Viagogo seeks ad agency as online ticket sales boom
Online ticket exchange Viagogo is seeking its first ad agency to boost its profile, in the face of the booming online ticket service industry.
The news follows the appointment earlier this year of Mark McNulty to a new role of head of online marketing. McNulty, who joined from internet telephone service Skype, was tasked with establishing the brand over the internet and growing its online marketing division.
In August, Viagogo raised $30m (£15m) to expand in the US, having raised $20m (£10m) earlier in the year to fund an aggressive European expansion. The money was put up by Index Ventures, LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault, Lord Jacob Rothschild and other media investors, such as Tele-Munchen chairman Herbert Kloiber.
Viagogo has deals with Chelsea Football Club and Manchester United allowing season ticket holders to sell on unwanted tickets. The clubs hope to eradicate touts.
Last week a number of pop acts called for a levy to be added to tickets sold on websites such as Viagogo, to allow musicians to claw back profits. Robbie Williams, Arctic Monkeys, KT Tunstall and Radiohead were among about 400 artists that proposed the creation of a Resale Rights Society intended to bring regulation and control to the ticket resale industry.
They say that collecting a fee from each sale would ensure that money raised flowed back into the music industry rather than to venture capitalists.
