Manal Smith (The Hundred & SailGP) on her amazing journey from the London Olympics to The Hundred and onwards

Have the world ever experienced a success story similar to the England and Wales Cricket Board's tournament The Hundred? Probably not.

The Hundred is a professional franchise 100-ball cricket tournament involving eight men's and eight women's teams located in major cities across England and Wales. The tournament is run by the England and Wales Cricket Board and took place for the first time in July and August 2021. In record time this cricket tournament has risen from nothing to a ticket volume of more than half a million each year, massive merchandise sales and packed stands with an audience where the majority probably never had visited a cricket match before The Hundred was launched two years ago.

From the start an up until June 2023, Manal Smith was Head of Ticketing at The Hundred. She started her ticketing career at the London 2012 Olympics and progressed from there to AXS Europe before she took the position as Ticketing Manager at the European Tour of DP World Tour. She then left this position in favour of The Hundred in September 2019, where she first had to handle a cancelled season due to the pandemic before she successfully delivered two seasons and laid the foundation for this year's equally successful tournament. She then set sail for yet another exciting challenge in June this year, as she left The Hundred in favour of the position as Head of Ticketing for SailGP.

In this episode of TicketingPodcast.com, Manal paints a vivid picture of how ticketing impacts every department in an organisation and the meticulous planning required for event day delivery. Hold on tight as we explore the digital transformation in sports and event ticketing, from the physical to the digital realm. Manal shares the unique challenges of launching a new ticketing system in the UK and her subsequent role as ticketing manager for DP World Tour. Her experiences with giant clients like the O2, Wembley, and the ATP tennis championships offer a unique perspective on the transition to digital tickets. 

In the final leg of the interview, we delve into the success of The Hundred and the critical role of local activations in its success. Manal enlightens us on the power of social media and importance of collaborations when organising matches and marketing. We wrap up with a sneak peek into Manal's new role at Sale GP, their upcoming races, and what it means to create loyalty for a brand new brand. This episode is a goldmine for anyone interested in ticketing, sports management, or the business side of sports, so buckle up for a roller-coaster ride into the thrilling world of ticketing with Manal Smith.

The episode was recorded on 24 May 2023.

TicketingPodcast.com is powered and sponsored by TicketCo and hosted by TicketCo’s CEO, Carl-Erik Michalsen Moberg.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:03

Hello and welcome to this episode of TicketingPodcastcom where ticketing experts reveal their secret and share their insights. My name is Karl-Rick Moberg and my guest today is Mano Schmidt, head of ticketing at the 100th at England and Wales Quicket Board. Stay tuned, because this is a super interesting episode. Hello everyone, thank you so much for tuning in to the TicketingPodcastcom. My name is Karl-Rick Moberg and I'm the host of this podcast. With me today is Mano Schmidt, who started a ticketing career in London 2012 and now is head of ticketing at England and Wales Quicket Board for their cricket tournament the 100th. It's a pleasure to have you as our guest, mano.

Speaker 2: 0:48

Thank you, thank you very much.

Speaker 1: 0:50

So you've had a super interesting career, which is also, of course, why we were so happy to have you on this podcast, and we will very soon go through every step of the ladder, but before we do so, you're actually about to take another step of the ladder. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

Speaker 2: 1:09

Yeah, of course, i'm just actually finishing up at the ECB at the moment, so I'll be finishing up at the end of this month before I embark on a new opportunity over at Sale GP to head up their ticketing. So yeah, i'll begin that at the beginning of June. So exciting times definitely.

Speaker 1: 1:26

Congratulations. Thank you very much Amazing, Excited to hear more and we'll touch on that afterwards for sure. So not surprised that you got this opportunity, because you're probably going to make some changes and make some successes out of it, And after studying your CV on LinkedIn which we do these days right you have quite a track record. I mean, how has it been?

Speaker 2: 1:50

Do you know what? it's been a whirlwind And I think now when I look back I can't believe it's been as long as it has. But yeah, i think starting at London 2012 was a great opportunity, a great platform and kind of precipice for me to start on. That probably gave me in excess of five years of experience in a very, very short contain time. So a great opportunity. And then have kind of built on from there and stayed in ticketing and moved between music, sport and then stayed in sport for the last sort of remaining years recently.

Speaker 1: 2:25

I think it's also very interesting to learn how people end up in ticketing, right, because there is no formal education. You don't take a degree in ticketing, do you? So what attracted you into it in the first place?

