OCTOBER | AGENDA
Quote of the month:
“The claims made by Viagogo are ludicrous, laughable and
most importantly totally false,”
- Kilamanjaro Live’s Twitter (@kilamanjarolive)
Secondary ticketing saga: the complete timeline
The world of secondary ticketing has been full of twists and turns in the past
few months. There have been lawsuits, counter-lawsuits, accusations, petitions
and plenty of words exchanged on either side of the fence.
Below, Access has rounded up a complete timeline of everything that has
occurred, to help get you up to speed.
Timeline
• November 2017
Following an
investigation into
the secondary
ticketing sector,
the Competition &
Markets Authority
(CMA) begins
enforcement against
Stubhub, GET ME
IN!, Seatwave and
Viagogo
• April 2018
All the above sites
except Viagogo offer
formal commitments
to overhaul their
business
• May 2018
Ed Sheeran promoters
Kilimanjaro Live
announce that any re-
sold tickets purchased
for Sheeran’s stadium
tour through
Viagogo will be
invalid. Thousands of
tickets are cancelled;
Kilimanjaro says
they refunded the
cancelled tickets
• 12 July
The UK government
bans ticket bots in
new legislation which
mounts pressure on
secondary ticketing
sites. Ireland follows
suit soon after
• 13 August
Ticketmaster shuts
down Seatwave
and GET ME IN!,
launching their own
fan to fan ticket
exchange service
in their place. They
say shutting down
Seatwave and GET
ME IN! was “always
[our] long term plan”
• 31 August
The CMA announces
it is suing Viagogo
over concerns it is
breaking consumer
protection law, after
the company fails to
address the issues
outlined by the CMA
in November
• 4 September
Viagogo launches
a counter-lawsuit
against Kilimanjaro,
claiming it knowingly
sold tickets on
Viagogo, and was paid
twice by fans who
re-bought cancelled
tickets. Viagogo
claims it refunded
the cancelled tickets
itself. Kilimanjaro
calls these claims
“ludicrous, laughable
and most important -
totally false”
• 5 September
Viagogo refuses to
attend a parliament
hearing on secondary
ticketing, saying it
could compromise
their lawsuit
against Kilimanjaro.
Damian Collins MP
describes their non-
attendance as a ‘gross
discourtesy’
• 10 September
Fanfair Alliance
publishes an open
letter to Google,
demanding action
is taken against
‘misleading’ Viagogo.
It is signed by a
number of high-
profile industry
figures and groups
including the Football
Association, Lawn
Tennis Association,
Concert Promoters
Association and more
Surviving Competition
#itsajungleoutthere
My little company
Strong & Co is 13 years
old and has survived
the ups and downs
of recession, two
pregnancies, setting up
other companies, etc.
We’ve won some
awards but we
keep this company
relatively on the low
so I can’t compare
my experience to the
big dogs of the event
industry, I can only tell
you what I’ve done that
I think has worked.
I’ve kept my team
small and overheads
low. Our production
values are super-
high and we achieve
extreme levels of detail.
I’m uber transparent
with budgets, never do
mark-ups, always try
and save the client a bit
if I can. I’m generous
with idea shares (good
ideas come easy- it’s
the development time
that costs).
As a result I’ve been
terribly lucky with
people recommending
me and having some
very loyal clients, who
morph into friends
over the years, (even
after the budgets have
faded the friendships
are still there, ahh).
So, in this day
and age when every
ad agency in town
has developed an
experiential wing,
the surest way to not
worry about it, is just
- don’t worry about it!
Be the best you can be
and new clients will
appear as if by magic.
About Deborah
Debs Armstrong
is among the top
experiential specialists
in the UK. Founder
and creative director
of Strong &Co, a
bespoke agency that
creates new events
for clients including
CALM, The Liverpool
Biennial, Beano and
Twitter. Debs is
a founder behind
numerous productions
including Shangri-
La Glastonbury,
Lost Vagueness,
Summerland and LPG
and is an international
speaker on creative
direction and
experiential.
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