Off the back of numerous new client wins, it’s a really exciting time for the sports team in Germany as they look to deliver an impressive calendar of sports events this summer and beyond.
Following his appointment last year, we talk to Timo Skrzypski, Sales Director for Sport in Germany about his plans for the year ahead.
What’s your background/experience?
I’ve worked in sport for just over 14 years for a number of different clubs including Hertha BSC Berlin, Arsenal FC, MSV Duisburg and Alemannia Aachen. During this time I’ve been fortunate to work with a great many people across the industry, build some fantastic contacts and a strong network which will be invaluable in helping to shape our vision for the future.
Tell us a little more about your current role:
We started the Ticketmaster Sport division as a distinct operational unit within Ticketmaster Germany last year, and through this I am building up the new team and helping to create the workflow for the new division. My goal is to drive awareness of the superb range of technology and services we can offer in sport, to ensure future clients get the most out of what we can offer and to inspire clubs and hosts of sport tournaments to work with Ticketmaster. Our approach with clients is a collaborative one, and due to our enhanced focus on sport, I prefer to accompany new sport clients from the point of contract right through until event/match day to ensure that they are well looked after and they receive the service level that they have come to expect from Ticketmaster.
Tell us what your plans are for the sports division within Ticketmaster Germany?
There’s a lot of potential, particularly in those sports with a strong German fanbase and I would love to grow our market share here. It’s a clear commitment by Ticketmaster to establish a sport division in Germany and to win more sport clients in the German-language space. In particular, we’re proud of being appointed the ticketing partner of German football club and Bundesliga founding member, 1. FC Kaiserslautern and we look forward to supporting our client in the season ahead.
What’s your focus for sport within Ticketmaster?
Expanding our client base is always going to be a focus and looking ahead to the next few months we hope to share news of some more new clients joining the Ticketmaster family. At Ticketmaster, we’re fortunate to have access to state-of-the-art tools, technology and best-in-class marketing reach so we also want to help clients boost ticket sales, drive fan engagement and grow their business. In Germany, we aim to be the No.1 partner for any marketing and sales requirements in the sports sector and our work on the European Athletic Championships in Berlin this summer demonstrates that we are able to bring international sport fans to Germany for a big event.
What are the biggest challenges in the industry at the moment?
For us it’s about putting the fan at the heart of everything we do, so the key challenge is in working with our clients to ensure that fans can access tickets quickly, easily and on whatever device they choose. The tools and technology we offer are successfully utilised by a whole host of clients on an everyday basis, and our understanding of e-commerce helps clients to better identify what the decisive trends and important factors are as they develop to ensure we are always constantly meeting the needs of fans.
What do you believe are Ticketmaster Germany’s greatest strengths?
Our strength is our team – its dedication to deliver, its flexibility to create the best solution for each individual client and our renowned level of service – be it in marketing, product consulting, in customer care or system development. I’m also hugely proud that we are the market leader in equestrian and handball in Germany and we look forward to working with our clients to deliver more of these events in the future and, of course, replicating this across other sporting genres.
So, why Ticketmaster?
Obviously and luckily we are not alone in the German market – and competition helps us to seek advantages and deliver better every day. We offer our clients an exceptional level of marketing support, state-of-the-art tools which help them to reach and understand their fans in detail and consequently have data and intelligence at their disposal, which will improve their sponsorship income, improve fan orientation and communication strategies, and all this while concentrating on the daily business of selling more tickets and improving revenue.