Speaker 2: 2:38

You hit the nail on the head. I don't think, if you ask anybody, anybody ever plans to get into ticketing. It's something we've all fallen into, i think, probably when I was at London 2012,. I was working in the comms department at that time And I think what attracted me probably more so for the Olympics at the time was where do I want to become Games Time?

Speaker 2: 3:01

And, having worked with Paul Williamson as I worked across the organisation and Louise Jolly there as well, ticketing was really interesting because I was right at the beginning of the journey. So being able to see people inquire about tickets how do I get them, what's the other price going to be, how does it work, how many can I have All of the questions that come in started to build and garner that interest of actually how can I be involved in that and how does it get shaped. So I think that's probably what got my interest was how broad ticketing was. It's not just as simple as you go and rock up to box office, buy a ticket. It's everything that comes before, during and after.

Speaker 1: 3:37

And then you touch on every department in the whole organisation, right, you work with it, with the financials, you work with marketing, you work with customer service, all these different aspects. You have to be a ninja to be able to handle everything, i guess 100%.

Speaker 2: 3:55

I think that one thing I've learned is wherever you go, wherever I'm doing, especially at ticketing, always make friends with IT and finance. That's a given. But yeah, exactly that, From marketing to you know, from a technical side to the comms, the operational delivery, every part kind of feeds in to ticketing and ticketing feeds into them. So it's definitely collaborative and you work hand in hand with everyone as a partnership.

Speaker 1: 4:18

Definitely. And when you came into London 2012, huge opportunity You managed to first start as a ticketing customer service executive, then a ticketing venue manager and then ticketing venue operations executive. So transitioning through three years, right? So how was that transition?

Speaker 2: 4:44

It was fast-paced So I went in.

Speaker 2: 4:46

There weren't many people in the ticketing department when I joined and I was looking after the customer services piece, so working with Ticketmaster and managing the outsource call centre, so all the comm as well as all public comms that we're relating to ticketing.

Speaker 2: 5:01

So that was a great introduction to kind of get a real broad brush stroke experience of what do I need to know, who needs to know? working across the comms department. I actually had a little bit of time off when I was at London 2012 to have my first daughter, so I had six months off and then came back and was like, well, i'm not going to miss the games, so I've got to figure it out, and kind of came back into an operational role, working on the venue side and planning and building everything that we needed to do to be able to go out and deliver from an operational perspective Actually on an event day on a day. How do we make that work? What do we need to do? What do we need to have prepared, ready to go in a box office, you know, operationally, in order to deliver a successful spectator event?

Speaker 1: 5:46

I mean you work for many years right for this one event, and you mentioned Paul Williamson, who was one of our guests. A super interesting conversation as well. He gave us some insights from his point of view. So how was the event from your point of view? How did you see it? I mean from the inside.

Speaker 2: 6:08

Did you know? I think I was probably very, very fortunate, and that so early in my career, to have worked on such an event. It's, you know, it's a once in a lifetime opportunity. There'll never be another event like it. And it was a home games for me. You know, being from England, having grown up here, watching something like the Olympic and Paralympic Games come to your home country is a phenomenal, phenomenal aspect. It was great. I mean, i was lucky, i was there over three years, so I was there for quite a while And I saw, you saw the momentum build and ramp up from everything from the launch of mascots to you know sort of you know athletes coming on, from every aspect of that and how the public got behind it, to when tickets launch, when tickets went on sale, you know ballots opened, et cetera, every aspect. I think you just see a nation get behind it And it's truly magical to be part of that And I think it'll be definitely one of the highlights of my career across the board.

Speaker 1: 7:07

Sounds like a highlight for life. I think for many people It's super, super cool to hear. And what were your key takeaways after working on such a fantastic event?

Speaker 2: 7:22

Do you know what? No matter the best late plans and I think this is ticketing across the board with the best late plans sometimes things will always go wrong. So it's not being too rigid and actually saying, well, you've got this plan, but sometimes that plan goes up in the air and you've got to react, keeping a level head, staying calm And there's always a solution Work with the team around you, the people that you've got and plenty of strengths And, ultimately, as long as a spectator and the fan is having a great experience. It's like that serene duck on water. You know, the duck looks really comfortable and really calm going along And the legs are going 10 to the dozen underneath the water. That's ticketing.

