A record £100,000 worth of mobile tickets were sold in the first week of sale for the O2 Wireless Festival – signalling a new era to festival ticketing in the UK. O2’s introduction of mobile ticketing at the O2 Wireless Festival is the first time paperless tickets have been used at an event of this scale in the UK. O2 teamed up with Mobiqa to develop the mobile solution for O2 Wireless 2006, which allows all O2 customers purchasing tickets for the London or Leeds leg of the O2 Wireless Festival to opt for a Mobi-ticket* to be sent direct to their phone. By saving festival goers money on the booking and delivery fee, the popularity of O2’s Mobi-tickets demonstrates the growing strength of mobile in offering music fans the best possible festival experience – as well as providing a more environmentally-friendly solution to traditional paper tickets which can easily be lost or damaged. O2 customers can opt in to receive a Mobi-ticket when booking through Ticketmaster or the O2 Wireless festival sites on O2 Active or i-mode. O2 Blue Room In addition to barcode entry to the festival, O2 customers are also able to gain entry into O2’s exclusive Blue Room at both the Leeds and London festivals this year, by simply texting BLUEROOM to 60600**. In the blueuroom, O2 customers will be able to enjoy their own private stage where up and coming talent will showcase their music direct to fans. Music lovers can also experience their own taste of fame by getting their face on the front of an exclusive O2 Wireless Festival CD or becoming immortalised in a music video, which can be sent via Bluetooth technology to their mobile phone or email account. And if it’s all too much for them, O2 music fans can simply put their feet up in the Blue Room and enjoy a drink, whilst receiving an array of healing treatments from Reiki and Kinesiology to relaxing foot and head massages. Mobile music community Whilst enhancing the live experience at the festival, through mobile O2 will also give music fans the opportunity to become truly immersed in a wider community surrounding the acts. O2 customers will be able to get closer to their music heroes and keep up to date on all the backstage gossip by opting in to receive SMS and MMS alerts from the O2 Wireless Festival mole, by simply texting “WIRELESS” to 60600**. Bluetooth posters set up across the festival site will offer free music downloads to O2 customers, whilst a bespoke O2 Wireless Festival site, available on O2 Active and O2’s i-mode service, will provide music fans with everything they need to know about the festival including the latest line ups, on-site editorial updates, exclusive back-stage images and festival downloads. And to ensure the music is ringing in O2 customers’ ears long after the lights have gone down on Hyde Park and Harewood House, O2 customers will be able to re-live their favourite musical moments with access to live festival footage on their handset. Paul Samuels, Head of Sponsorship at O2 UK, says “The success of O2’s Mobi-tickets at the UK’s first large-scale event, demonstrates how music fans are truly embracing mobile as a means to enhance their overall festival experience. Whether it’s streaming live audio clips to their handsets, delivering paperless tickets to their mobile or immersing customers in the world of music in the Blue Space, O2 is placing music in the hands of its customers, where it belongs.” * Mobi-tickets are barcoded tickets sent via text or picture message to an individual’s mobile phone. The barcode is then scanned at the point of entry in order to gain access to the event. ** Standard network rates apply. Please visit www.o2.co.uk for further information
press enquiries
press enquiries