TicketsNow (http://www.TicketsNow.com), the world’s leading online marketplace for premium event tickets, today introduced an innovative Web 2.0 platform designed to take the experience of purchasing tickets to concerts, sports, and theater events to a whole new level, by creating customizable offerings that are unrivalled within the industry.

By offering a unique and personalized buying experience, TicketsNow allows customers the opportunity to not only easily locate and buy their tickets, but also to plan and remember every element of their event experience from booking dining reservations and hiring a limousine to posting their own event reviews and sharing their experience with others.

Below are featured elements of the new TicketsNow:

Customer Loyalty Program
TicketsNow blazes the trail by introducing “The InCrowd™”— the first and only customer recognition program within its industry. The InCrowd™ offers multiple levels of enhanced services for premier customers and rewards patrons who frequently purchase event tickets from TicketsNow. By invitation only, The InCrowd™ appeals to the needs of high-value customers who seek the highest level of service as well as exclusive access and privileges that come with elite status. Depending on the level of membership, benefits include complimentary shipping; ticket concierge services to provide expert advice on how to obtain the best ticket value; and full end-to-end concierge services that help customers manage their entire event-planning experience, including reserving the best table at a favorite restaurant, booking limousine service, arranging travel and accommodations, even finding a special gift for event guests. Consumers can access The InCrowd™ from the TicketsNow home page (http://www.TicketsNow.com) or by going directly to http://www.TheInCrowd.com.

Personalization and Customization
Customers at TicketsNow can set up their own preferences of local events and establish a profile. During each subsequent visit to TicketsNow, the online tickets retailer will automatically remember and cater to the individual user’s inclinations and behaviors based on the type of events tickets previously purchased. Additionally, TicketsNow allows members to easily customize their own email newsletter subscriptions, controlling the type and frequency of communications sent regarding upcoming events. Furthermore, TicketsNow features a more convenient ordering system that helps members securely store shipping, billing, and payment information; create aliases; obtain event and category-specific views; and receive a personalized greeting upon every visit. 

Event Planning Tools
A first within the industry, TicketsNow has created a robust suite of tools that will greatly enhance the consumer’s ability to prepare for an event they plan to attend. For example, prior to any event, customers can check the weather forecast, download driving directions, hire a limousine, make a reservation at a restaurant near the arena, and obtain satellite views of the venue’s parking lots and surrounding streets from Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) Earth. 

Remember & Share™
TicketsNow has implemented PowerReviews’ customer product review service enabling ticket buyers to post reviews regarding their event experiences and to read reviews posted by others. The reviews will be part of TicketsNow’s Remember & Share™, a unique feature that allows consumers to remember their event experiences and to share those memories with others. Customers will be able to post comments on www.TicketsNow.com after attending any sports, concert, or theater event.

Commissioned Illustrations
To present customers with a more upscale setting that is unique within the ticketing industry, the new TicketsNow features distinctive artwork from noted illustrator Charlie Powell. Powell’s unique style of illustration has appeared in prominent publications nationwide including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Playboy, Wired, Chicago Magazine, Fortune, The Washington Post, Kiplinger’s, and Slate.com.

Power Search Capabilities
TicketsNow also bolstered its searching capabilities and now features the most powerful search tool within industry. At TicketsNow, customers can search for event tickets in a variety of ways: via a free form power search, a structured search, or a city-specific calendar of events. The free form guide search capability intuitively matches criteria to find precise tickets. The structured power search capability finds tickets from user specified data such as event type, dates, genre, and geography. A new sophisticated filter and sort functionality lets customers comparatively shop for tickets.

Interactive Events Calendar
Presenting a faster, easier, and more seamless approach to purchasing tickets, the new TicketsNow offers the cutting-edge Interactive Events Calendar. Available from the “Get In on Today’s Action” link from the TicketsNow home page, the Interactive Events Calendar enables visitors on a geographic basis to view all theater, sporting, and concert events, day-by-day, all within a given month. The Calendar also lets visitors filter the month by event type, which are color-coded—pink for theater, green for sports, and blue for concerts. Customers can also use the drop-down menus on the Calendar’s page to search for particular events from more than 150 cities, by type, and by venue. The Calendar also includes a “Today’s Birthday” fun factoid that features the celebrities or sports figures born on that particular day of the month. 

Gift Center
For those who are looking for the perfect gift, TicketsNow presents an all-new Gift Center (http://www.TicketsNow.com/GiftCenter/GiftGuide.aspx), which features traditional Gift Cards and customizable Virtual Gift Cards that can be used to shop from nearly 2 million event tickets. The TicketsNow Gift Center also offers an Interactive Gift Guide, a ground-breaking tool that is a first within the industry. The Interactive Gift Guide works by helping customers locate the ideal event tickets for a particular client, family member, or friend. With the use of a few drop-down menus, visitors are presented a variety of tickets specifically designed to match the user’s selected occasion, recipient, city, and dates. 

“The memories created by attending events capture the passion and emotions that can last a lifetime. The new TicketsNow takes the experience of attending events to a whole new level,” said Mike Domek, Chairman and CEO of TicketsNow. “TicketsNow is the only company within our industry that provides a truly personal, customizable, and rewarding experience for all event attendees. Whether it’s for a sporting, concert, or theater event, the new TicketsNow offers consumers a unique opportunity to join a community where memories are made and shared.”

About TicketsNow
Established in 1999, TicketsNow is the world’s largest and most trusted marketplace for premium event tickets. More than 90% of all professional ticket agencies that list, buy, and sell secondary event tickets online utilize software developed by TicketsNow—creating the most comprehensive database of secondary event tickets in the world. Named to the Inc. 500 index of the fastest-growing privately held companies in the U.S., TicketsNow is a premium ticket provider for USA TODAY, Fandango, and AOL; an official sponsor of the Baltimore Ravens and Jacksonville Jaguars; an official sponsor of University of Louisville Athletics and a corporate partner of Princeton University Athletics; a member of the Better Business Bureau; and a founding member of the NATB, which promotes the highest level of ethics in the secondary ticketing marketplace. 

For more information, visit http://www.TicketsNow.com or contact

John McCartney, Alan Taylor Communications for TicketsNow
212.714.1280 x253 - johnm(--at--)alantaylor.com

Jennifer Swanson, TicketsNow
815.444.4923 - jswanson(--at--)TicketsNow.com
 

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