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This past Friday, iggli, inc. CEO, Tom Higley (@tomhigley), was a presenter at Ticket Summit in Las Vegas July 15-17. Held twice a year, Ticket Summit is a 3 day gathering of movers and shakers in the secondary ticketing market. The list of keynote speakers was impressive, to say the least: Ray Waddell of Billboard, Chris Tsakalakis of StubHub, and Joe Cohen of Seatwave. This conference was particularly interesting because of the increased focus on the role of social media. Ticket Network, the sponsors of Ticket Summit, went all out with their own social media efforts by creating a Facebook event page and tweeting live from the conference via a conference specific Twitter account, @Ticket_Summit.

As the creator of invite, an app geared specifically to ticketed events, it only made sense that Tom be present to share his knowledge during the two social media sessions that were held on Friday (July 17).

The first session began at 10am and was titled Web 2.0: Linking Social Media & The Ticket Business. Other panelists included Cliff Kurtzman of My City Rocks (@MyCityRocks), Joe Koufman of Enguage Digital (@GumboShowJoe), & Robert Land of Social Nomads (@RobertLand). Below is a copy of Tom’s presentation for this session.

Web 2.0 Linking Social Media _ The Ticket Business _Tom Higley_ –

The afernoon session began at 2pm and was titled Web 2.0: Apps to Expand your Market Base. Tom was once again joined by Cliff Kurtzman of My City Rocks for this session which was focused more specifically on the social media apps that can prove most helpful to ticket sellers in expanding the reach of their marketing efforts. Below is Tom’s presentation for that session.

Web 2.0 Apps to Expand Your Market Base _Tom Higley_ –

For more information on Ticket Summit, visit www.ticketsummit.org.
If you are interested in adding invite to your site, please visit our partner page at http://iggli.com/partners

Follow us on Twitter: @iggli

The world’s largest ticket marketplace is the latest to integrate iggli’s friend-to-friend communication service.

Boulder, Colorado / July 14th,  2009 – iggli, inc. announced today that it has successfully deployed its invitation service with the world’s largest ticket marketplace, StubHub. The company’s service, called invite,  gives fans the ability to invite, track and coordinate whether or not they can attend a particular show or event.

invite uses friend-to-friend communication technology that allows fans to coordinate their social activities around a particular event. Venues, promoters, artists, sports teams, event companies and primary and secondary ticket sellers, like StubHub, benefit by reaching a broader audience and, ultimately, by selling more tickets.

“The secondary ticket market is rapidly expanding and StubHub is at the epicenter of this growth. We are excited about helping them enhance that position”, said iggli Founder and CEO Tom Higley. “StubHub has embraced invite, recognizing the success that we’ve had in the primary ticketing market, and they are enthusiastic about our ability to help them reach additional fans.  invite should translate nicely to the secondary market and we’re excited about the partnership.”

Fans benefit by using an easy communication tool that takes the hassle out of organizing events with their friends. They can also post comments, purchase tickets and share details via partner websites and trusted social networks such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter.

“While the secondary ticketing market is different from the primary market, the core demand equation for both remains the same: people don’t like to go to shows or events alone. We think invite has the potential to add considerable value to our existing user experience and we look forward to putting that into motion,” said Chuck La Vallee, StubHub’s Head of Business Development for Music and Entertainment.

According to StubHub and other industry sources, the secondary ticket market is estimated to account for $10 billion annually in the United States.

ABOUT STUBHUB – StubHub is the world’s largest ticket marketplace, enabling fans to buy and sell tickets to tens of thousands of sports, concert, theater and other live entertainment events. StubHub reinvented the ticket resale market in 2000 and continues to lead it through innovation. The company’s unique online marketplace, dedicated solely to tickets, provides all fans the choice to buy or sell their tickets in a safe, convenient, and highly reliable environment. All transactions are processed and delivered by StubHub and backed by the company’s FanProtect Guarantee™. Company partners include the New York Yankees, Chicago Bears and the University of Southern California along with nearly 60 teams in the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL and NCAA, complemented with music artists like Madonna and companies such as ESPN and American Express. StubHub is an eBay company (NASDAQ: EBAY). For more information on StubHub, visit www.stubhub.com

ABOUT IGGLI, INC. – Founded in 2007, iggli, inc. is the creator of invite, a web-based invitation service that serves fans and providers in the sports and entertainment ticketing industry. Fans use the service to create invitations for ticketed events, track responses, and create social conversations around an event. Partners, such as ticketing sites, venues, promoters, artists, sports teams and event aggregation sites, use invite to generate more awareness of events and make it easier for visitors to invite friends and buy tickets. iggli’s Founder and CEO, Tom Higley, will be a key presenter at this weeks Ticket Summit 2009 in Las Vegas.  For more information about iggli and invite, visit http://iggli.com/partners

Media Contacts:
iggli, inc.  / Tracy Collier / 303.440.0211 / tracy@iggli.com
StubHub / Vanessa Daniele/ 408.821.4292 / vanessa@gazellecommunications.com

