In the business of ticket sellers, Tom Higley points to one phenomenon standing between the artists and venues that put on a show and the uncollected billions in unsold tickets and seats: the problem of the bad friend. In Tom’s description, it’s this bad friend (“Bobby”) who has historically given ticket purchasers pause when buying tickets in a block: Will Bobby show up? If he does show up, will Bobby pay? Will Bobby need to be hunted for weeks in chasing down reimbursement? It should therefore come as no surprise that, for ticket purchasers who need to outlay money upfront, the tendency is to err on the side of the conservative in choosing the number to buy. This phenomenon is one of the many problems that Higley and his company iggli, inc. seek to solve.
iggli, of Boulder, Colorado, intends to become the mortar connecting and cementing the vast bricks of the $30 billion ticketed-event industry, including the promoters, artists, professional sporting teams, secondary resellers, venues and ticket sellers. The company sees opportunity for entry based largely on the fact that every one of these industry players is paid in some measure by seats sold to a given event, yet according to Higley, 50% of the seats offered annually sit empty. By facilitating a means to increase ticket sales Higley believes the industry will give him a seat at the table, a proposition confirmed by early partnerships with Nederlander Concerts and other venues.
On the face of it, what iggli offers the world is a white-label widget, or what appears on a computer screen as a digital green button, adorned with three circles escalating in size along the horizontal. The functionality behind this widget is effectively an electronic invitation service that, once clicked, allows a user to notify friends via email invitation of impending music or sporting events. Users may choose addresses from their personal email accounts as well as and social media contact lists (Facebook and Twitter, for example) when sending these invitations. Once the invitations are sent, the invited can see who else has been contacted and who has responded in what fashion. A message board is also included for purposes of logistical communication and group coordination, while a map of the stadium (as well as the availability of sequential seats) is featured the invitation. Eventually, members of the group will be able to pay on an individual basis, a sorry day for Bad Friend Bobby. Says Higley, “The ticketed space has never had a cohesive approach to selling tickets. The most interesting of gaps is that approximately 50% of sales are driven by word of mouth marketing.” What this means for iggli is the opportunity to offer a “game-changing” technology at the cost of staying behind the scenes, allowing the platform to be absorbed and rebranded by the artists, the venues, the secondary resellers, and even the 800 pound gorilla of the space, Ticketmaster itself. From a revenue generation standpoint, iggli would accrue a small percentage of each additional ticket sold via the widget.
So why would Ticketmaster, who allegedly controls over half of national ticketing and retains exclusivity agreements with major venues and sports franchises, let this happen? Why not build the system itself, given that most of ticket selling flows into a Ticketmaster database as an endpoint? It is on this point that the business model becomes more subtle than a straightforward event invitation service, since, as Higley admits, “If a larger company could turn on the capability themselves – and they could do everything you’re doing – you’re in trouble.”
What iggli believes it can do in serving as connective tissue among all parties is, according to Higley, “collect information on a partner by partner basis, and in doing so provide incredible intelligence on a real-time basis.” Regarding the idea of Ticketmaster mirroring this capability, Higley doesn’t believe they are in a position to partner ubiquitously across the industry. The massive ticket-seller has already achieved a dominating presence within the space, and players along the value chain would likely be skeptical to share information with such a vested, powerful partner. Says Higley, “The constraints associated with this model are in being Switzerland,” meaning that iggli can operate as an honest broker precisely because it interacts with all parties along the value chain rather than having most of its fortunes tied to a specific step.
As an opening, iggli offers a value proposition of increasing ticket sales through its e-invitation service. And sitting just below the surface is a data collection model that could, through numbers supported insights and sales lead generation, provide next generation marketing optimization tactics. Yet what if the promoters are skittish and Ticketmaster doesn’t play ball? Responds Higley, “We are pursuing parallel developments with or without cooperation… 85% of what we want to do can be done without having to ask anybody’s permission. However, there are benefits to having close relationships.” Yet if neutralizing Bad Friend Bobby requires industry-wide participation, it’s to everyone’s benefit to see iggli succeed.
