During their inaugural season at the brand new, state-of-the-art Climate Pledge Arena, the Seattle Kraken and Ticketmaster teamed up to ensure season ticket holders had one-of-a-kind membership experiences. By leveraging Account Manager, Ticketmaster’s fully customizable and brandable season ticket holder portal, the Kraken were able to introduce virtual seat views and a customized experience to help engage their biggest fans – the season ticket members.
Preparing Fans “Virtually” with Virtual Venue
In March 2018, the Kraken broke NHL records when more than 32,000 fans made season ticket holder deposits in just one day. Since the Climate Pledge Area was still in the process of being built, it wasn’t possible to offer in-person arena tours for depositors to select their seats. Through their partnership with Ticketmaster, the Kraken were able to virtually walk season ticket holders through the venue experience with Account Manager’s Virtual Venue.
Virtual Venue is a unique and powerful tool that provides fans with 360-degree views from different seats during the purchase process. From the comfort of their home, fans can virtually experience the exact seat views and vantage points from any area of the arena. Since Virtual Venue is built 100% to scale, fans receive a genuine sense of the true venue experience including design details including the color of the seats, where their cup holder is located, and if the venue floor features wood or carpet, plus so much more.
All the bells and whistles of the fan’s seating experience is really important to us. We wanted to walk through every single nuance and be able to tell fans every step of the way what their experience would look like,” said Bill Chapin, Senior Vice President of Sales for the Seattle Kraken. “We wanted to use Ticketmaster tools, especially Virtual Venue, to showcase where their seat would be, how they would get into the building, and where they were going to walk because they needed to visualize what the experience would be like. If we didn’t have the Account Manager integration, we wouldn’t be able to provide that level of service to our season ticket holders.”
Bill Chapin
Senior Vice President of Sales for the Seattle Kraken
Through creative pivoting and use of Ticketmaster’s innovative technology, the Kraken provided a successful “in-venue” experience for their prospective season ticket holders, driving memberships to an all-time high.
Customized Membership Portal
Virtual Venue seat selection only scratches the surface of fan benefits through Account Manager which provides a holistic ticket purchase and membership management experience.
During their season, the Kraken used additional Account Manager capabilities to enhance fan experiences, such as targeted communications, parking integrations, and digital ticketing. For example, through account group segmentation, the Kraken were able to direct personalized and branded communications to fans, including targeted communications to partial-season fans about full-season ticket package opportunities, informing season ticket holders about right of first refusal options, and so much more. Additionally, through Account Manager integrations, all ticket holders were able to receive complimentary transportation to and from the game by utilizing the tools in their app.
Account Manager is one of the most versatile and valuable tools available to an organization looking to provide fans with a robust and top-notch experience.
You cannot have a brand-new arena without having a product like Account Manager that expands beyond ticketing,” Chapin explains. This goes into [fans’] food and beverage experience, their parking experience, and the app experience. Now that the phone is your ticket, Account Manager on your phone is your one-stop-shop for everything. The integration has been seamless and well received by fans.”
Bill Chapin
Senior Vice President of Sales for the Seattle Kraken
Interested in learning more about the Seattle Kraken? Take the Modern Ticketing Essentials: Beyond the Ticket course and hear directly from the pros!
To learn more about Account Manager and Virtual Venue, visit our Product Education space in theTM1 Support Community. For more information on Ticketmaster’s innovative solutions, contact us by completing this form.