Speaker 1: 7:59

Got it. So not very different from, probably, michelin restaurant, where you have hands behind and then in front, very calm and totally under control. You got that opportunity in London in 2012. And that probably opened up a huge amount of you could probably choose any role within ticketing, right. So you ended up in AXS as a ticketing event ticketing manager, and this was in 2012 when AG launched AXS in the UK with amazing venues such as the O2, ovorina, wembley. How is it to launch Again? you're launching something new, right? And how is it to launch when you have two massive clients like that to deliver on At the same time are probably expected to grow and work with other clients. How do you balance that?

Speaker 2: 9:00

Again, it was a phenomenal effort, I think, being the in-house ticketing system at the O2, that gave us a great base. Obviously, i think that was a great place to start from. I was responsible there for everything outside of the O2, plus anything at the O2, indigo at the time I think it was building six that wasn't a standard ticket. My remit was quite broad, although the O2 managed themselves. I think it was a lot of support. It was a new system for the venue. There was some support that was needed there.

Speaker 2: 9:31

Nothing is ever seamless. There's always teething problems as you go through. So, i think, working through those. But equally, like you said, it was building the brand and also going out and winning business. So we had Dean DeWolf, who I worked for, who recruited me. He was absolutely brilliant and instrumental in that and helped to grow that business. But it was new, it was hard. We were dealing with allocation models from all different promoters. So it was making sure that when you delivered you delivered properly, you delivered well and you executed And the communication. It was building relationships as a kind of into a degree a new kid on the block, a new ticketing company with established promoters. So working with them really closely and building those relationships.

Speaker 1: 10:15

Great. I think relationships is the key right, Especially in a super competitive space. lots of different people with dreams coming true, doing events, which is actually the case. So, yeah, amazing to hear, But you also worked with sports during that time, didn't you?

Speaker 2: 10:34

Yeah, we did some sports, So obviously the O2 host it was the host family for the ATP tennis championships. The access was also the ticketing system for the Invictus Games that staged here And we also dabbled in a little bit of golf at the time when I was there as well, So we definitely branched out. There wasn't anything that we didn't look at and if it was, an opportunity that we didn't jump into at that time.

Speaker 1: 11:00

Mm-hmm. Very cool to hear, but then a new challenge occurred, right Yeah, so that's not enough. You start the position as ticketing manager for DP World Tour, where you were responsible for their European tour And golf. Is that a typical ticketing sport?

Speaker 2: 11:26

Actually it's got a really good following. So you've got a lot of great fans who will turn up and be ready for first tee. You know whether that's 5.50, 5.30, 6.00 am in the morning, they're there and they're ready with their tickets. Go out and enjoy the day's golf. So I think, yes, it does very well.

Speaker 2: 11:43

On a ticket aspect, coming from my background where I'm used to controlling a perimeter fence, and you go into a venue and you've got your access control and everything is very controlled. My first, i remember being at my first event and I was like, when does the perimeter fence go up? And they went it doesn't, but we're on a golf course, So there are multiple access points. So that moment of panic dawned on me. So it was working really quickly with the ops team. It's like we're on a golf course and we're going to ticket this And there's kind of no perimeter fence. There's multiple access points. How do we manage that? So that was one of the first things that we looked at as well. So it was an eye-opener Coming from music and sort of very strict sports venues. So, yeah, definitely.

Speaker 1: 12:26

How did you use your experience to make impact on the DP World Tour?

Speaker 2: 12:35

So I think what they'd done historically it'd been very successful. They worked really really well. But we were kind of brought in. There was myself, francesca Triosi, who was I worked with at London 2012. She was brought in as a director at Xtintin and brought me in And it was very much.

Speaker 2: 12:51

How do we kind of bring it forward? How do we modernize it? How do we make sure that actually it's a digital, we can do a digitally led program successfully and successfully roll that out? How do we optimize sales? How do we maximize revenue? All of those incremental changes that needed to be made or how do we bring about those changes?

Speaker 2: 13:10

And a lot of the times the biggest barriers to change are internal, not to say people don't want to do it, but actually it's very much. This is how we've always done it and this is what we do. So it's challenging the norm internally in any organization. So we worked really really hard in terms of historically with golf. They're very much a souvenir ticket and they like to have it pinned to their trousers or to their lapel And that's how it works. So we changed that quite dramatically And actually by the time I left BMW PGA Championship one of their flagship events it was all rolled out via e-ticket.

