IMS Presents a New Wave of Ticketing Technology...

Is your organization looking to implement a new, innovative ticketing initiative? Are you looking for new ticketing technologies that enable fans to have "loaded tickets"?

The sports industry is a growing, vibrant industry that is constantly working with the newest technologies to enhance the fan experience and increase revenues. In tough economic times, it is vital for teams to continue to be innovative in order to sell ticket inventory, sponsorships, and merchandise. The newest product that is being adopted by teams is the use of stored-value ticketing. International Micro Systems (IMS) is the founder of this new technology (STADIS), which they are currently implementing at stadiums and arenas across the nation.

What is STADIS?

STADIS is a stored-value ticketing solution. The STADIS platform goes far beyond standard gift cards offered by other point of sale providers.

STADIS is a Venue Management Application that integrates a team's existing retail, food and beverage, ticketing, parking, suites, accounting, CRM, and additional systems through one central database (the technology is pretty incredible).

How are teams using STADIS?

As STADIS becomes commonplace in the industry, teams are using it in new creative ways:

Philadelphia Phillies

The Philadelphia Phillies have been using the system for five (5) years and have led the way in innovation with stored-value ticketing. The Phillies organization started off with a minimal amount of seats in the Diamond Club, an area behind home plate, that were activated. The cost of each ticket included $30 of value built into the bar code of the ticket that could be redeemed at any POS in the stadium.

As the Phillies learning curve grew and fan acceptance and demand increased, the team began to implement more creative ways to use the STADIS technology. Today, the Phillies organization activates thousands of seats per game to include special promotions, coupons, group tickets, and more.

Wachovia Center

This season, the Wachovia Center will be the first to roll out a combination of account based and "use it or lose it" STADIS. This technology enables them to load $25 in each season ticket holder account as an incentive to renew seats. The fan then has the opportunity to load more money into the account, which rolls over from game to game.

Why should your organization use STADIS?

From a sponsorship angle, stored-value ticketing can be used to integrate corporate sponsors directly with fans. For example, teams can have a strategic partner sponsor an in-game promotion. If the Philadelphia 76ers score 100+ points during a game, the team can offer a promotional increntive where every fan with a store-value ticket will receive $5 of value on their bar code to spend throughout the stadium, courtesy of Comcast. The possibilities are endless and the consumer data that is captured can be very valuable to organizations and their supporting partners.

This STADIS technology is pretty incredible and is the future wave of ticketing... Keep an eye out for more teams rolling out stored-value ticketing programs with STADIS.

A special thanks to Peter Berman of IMS for his insights and contributions to this column. For more information on STADIS technology, please contact Peter at PBerman@ims-pos.com.