In a move designed to strengthen Ticketmaster Sport’s business to consumer marketing support for our sports clients across Ticketmaster channels, we’re delighted to welcome new hire Jack Pickard to the marketing team. Here we find out a little more about Jack, his career to date, what brought him to the world of sport and his aspirations for the role.
Tell us about yourself
I’m a sports marketing professional specialising in digital communications and marketing strategy. Most recently I was part of the marketing team at the Lawn Tennis Association where I delivered the CRM, communications and social media strategy for all British Tennis stakeholders, fans, members, players and volunteers. Although sport is my main passion, I’ve been fortunate to work with some incredible brands including Amazon and BMW which has provided me with a great overview of a number of different industries and the unique ways in which they operate.
What drew you to the world of sport?
I’ve always been a huge sports fan and enjoy both playing and experiencing the action as a spectator. I’m a devoted Chelsea FC supporter and have been a season ticket holder for 20+ years, following the team both home and away and have experienced the highs and lows of two Champions League Finals. I love discovering new sports too and recently watched an ice hockey match whilst I was in Vancouver, which was an amazing experience – the way they interact and engage with fans in the stadium is incredible! Sport has so many benefits whether that be fitness, meeting new people or simply having fun and you can often find me on a tennis court or playing five-a-side football. I’ve always been intrigued about how sports clubs, brands and events interact with fans and the role marketing can play to engage with and encourage people from all walks of life to enjoy the thrill of sport.
Any career highlights to date?
Absolutely – the one that stands our for me is whilst working on Great Britain’s Fed Cup tie against Kazakhstan at London’s Copper Box Arena. As the marketing lead for the tie, I was responsible for the marketing strategy to promote the event, venue branding, sponsorship activations and capturing content with players to bring fans closer to the team. Seeing a sold-out Copper Box rocking as Great Britain went on to reach the World Group for the first time in 26 years was incredible. Another highlight for me was capturing social media content at The Championships, Wimbledon as part of the LTA’s fan engagement strategy. A huge part of this was bringing fans ‘behind the scenes’ which meant capturing pieces with the likes of Andy Murray and Serena Williams!
Why Ticketmaster?
Ticketmaster is an established, well-respected brand that puts fans at the very centre of everything it does. As a marketer I believe in creating marketing plans with the fan at the very centre. As a result, I think we’ll be a great fit for each other. It’s not every day that you get the chance to work for the world’s largest live entertainment and ticketing company and I’m looking forward to seeing how I can use Ticketmaster’s vast reach, expertise and state-of-the-art marketing tools to deliver consumer marketing activity that will prove invaluable to our clients.
What do you think are the biggest challenges in the sports industry at the moment?
It would seem obvious, but I think the challenge of attracting new fans whilst simultaneously retaining loyal fan bases is an ever-evolving challenge in the sports industry. Sport is competing with so many other industries and it’s important that we keep abreast of changes to ensure our marketing campaigns are innovative and relevant to several different audiences. The rise of technology has made it exponentially easier to view sporting events from the comfort of people’s own homes. It’s the responsibility of marketers to keep our finger on the pulse and make sure we use fan insight to adapt, evolve and tailor our messaging. Giving the fans of live sport exactly what they want and need in order to drive conversion is key here and will ensure that we’re helping to grow our clients’ business and fill their stadiums day in day out.
What are your aspirations for this role?
In my role as Marketing Manager at Ticketmaster Sport, I will be focused on helping our sports clients get the most from their partnership with Ticketmaster Sport. I’m particularly excited to see how we can leverage Ticketmaster UK’s extensive reach across multiple marketing channels to deliver a programme of B2C marketing that will complement our client’s own marketing efforts in order to achieve their objectives. I’ll get the opportunity to work with a huge range of clients across multiple sports and I’m interested to see how we can take learnings from different sports to help deliver innovative marketing campaigns. There’s a lot of potential in the world of sport and it will be a great opportunity to work with our clients to see how we can reach new audiences, increase ticket sales and revenue, boost fan engagement and drive fan loyalty. As a leading live entertainment brand, we’re fortunate to have some of the best marketing talent in the business and it’s great to see that I will have the backing of an expert in-house marketing team to ensure we can deliver the very best levels of marketing support to our clients. My ultimate aspiration is for Ticketmaster Sport to be seen as an integral part of our sports clients’ marketing proposition and to be one of the key reasons why clients decide to partner with us.