Speaker 2: 13:47

So everybody coming through you had the option, it was e-ticket. So we shifted that in sort of three seasons from everything being posted out, a massive fulfillment operation which takes time when you're rolling out tickets for five days of golf Actually to e-ticket. Everyone just comes in, they've either printed it or they've got it on their phone, they scan, they go. You still had your hospitality element which was predominantly via fulfillment in terms of the experience, but everyone coming through on a GA ticket was predominantly on it was on a print at home ticket or an e-ticket And that was a phenomenal shift in three years.

Speaker 1: 14:22

Yeah, that's a tough decision to take. I mean you do it over three years but still that's a short time to go digital. And how did that help? I mean you mentioned you saved some time, but I mean the customer experience in general and your experience within the organization.

Speaker 2: 14:44

I think, save time and money. I mean fulfillment operation, printing operations, because we used to have to pre-print all the tickets as well with the barcodes, have those pushed manually back into the systems And all of a sudden you've not got a six-week fulfillment operation that needs to take place. If there's any delays in supply chain, it doesn't affect us anymore because ultimately we just push the button and release the tickets. So actually, from a fan experience, it's much simpler for them If they've lost their ticket. If there's any problems, no problems, we can just forward that out again to you. If there's any problems, just come visit us at the box office. You're always going to have challenges where you know people may not have the latest smartphone, that's OK, that's not a problem. Come visit us at the box office, we'll make that work for you. We can print out a ticket. We can always print out something.

Speaker 2: 15:27

I think one of the biggest barriers to entry in that market specifically was around. Well, you know they wanted that printed ticket And the biggest, the easiest way to explain it to them I said well, when you fly EasyJet or you fly, you know, ryanair. I said do you pay the 30, 40, 50 pounds to have a printed ticket And they went no, no, no, we use a mobile ticket. And I said, well, what's any difference of what we're asking you to do? And they were like, oh, i said, if we charge you 30 or 40 or 50 pounds for a printed ticket, what would that mean? And it was a real, it was just a mind shift change in the fact of what they'd always had versus actually they could do it digitally and it was easier, it was less paper, they didn't have to worry about bringing it with them on the day. They very few people forget their phone when they're going out the door.

Speaker 1: 16:17

Yeah, that's, you're definitely missing something, if you're missing your phone But would you say the airline industry then kind of drove that digitalization and you could. You could utilize that as a good argument To have your audience do the same.

Speaker 2: 16:33

It definitely helped because we weren't charging higher prices to have a mobile ticket or to print that. It was a very different charge. I think it helped to give perspective, to say actually we can do this. Although we don't like change, Actually it's not too bad. We've just got to get over that first hurdle and it's a better experience. It's one listing when you're packing your bags and trying to get out the door, You've got children or family. It's one less thing to worry about because your tickets are on your phone.

Speaker 1: 17:00

Yeah, yeah. So as you have power, it will. There is that problem at all, And if you don't, there is always an opportunity to the box office right To get out, which might be a slight percentage, but that might be fine 100%. So, going back then to, we've now reached September 2019, i can go like the time wheel here.

Speaker 1: 17:26

And then you decide to take the position as ticketing manager at England and Wales Cricket Board, for the, may I say, not yet launched a cricket tournament, the 100. So another new journey that you're going going on to. What made you take that position?

Speaker 2: 17:48

I've told this story a few times, i think. When I saw that job advertised and I looked at the hundred I remember looking at that job, rightly or wrongly, and thinking that job's mine I was like I'm completely bought into the concept, the idea, everything that the hundred was about and how it had initially been marketed. It resonated with me and I got it and I was like, actually, i totally understand the ambition and I really want to be a part of it. That was where that journey started. Obviously, i was lucky enough to secure the position and in that September of 2019, after an amazing World Cup where England took the victory, it was a great opportunity and a brilliant time to be going into cricket to help launch the hundred.

Speaker 1: 18:31

Amazing story and I guess if you knew the job was for you, that's probably why you got the job as well. right, hopefully, yeah. But then something unexpected happened which I think affected everyone who's listening to this podcast and me, you and you The first outbreak of COVID-19, and that happened in December 2019 and half a year before the first UK lockdown, which came in March 2020. How is it to work on a completely new brand in the middle of a lockdown?

