of barcodes on mobile phone screens is rapidly becoming a popular ticketing method for event organisers, enabling them to engage in new forms of customer management.
The idea of waiting in line to collect pre-paid tickets for concerts and other events will soon be a thing of the past. Mobile bar-coding, where an image of a barcode is sent to a mobile phone and displayed on screen, is quickly catching on as a means of ticket redemption for Australian concert goers.
The general manager at mobile marketing company LegionONE (www.legionone.com.au), Andrew Grill, describes the mechanics of mobile barcodes as similar to traditional tickets, except in this case the barcode is printed on the screen, not a piece of paper. The barcode can be read by a scanner, just as with a paper ticket.
“It started off small, and now everybody wants to do something with it,” Grill says. “You see activity around airlines, telecommunications companies, and for event registration at cinemas and concerts.”
According to the sales and marketing director for mobile barcode specialist Aura Digital Communications (www.aura.net.au), Adam Dunne, by far the greatest acceptance of barcodes has been as event tickets (also called mobi-tickets). He says that when mobi-tickets were first trialled at three concert events at Sydney’s Metro Theatre in November 2003, patrons electing to receive their tickets as barcodes represented 8%, 9% and 11% respectively for each event. But subsequent events held in 2004, including concerts by Jet and Gomez, produced redemption rates of 10% and 22% respectively. Two recent shows by Grinspoon resulted in average redemption rates of 52%.
Dunne says Grinspoon was also the first triple-redemption mobile ticket promotion in Australia. While 52% of attendees opted to receive their ticket as a mobile barcode, 13% of them subsequently presented that barcode to the venue’s bar to redeem a two-for-one drink offer. Additionally, 35% of concert goers took their barcode to the music retailer HMV to redeem it for a promotional trucker-style hat when they purchased a Grinspoon CD.
Dunne says that in some respects Australia is leading the world in mobile ticketing, but says that not until some time next year will the majority of ticket software providers offer the option to their customers. He says that Aura has signed several ticketing companies to use its technology, but is not at liberty to reveal details.
Adoption within the retail industry has yet to gain the same momentum however, as various companies involved come to grips with the new technology.
“In the corporate space and the retail space, it’s early days,” Grill says. “There are a lot of trials under way where major retailers have got individual suppliers who want to do promotions. So the demand has come from the individual suppliers to say that they want to do something sexy. But obviously it’s making sure that the larger retailers are skilled up to accept barcodes on phones. There’s a bit of education to be had.”
Grill says that barcodes enable event organisers to engage in clever customer relationships management with their clients. Swiping the barcode as a means of entry enables event organisers to know when the ticket holder is actually within the premises, and hence can send them targeted messages (provided that permission has been given) to that person.
LegionONE is currently engaged with numerous trials for clients, but is not yet at liberty to reveal who it is working with.