Earlier this year, Ole Miss' Vaught-Hemingway Stadium not only claimed the title of the largest venue but also celebrated a proud moment as the only collegiate stop on the Morgan Wallen’s One Night at a Time tour. As anticipation builds for the upcoming 2024 show, let's take a closer look behind the scenes of Morgan Wallen's inaugural year at Ole Miss. Katie Wisdom, Assistant Athletic Director at the University of Mississippi, walks through how they implemented Paciolan's products to achieve success.
Setting Up: Ticket Design Made Effortless
The first phase involves crafting tickets, where Katie's workflow underwent a remarkable transformation by leveraging the capabilities of Ticket Designer. With features such as image auto-sizing, live previews, and intelligent text color adaptation, Katie experienced the benefits firsthand. Previously dedicating up to 10 minutes to create a single template, she now completes them in just 2 minutes, streamlining the entire design process for a more efficient and visually compelling outcome.
On Sale Strategies: Navigating the Surge
Executing the on-sale experience was a crucial component as the team anticipated a higher-than-usual demand. Ole Miss and Paciolan implemented a strategic on-sale plan to effectively manage the influx of buyers. The forethought paid off, with the site handling a queue accommodating ten times more devices compared to a previous event, ensuring the best user experience even amidst the surge in traffic. Fans could also enjoy the flexibility of choosing their seats with a Pick Your Own (PYO) seat map on Paciolan’s ecommerce site.
We were able to accomplish and exceed all our promoter's demands in relation to the on-sale process while also serving our customers the best experience in purchasing the seats they wanted to the show.
- Katie Wisdom, Assistant Athletic Director at the University of Mississippi
Managing Events: A Trio of Tools in Action
Following the initial on-sale, a powerful tool came into play - Seat Level Pricing. This feature provided Ole Miss’ ticketing staff with a swift method to reprice seats dynamically. In Katie’s words ”Seat Level Pricing is by far my favorite feature. You can reprice the primary market on the fly and we use it heavily to compete with the secondary market." Navigating additional costs when working with promoters can be cumbersome. However, with the Fee Management Tool, this process becomes significantly simpler. The rule-based technology behind Fee Management allows Katie to set up the fee structure just once. Regardless of how frequently ticket prices are modified, the fees automatically adjust.
Completing the trifecta that entered the seat management scene was the use of Platinum Seats. This distinctive purple diamond indicator made it easy for fans to discover the best seats in the house and, by enhancing the fan experience, contributed to generating over half a million in sales.
Beyond the Event: Concert Subscribers Become Cross-Selling Gems
Through the 2023 Morgan Wallen concert, Ole Miss gained over 8,000 new accounts into their database. That’s over 50% of the Morgan Wallen event purchasers! Harnessing valuable audience data, Ole Miss partnered with Paciolan’s Marketing Automation team to engage and convert new accounts for various events through automated workflows, including the 'Welcome New Purchaser' campaign. This triggered email not only welcomes new accounts but also gives the opportunity to subscribe to other marketing emails, such as those related to sporting events. Strategic initiatives like these not only expanded Ole Miss' reach but also generated $150,000 in new revenue.
Wrapping Up a Tale of Triumph
With the strategic deployment of products powered by Paciolan at the 2023 Morgan Wallen event, Ole Miss not only achieved significant revenue goals but also surpassed expectations by over $3 million in sales. With a proven strategy, the Ole Miss team stands ready and eager, anticipating Morgan Wallen’s return in 2024 for another roaring success.
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