Speaker 2: 19:12

I suppose. Do you know what I think? when, when COVID first launched, i think we probably all sat back on when it's not going to affect us. You know, in December I was like it won't hurt us. We went on sale in January we launched members pre-sales. We launched our initial pre-sales, sold a lot of tickets. It was really received. We knew we were on the up and then all of a sudden it hit you know British shores and it was like, actually, this is now a problem and this is what you know we're gonna. We're looking at a lockdown.

Speaker 2: 19:41

I think even initially, probably in the early January, february, march phase, did we anticipate the lockdown and what was to come? No, no, i don't think anybody did at that stage. So I was in a new role. We'd launched a new tournament, we'd sold a lot of tickets and we go into lockdown. I think scared, probably as everyone in the ticketing industry was, because everything went on to lockdown and we didn't know how long that was going to last. Was it going to be a month, two months? were we going to be back to normal by the summer? I just left a secure job where I'd been there for a good few years and I jumped into a new job so scared, but equally, i think the ECB dealt with it really well and offered reassurances, and we made the decision quite early on. I think, well within a few months, that the first year of the 100 wasn't going to stage due to the pandemic.

Speaker 1: 20:34

So you make you. I think the common understanding or the anticipation was that it would last for a couple of months, right, but you, early on, decided that you yeah, what councillor this year, start again next year.

Speaker 2: 20:52

Yeah, and I think it was the right thing to do. We were looking at a sort of 20-venue model at that point and in order to stage that, it's a huge operation and the decision was taken I think it was around April or May time and we communicated to all customers. The one thing we did at that point a lot of people were you have to apply for a refund or we're not going to refund you or hold your funds. We just said no, actually, what we're going to do it's a full refund. You don't have to contact us. I sat behind my laptop and and action the refunds over about an eight day period and we manually refunded everybody and that was it. It's just a full refund. There were no fees or change. Everything went back to the customer.

Speaker 1: 21:37

Amazing. And then you laid out the grounds for, or the Builder Foundation for next year. Right, and we have to say it's been a success. The hundred Can you tell us a little bit about that, what it is? I mean in, especially outside of England, what is the hundred and what's the difference?

Speaker 2: 22:01

So it's fast, it's vibrant. It's fast, it's vibrant, it's action-packed, you know, a fun-filled kind of hundred ball tournament, i think, when we, you know there's a lot of research that went into it before we launched around, you know, are there barriers to entry etc. And, and I think it was about, you know, one of the main pillars was about bringing in a new audience. So it's, you know, eight new teams are created, based kind of regionally around the cities around the UK, and that worked really really well. It's, it's a great day out for your family, you know, and that was always as well. It was a great day. How do you encompass music, action-packed, you know activities, as well as great cricket with world-class leading athletes and the player as well, and I think that was one of the things it was. It was, it was slightly different to what has already there, so it was still cricket, but kind of cricket cricket slightly reimagined yeah, what's the difference on demographically?

Speaker 1: 23:01

so in terms of the spectator sort of the audience, yeah yeah, i'm thinking the main difference right between the hundred and the traditional counter cricket which you have. How would you describe the difference?

Speaker 2: 23:14

and I think it's ultimately cricket that cricket throws its doors open to everyone, and this is one thing that hundred wanted to do is throw its doors open to everyone and an access of how to reach audience as well as fill in the funnel. I think, if we look at and what the hundred did specifically, it was successful and welcoming the broader audience to cricket. So last year it was 22% of tickets went to children and that was up from 19% in year one, and 28% of ticket ticket buyers were women, which was up from 20% in year one, and families made up 41%, up from 36% in year one and 2021. So ultimately, what we what we do, is hope to do is bring in families and a new audience. That would fill the funnel across the across cricket, and that's what we've done and we've increased that from year one in 2021 to 2022 as well by those figures hmm, because a lot of sports these days are talking about reaching the younger audience.

Speaker 1: 24:12

Would you say that the hundred is some sort of a recruitment into cricket for for for younger audience as well to enjoy all the cricket as well.

Speaker 2: 24:20

I think you've got a young. You've got an audience. You know a cricket's already got an audience across all of its formats. I think it's sometimes actually about bringing in that hard to reach audience that possibly, you know, may may have seen different you know opportunities or ruled out cricket, saying crickets. Not for me. Actually, what we're saying is come along, experience the hundred, and we hope that those fans are then coming in from the hundred but may spill over into blast or into a one-day international or a test match, and it's just giving people the opportunity to experience a new sport as well as already existing fans, giving them the opportunity to come along and enjoy the hundred as well yeah, yeah, it makes makes perfect sense.