It’s nice when your company generates a little attention in the press. It’s nicer still when so much of what is written is on the money. Yesterday the Boulder Daily Camera covered iggli’s invitation service – invite – and left readers with the impression that we’d like to see our button used on every online listing of ticketed events. That’s accurate. They also accurately captured a couple other key notions:

• that events are social
• that the friends who are going to a particular event are often as important (or more important) than the event itself
• that most people pay more attention to information or invitations from friends

And the part they really got right, the part I particularly liked, was the notion that “one click of the widget” helps folks get through a process that would otherwise be tedious, time consuming and filled with frustration. You’ll know this is true if you’ve ever tried to invite more than two people to a concert or a playoff game. The process is ridiculous.

• Which event?
• Which friends should I invite?
• Do I talk to them by phone to see if their interested? Text? Email? Facebook? Twitter?
• How do I deal with the fact that some of my friends use Facebook (and won’t read email) and some use email exclusively (and won’t touch Facebook)?
• How do I keep track of those who respond?
• How many tickets do we need?
• Who is going to buy them?
• How are we going to handle reimbursement?
• Will we all get to sit together?
• How do we get the best seats?
• What if someone can’t make it at the last minute?
• What’s the best way to communicate with the whole group about our plans on the day of the show or game?

There’s more. But you get the idea. The process can be . . .  problematic.

iggli’s invite service has been designed as a way to deal with these issues. It’s not perfect. We have a long way to go to make the service as easy to use, useful, and fun as we think it should / could be. So feedback is welcome and appreciated! One of the biggest shortcomings of the service is the relatively few places you can find it or use it.  If you’re a fan who wants to take a group to see a Lakers game, a show at Red Rocks, the Michael Jackson memorial concert at Staples Center or anyone of a thousand different events around the country, you’re going to be out of luck for at least another few weeks. Because right now, you can only use the service if our invite widget appears on an event page.

We’ve already made substantial progress in this department. Today iggli’s services have been embraced by Nederlander Concerts, The Greek Theatre, The Grove Theater, Bill Silva Entertainment and Management, Jason Mraz and StubHub. And we have some big deals to talk about in the not-too-distant future. But things will really get interesting when you can use iggli’s service with just about any event you can find. And that capability is right around the corner. So please, stay tuned!

Iggli brings social climate of concerts, sporting events to Web

By Jean Spencer Camera Staff Writer
Monday, July 6, 2009

Photo by Mark Leffingwell

In 2007, Tom Higley founded iggli, an online, friend-to-friend communication network specifically designed to provide entertainment industry enthusiasts a forum for communicating about upcoming events and shows.

The idea, Higley said, is to bring the social-nature of concerts to an online medium.

“Concerts, live music and sporting events are social,” Higley said. “People want to go with their friends. In fact, sometimes it matters more who is going to the concert than who is actually playing.”

One click of the iggli widget — which lies embedded on ticket sales, venues and promoters’ web pages — allows users instant access to see upcoming shows, buy tickets and invite their friends to events through e-mail or linking to preferred social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter. The button is a green square with three horizontal white dots.

Higley said the iggli widget eliminates the nightmare of logistics fans must coordinate when attending a show by providing a “one-stop shop” for ticket purchases and schedule coordination.

Fans can track events, post comments, coordinate concert schedules and communicate about up-and-coming shows, Higley said.

“You no longer have to call all your friends to see who will buy the tickets and who is going or not going,” Higley said. “You can go to one spot and see it all.”

The widget benefits business partners — typically ticketing sites, venues, promoters or sports teams — by generating more awareness of events and making ticket sales easier for customers.

Boulder’s Fox Theatre and Boulder Theater already use the service. Sarah Coffield, publicist at the Boulder Theater, said it has “definitely boosted sales.”

“It’s been a great value and asset to the theater,” said Collier, adding that she’s seen fans from 14- to 60-years-old learn to use the system.

Iggli recently announced that Grammy nominated singer-songwriter Jason Mraz will be the first artist to implement the service.

The green widget is now integrated into Mraz’s official Web site in time to support his summer 2009 Gratitude Café Tour.

This follows a May announcement that Bill Silva Entertainment, Mraz’s management company that also manages James Morrison, Robert Francis and Vices, would integrate the invite service to all of its sites.

Ryan Chisholm, a manager at Bill Silva Entertainment, said he is excited about the possibilities that the iggli widget will provide for Mraz’s fans.

“Jason’s fans are very devoted,” he said, adding the iggli widget is the “perfect model for fans to really get involved and eventually drive ticket sales.”

Higley, who has successfully started up five other technology companies in recent years, hopes the iggli widget becomes an iconic symbol, plugged into every ticket sale, venue and artist page found on the Web.

“It’s just the beginning,” he said. “I expect to see that button everywhere you go to buy tickets soon.”

E.W. Scripps Co.
© 2006 Daily Camera and Boulder Publishing, LLC.

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