by Cat Matson
Last week I bought Wiggles tickets for myself, my boys and friends of ours. I bought them via Visa's 'exclusive' pre-sale, believing I would have 'exclusive' access to great seats before they went on sale to the general public.
What this meant was I did the 21st century, internet-based equivalent of sleeping out overnight to secure the best tickets - I completely structured my 'mummy-day' so I would be home, in front of my computer on the dot of 12 noon when the tickets went on sale, with Masters 4 & 19 months suitably occupied for 1/2 and hour while I secured great seats.
You see, last year when we went to the Wiggles, we were on our way to the nose-bleed section. My outgoing, be the 'centre-of-the-action' then 3 year old was desperate to go up to the stage and boogie with the other screaming fans (sorry, dancing pre-schoolers)... but because we were not in seating on the floor, he had to be happy with just dancing in his seat. So I made the decision then and there to make sure I did everything I could to get awesome seats next time 'round.
So, online I was at 12.... only to discover there were no tickets left for any of the 4 open shows on the floor. My disappointment (and mild panic) was palpable - I had missed out on premium, 'up-close-and-personal' seats despite virtually being one of the first in the queue.
In turns out that in order to get the really cool-kid seats (yes, cool for 4 year olds is very different to cool for 16 year olds), I needed to have been a member of the Wiggles club itself. My friends and I suspect that it is this exclusive group that really get the 'premium' access to the great seats. Trouble is, I have to pay a (additional) monthly fee for that privilege. If it's only exclusive access to pre-sale concert tickets that I want from that 'membership' then those concert tickets become quite expensive at the end of the year.
So in this case, my membership to the 'exclusive Visa club' wasn't enough - I needed to belong to the even more exclusive 'Wiggles Club'.
My point here is if you're offering 'exclusive' benefits (like premium seating, pre-sale opportunities to buy or members-only privileges) then you need to be able to back them up. My disappointment was firstly directed to the ticket reseller, then to the Visa 'club'. These have now been negatively affected to some degree in my mind as they failed to deliver on their promised exclusive benefits.
The Wiggles as a brand stands clean - they never promised me good seats, they just promised me a good show.
Cat
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