Speaker 1: 24:58

And cricket, i'm allowed to say it, it's a conservative like sport, right, and we discussed change, we discussed digital tickets, but the hundred was quite in. It's very innovative right. It's innovation in a conservative, yeah, in a conservative world, to put it that way. How was it? do you know how it was received in the beginning, when, when it was talked about?

Speaker 2: 25:26

Yeah, i mean, look, i come back to the blast example. If you look at blast, when it was launched 21 years ago, it didn't please everyone, it didn't have a title sponsor initially. Fast forward 21 years and it's the most successful short format of cricket. I mean, look at the IPL, it does phenomenally well And it's again another kind of facet for a cricket fan to be able to go and enjoy. I think there were probably four objectives to the hundred And that was key kind of in everything we did. And that was around a broader audience, inspiring kids to pick up a baton of all and so helping to support that And also preparing players to perform on an international stage. And another one was bringing in a new revenue into cricket. So not just a hundred but a cross cricket, and that was kind of one of the. Those are the big premises around the hundred being launched. It's never going to please everybody, but hopefully we can. People have come along and they've enjoyed it and they had a great day out.

Speaker 1: 26:34

I love the way you also build up to the revenue, because that's the last thing you do, right? Because that's the result by the end of the day. But there are so many things that needs to be in place before you come to that goal, and you've talked about the success, right. How would you describe that? Would you describe it as a success?

Speaker 2: 26:56

Yeah, 100%. I think it's succeeded on all fronts. I think the hundred's vital in growing the game. It's demonstrated its appeal to a broader audience as well as existing fans. So it's not just a new audience that's coming in. You've got existing cricket fans that are also coming in and enjoying the day And I think, again, you can always come back because, as you said, it's an important revenue stream which supports the whole of the game, which is fundamental.

Speaker 2: 27:25

Has it been a success? I think probably at the beginning, you'll remember me saying that London 2012 will sit up there as a pinnacle because it's a home games Paul might kill me for this one. The hundred tops that, and the reason I say that is because four years ago this concept didn't exist. We created something, was created from nothing with the hundred, and to have had the opportunity to be a part of that and watch that grow from the beginning to where it is now to hopefully by the end of 2023, having sold 1.5 million tickets in three years is phenomenal. It's a phenomenal acceleration of growth And I think it screams about the success of the tournament.

Speaker 1: 28:07

A hundred percent agree. And this is where the hard question comes from. How do you go from zero to hero, or may I should I say zero to 1.5 million tickets in three years out of nothing?

Speaker 2: 28:22

Yeah, that's it. It was a challenge And I think the key underlying parts of that is kind of creating an appealing product Top class sport and family entertainment Another big one and barriers to entry as well. Especially at the moment, if you look at kind of cost of living crisis is accessible pricing, and I think one of the big ones is working collaboratively with the partners all of the hundreds partners and all of the venues to sell tickets.

Speaker 1: 28:56

So you had partners helping you reach out because you are in eight different places, right, if you find partners in all of those places and then activated them?

Speaker 2: 29:10

Yeah. So I think we've got locally. We've got team marketing managers. He support the delivery. He worked with venues really closely and helped to bring each of the teams and each of those brands to the local community. So Trent Rockets doing a lot of the work with Nottingham, around that area and actually going into schools doing local activations. So not only is it the hundred as a tournament but actually each team, whether it's Trent Rockets, welsh Fire, southern Brave, there's local activations. So the areas supporting that and around those grounds actually feel part of the hundred as well And they do a phenomenal job in bringing that to life.

Speaker 1: 29:49

Hmm, I think it's great. We talk a lot about digital marketing these days, right, Ads, but we see also, I mean, the ads market is so saturated it's getting more and more expensive. Take a step back. local activations actually gives a huge impact And we've seen that a lot of sports, and I guess that's the same for you.

Speaker 2: 30:11

Yeah, definitely I think. Local activations I think that they all go hand in hand. What we probably didn't have 20 years ago was social media and the power of Instagram, twitter, facebook, and each of the teams has their own Instagram account And I think that's worked really well. But the local activation is making sure that people feel part of that, making sure that children that come along on the day actually have an opportunity to meet a player by some of the activations and the work that the team market managers do in their school, the local clubs, i think really brings it to life and makes it accessible. It's not just something they see on TV or at the ground. Actually those are real life people and they can relate to those And they have representation that they can say I want to do this when I get older and it makes it more real.

