Scott O'Neil, chief executive officer of the New Jersey Devils and Philadelphia 76ers is pictured with Paciolan Founder Jane Kleinberger.
Since PACnet was held in 2013, the company has been extremely busy rolling out its new web-based platform Paciolan 7.0. Nearly all Paciolan clients have been switched over to the new platform, offering users a number of enhancements for the way they sell tickets, market and communicate to customers, fundraise and store data for reporting and analysis. Below, Paciolan founder Jane Kleinberger shares some of the new features of the Paciolan platform.
Mobile >> “Mobile is going to change the environment and the way we engage,” said Kleinberger, noting that one year ago, Paciolan launched the deployment of its 2D barcode delivery system, where fans can use their phones to enter the venue. At the University of Maryland in College Park, over 50 percent of the students adopted mobile delivery for their tickets, while at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J., 45 percent of the students have opted in.
Attendance Support >> It’s an ongoing challenge facing all sports and entertainment properties, especially as in-home entertainment continues to improve. Working with the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Paciolan wanted to help school officials improve attendance in their student section. School officials began reaching out to young and recent alumni, allowing them to buy tickets in the student areas for nonconference games. And, once inside the stadium, the young alumni could use the Experience mobile app to upgrade their seats. “Not only are they reaching more people, but they are creating some great opportunities to upsell,” Kleinberger said.
Marketing Automation >> Teams are increasingly finding new ways to generate individualized emails for a consumer based on profile and behavior. The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor has deployed a system specifically to reach out to individuals who visit the site, put tickets in their shopping cart and then abandon the sale. “It’s not just regular retargeting we can do with consumers,” said Kleinberger, noting that each email can be automated down using a personalized URL.
Social Media >> In 2013, Paciolan switched to the Google Wildfire platform, “which has been getting rave reviews,” explained Kleinberger. The Coliseo de Puerto Rico in San Juan used the platform to run a sweepstakes for a Ricky Martin concert, generating over 15,000 entries to be used for future marketing. At Arizona State University in Phoenix, the school successfully deployed Facebook’s retargeting platform, realizing a 16-1 return on ad spend.
Loyalty and Rewards >> At the University of Oklahoma, Norman, the school launched a rewards program in 2012. “In one year, they had enrolled 12,000 active members. They then decided they wanted to link it with their ticketing database and in just two weeks, they doubled the number of active members. That is the power of aggregated data,” Kleinberger said.
Student Resale >> Paciolan is the first company to offer students the ability to resell their unused tickets to other qualifying students on university-sanctioned marketplaces. Not only can students resell and even return unused tickets, they can accrue points for the events they do attend and earn a chance for a seat at a high-profile game.
Global Spectrum Presents >> College athletics are increasingly taking a page from the rest of live entertainment and figuring out ways to book buildings with additional content. “This is fantastic, because not only does it give value to your existing patrons, but it absolutely generates some big revenues,” Kleinberger noted. Paciolan has partnered with Brock Jones at Global Spectrum to help bring live entertainment acts to its clients in a safe and controlled environment.