A Dublin-based mobile firm that delivers tickets for sporting and music events by text message has launched its service in Ireland with a variety of events on offer.
Ticket Text last year struck a major deal to sell its ticketing services to Ryanair’s 53 million-a-year customer base and the company has now deployed ticketing software from Toronto-based AudienceView, whose technology is used by the Football Association, PGA Tour, MGM Mirage in Las Vegas, Toronto Blue Jays and NEC Birmingham.
Ticket Text is chaired by Tim Delaney, former head of marketing at Sony BMG in Europe. Director of operations is Ronan Kitching, who has been heavily involved in venue and ticketing management for the last four Olympic Games and was senior project manager for the Athens Olympics in 2004 and the Torino Winter Olympics in 2006.
Tickets for the company’s first events are now on sale, including The National Hunt Festival at Punchestown; leading cultural events such as The Flat Lake Literary and Arts Festival; and a number of top music concerts such as The Go Team at The Sugar Club, IAMX at the Village this Friday 28 March and Sharon Jones & The DapKings at The Button Factory in April. More events and venues will be added shortly. Tickets are also available for Ireland v Colombia in London on 29 May.
Using Ticket Text’s technology, customers will receive their tickets as unique barcodes sent via text message straight to their mobile phone. They then take their phone to the relevant venue and scan the barcode to gain admittance.
The model developed by Ticket Text means trained Ticket Text staff are present at events with 2D barcode scanners to scan barcodes as tickets.
Ticket Text’s chief executive, Mark McLaughlin, said receiving tickets by SMS saves money because Ticket Text does not charge customers any “over-inflated postage and packaging fees and booking fees are kept to a minimum”.
He said: “At last Irish customers will find tickets more easily accessible due to our mobile ticketing system. It is a more efficient distribution method for the customer, while offering the venue a new method for distributing tickets.
“Before Ticket Text, Irish customers were subject to unreasonable postage and packaging due to the main ticket providers’ dominance of the market.
“Mobile ticketing can finally help give customers what they have always wanted, the best tickets without all the extra costs.”
By John Kennedy