Speaker 1: 30:54

Yeah, definitely. So, just to give a little context here, there's eight teams that was created for the 100 and were created for the 100. And those teams are Birmingham, phoenix, london Spirit, manchester Originals, northern Superchargers, oval Invincibles, southern Brave, trent Rockets, welsh Fire. And when it comes to organizing these matches, there's a lot of matches and we'll touch on that afterwards but doing marketing and selling tickets, which we discuss a lot how's the setup between the cricket board at one hand, the teams on the other hand, but then again also the cricket grounds like a third player? How do you organize this?

Speaker 2: 31:44

And look. it's collaboratively. Ultimately we support centrally, with the marketing and ticketing, but that's also fed into the venues marketing teams and ticketing teams And it's all done in collaboration. So, although we'll sell the tickets centrally, the or in conjunction with the grounds, the venues deliver the on the day operations and we support that delivery as well. I think it's all working together. There's all a common goal about, and ultimately that's around a great spectator experience and creating that fandom that we've seen with the 100. And you couldn't do that if it wasn't done collaboratively as one to deliver that single goal.

Speaker 1: 32:25

So coming together on this new concept made a huge difference. But if we look at football, there is a very strong tribalism when it comes to the relationship between the clubs and their fans. And the oldest professional clubs Crystal Palace, stoke City, nothing in Forest and Sheffield Wednesday they have a history that goes back to the 1860s. That's not a luxury you have when you start from, like you said, from zero. Touching a little bit on this, because this is where, let's say, the rocket science sits. How do you manage to build up that loyalty? How do you create a pan base so quick? Do you know what?

Speaker 2: 33:07

It was in 2021, i think, post lockdown. We were one of the first sports to open and we were the first sport to open full capacity. That almost gave me a heart attack, but yeah, that was. It was a great experience. One thing that you saw was people bought into the brands And this is one thing you don't know When, like merchandise was flying out of the stores quicker than we could get stuff back in.

Speaker 2: 33:31

So people wanted to be a part of that. If they were a Birmingham Phoenix land, they wanted a Birmingham Phoenix top or the baseball caps or the bucket hats that came up. Let's run. Everybody wanted match. I don't know if it's just the marketing, the brand, but everybody wanted to be a part of it. Everybody wanted to walk out with one of the tops, wanted to show this loyalty and support for the team And how it was phenomenal to see how that flew out. It's hand on heart.

Speaker 2: 34:04

Do I know if COVID was a factor? You know if we benefit from COVID being the first entrant? I'm not sure. I think I still believe it would have been a success either way, but I think That fandom was phenomenal. that you see. And even last year, match and dice flew again. People. Always they seem to have really, you know, taking those teams to heart and That they all turn up. And you know, sometimes your families have got different top sign and you, someone's got a southern braze, someone's wearing London spirit, but the children absolutely love it. All fans seem to have really, really got behind their teams.

Speaker 1: 34:40

That's, that's amazing. And I think one thing is going to the event right, if it was only COVID, like you said, people want to go out again. They wouldn't buy any merchandise, but but if they have loyalty in such a short time to a completely new brand, there's also some some bits there. That's yeah, we should be discussed, but maybe not today but another time. And What if, if, if ticketing professionals and all over have questions and what? we'd like to get in touch with you, how do they reach out?

Speaker 2: 35:16

By all means reach out on LinkedIn. So please feel free to do that. By all means ping over questions or just sort of send me a message on LinkedIn, for sure.

Speaker 1: 35:24

Great. Thank you for appreciate that and thank you so much, manol. And at this point And at her interviews we normally ask her, our guests about their matchday rituals. We will, of course, ask you the same question, but prior to that, we started the podcast with a little bit of information and you touching it now as well That you are leaving the hundred and you're going into sale GP, which is a high speed, high tech catamaran sailing on water And upcoming it raises this year are in Chicago in June, a Los Angeles in July, suntra pay in September, toronto in Italy, also in September and under Lucia Cadiz in October, and Again like a little bit, like I asked you with golf, this doesn't strike me as a typical ticketing role. What, what is the role here? Is it still ticketing?

Speaker 2: 36:23

Yep, still ticketing. So I'm going into a newly created role as head of ticketing for sale GP. So great opportunity, very excited to take this on and I think you know what it's. It's got a fan base. It's doing really, really well And people are buying tickets. So it's actually how you know, how do we grow that, how do we make it, you know, and what are the opportunities there and hopefully I going in this is what and We'll be going down into explore and hopefully grow further.

Speaker 1: 36:53

Sounds exciting. If you ever want to start doing a man to Norway, let us know There's a lot of wings. I bet I in mind for sure maybe not a Sunday, a center pay, but but still so. Back to back to the hundred a little bit before we wrap up. Last season, on The day, what was your matchday ritual?

Speaker 2: 37:17

And Matchday rituals and I think it's just making sure everyone's comfortable, everyone's prepped, everyone's ready to go. So, as I said previously, the venues are responsible for the on the day delivery. We're there to support so we want to make sure the access control suppliers there Everyone's got everything that they need. The venues are comfortable, hospitality are comfortable, operations are comfortable, marketing, commercial, making sure everybody's got everything that they need and we're on hand to support and help. And I think a lot of our prep is done up front. Because of the, the schedule with the hundreds, obviously we do sort of 34 ticketed sessions within 27 days Key.

Speaker 2: 37:57

The prep that we do up front is key. So we'll have that plan of what we'll do at each venue and each of the ticketed managers who are in my team would have managed that. I've worked with their venues and then I would have overseen and The overall delivery. So I think consistency is key. Again, it comes back to relationships with the venues and Making sure everybody's got, as best you can, what they need, including the player. You know, players, tickets, everything which is a key one. Yeah, i think planning, planning, planning devils in the detail.

Speaker 1: 38:26

Definitely and Again. Thank you so much, manal. We're close to the end now and, before we wrap up, you've had an incredible career so far and I'm just thinking it's far from from the end of your career. I mean, there's challenges out there that you need to approach. I'm sure you'll be super successful in your new role as well. But just some, some tips from you who's been very successful What do you think is the most important skills to have? I mean, if you think of categorizing them like people, human skills and tech skills, what do you think is the most important?

Speaker 2: 39:05

I think Communication is key and people skills, again, i would echo Across the board. I think ticketing is so broad, be it if you want to go into the tech side, the system side, if you want to go into the marketing side or operational, and I think there's so many opportunities that there's something for everyone. But I think, building those relationships, networking, you know, never being afraid to take an opportunity, get as much experience as you can, and, yeah, i think Collaboration as well, it's one of its, it's it's the key thing, just to be an open to the opportunities and kind of rolling your sleeves up and jumping in what in, whatever's needed.

Speaker 1: 39:48

Whatever challenge comes, as you said them on those, always a solution. That mindset is is quite good to have, especially in ticketing. And but as a ticketing expert I mean, this is a ticketing podcast for people like yourself and If our listeners should remember three key takeaways from this conversation, because we've been touching on a lot of things. But but what? what would those be?

Speaker 2: 40:19

I think, never give up. Never give up at anything that you you want to do, and I Think things will always go wrong and that's okay. I think, remaining calm and level-headed and working with people around you. Again, i can't probably said it a lot this through this podcast, but collaboration and communication Is key because you can never do everything on your own. So you know, work with the team around you. And I think probably my last one is You never stop learning. In ticketing, it evolves so quickly, be it through blockchain, nfts, bit, through new technologies, new systems, new people, new opportunities. I think, never be closed to any opportunity, always have the conversation and and always be open to learning.

Speaker 1: 41:06

Great, and I think that sums it up in a great way. Manel, thank you so much, and it's been great to have you as our guests on this show, and I hope you enjoyed as well.

Speaker 2: 41:19

Definitely. Thank you very much.

Speaker 1: 41:21

And so, for all our listeners, you've been listening to the ticketing podcastcom, where today's guest has been Manel Smith previous had a ticketing of the hundred at England and Wales cricket board. There's two versions of this podcast. It's just the one, the one you've just been listening to, and there's another version Where the very same experts reveal their secrets to their ticket buyers. If you would like to hear more from Manel, and which I'm sure you will, you should check out this episode as well. You'll find it on the very same platform as you found this one. Thank you so much for listening, thank you to our sponsor ticket code and for powering the ticketing podcastcom. Until next time, see you.