Season 4 premiere: Record-breaking ticket sales and a FOMO frenzy among fans with Mads Liabø of SK Brann

Season 4 of TicketingPodcast.com is here, and we're kickstarting the new season with a deep dive into men’s and women’s football at SK Brann—just in time for their women’s team's Champions League quarter-final matches against Barcelona on the 20th and 28th of March.

With passionately dedicated fans, the largest attendance in Norway, and European success for both their men’s and women’s teams, SK Brann is ablaze at the start of their 2024 season. Norwegian football is enjoying a renaissance, with ticket sales soaring to new heights, and SK Brann experiencing a tangible FOMO effect among their supporters.

Mads Liabø, the Marketing Manager at SK Brann, is at the forefront of this excitement, leading their marketing, ticket sales, and ticketing operations. In this episode of TicketingPodcast.com, he shares his insights on ticket sales strategies for season tickets and delves into the subtleties of marketing men’s versus women’s football matches.

He also reveals what new ticketing features he hopes will materialise in the future and candidly discusses which features he believes should have never been implemented.

Tune in for 25 minutes of great vibes and invaluable insights for anyone involved in the marketing or ticketing aspect of men’s or women’s football.

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

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

With heavily dedicated fans, the biggest attendance in Norway and European success for both their men's and women's team, sk Brand, is well worth a visit on TicketingPodcastcom. Two days before their women's team play Barcelona in the Champions League quarter-final, we've captured Mats Ljubbe for a discussion about season ticket sales, european matches and the difference between selling tickets to men's and women's football. Stay put for a great half an hour. Hello everyone, welcome to the TicketingPodcastcom where my guest today is Mats Ljubbe, our go Norwegian there. Head of marketing at the Norwegian top-tier football club, sk Brand. Welcome to the show, mats. Thank you so much. Good to be here, good to see you again. We all remember the YouTube video podcast we did at the stadium, which was really cool, and time flies. It's been a couple of months, haven't it?

Speaker 2: 1:11

Yeah, last time you were here, it was the day before we were playing A-Sit Alkmar in the European Conference League. We didn't make it through the group stage because we lost our penalties, but it was a really good atmosphere at the stadium and really good experience for us. Yeah, time flies. I don't feel like the season never stopped for us Suddenly. Now we're going to start all over again with the new season. The train just never stops rolling.

Speaker 1: 1:40

That's the way it should be. It has to stop a little bit so people can get on and off, but besides that, I guess it's flying away. Before we start, mats, I think we need to address the title you have, because we normally interview ticketing managers here. You are the marketing manager of SK Brand. However, you're also responsible for ticketing, aren't you?

Speaker 2: 2:01

Yes, we have one marketing commercial division and that's one with sustainability. I have one colleague who's in charge of that, one who's in charge of the sponsorships, then it's me who is more based for the private market supporters, communication, marketing and ticketing. My team is two content creators for social media, one who's PR press. I also have a one who works with ticketing. We use TicketCo, so we use it a lot on TicketCo, but it also has a lot of customer relations like CRM and answering the phone and answering all the emails coming in. We got a lot of emails right now so he's really, really busy. I'm in charge of that communication part, so ticketing is a big part of it. That's mainly the product we sell as tickets.

Speaker 1: 2:56

Great Selling, the dream of an evening at the Grand Stadion or a match. For our new listeners, tell us a little bit about the club.

Speaker 2: 3:04

I would say it's the biggest club in Norway. I guess Hussanborg will not agree. They have a bigger stadium, there are some big, greater results in their history and they have a lot of followers all over Norway and even all over Europe, I guess, after doing so good in the 90s. But we're one of the biggest clubs in Norway. Last season we had the biggest attendance in Norway Historically.

Speaker 2: 3:30

We haven't done so well. We won the league three times 62 and 63, and then in 2007. We won the cup final some more times than that, but we haven't been blessed with good results. But we're still a big club because Bergen without Bronn is nothing and with Bergen without Bergen is nothing. So it's a big part of Bergen and anywhere you go, if you work with insurance and you sit around their lunch table, bronn will be the main topic you discuss. If you work as a carpenter, you still would discuss Bronn.

Speaker 2: 4:05

So, yeah, it's a big club in Norway and the last couple of years we haven't done that good. So we got relegated after the 2021 season and then we kind of changed a lot around in the strategic parts of the club and how we play football. So we won the second division in Norway, set a new point record and set a new goal scoring record and then we went up to Eliteser and to the Premier League in Norway, came in second and we also won the Cup final that year. So we're really growing as a club. Last season it's the number one year in our hundred years old history that we have it. We earned that much money like, yeah, we really really did well Money-wise and, of course, sports wrestlers wise, that's if that's a word, yeah.

Speaker 1: 4:57

I guess they come hand-in-hand Very often. You're doing well, but your women's team is also doing very well these days, aren't they? Yeah, that's.

Speaker 2: 5:06

Probably why we have the podcast today, isn't it? Because on Wednesday we have a huge match against Barcelona. It's the quarterfinal of the Champions League. That women's team in one is pretty new. It's two years old now. It's on weekend, which is suburban Bergen. It's had a really good focus on women's football and as a good history with that, they saw that if they want to build something or more, they should go to Bronn. So Almost everybody agreed on that and they became part of Bronn two years ago, won the Cup and League the first year, the double the first year, and Didn't do that well the next season. But it's really growing and we see the. The interest around the women's team is. It's huge, sharon Berg, you know. And finally, if you have a son and a daughter, you can tell both of them that one day you can play at one stadium in a blonde shirt. You can do that before. So that's it's a massive thing for us, yeah.

Speaker 1: 6:09

That's amazing. So what happened really was that there was a separate team, a different name, a different location, but then it's merged into Bronn. Yeah or time right? No, I think it's a great story and, as you mentioned, this Wednesday Upcoming Wednesday they're playing Barcelona in the quarterfinal of Champions League. How many people will be able to see that match live?

Speaker 2: 6:33

That's the sad part of the story. It's that we are Changing at one stadium, our main arena. Here. We changed in the turf to hybrid grass, so I just got an email now with a photo of the grass coming from Italy. So we don't have our main arena ready for it, so we play at what's on a re now. It's a suburb north of Bergen. Capacity is only 3200 or something like around that, so it got sold out just a couple of minutes. So If we had an air at Bond standing it would be packed, but unfortunately only 3500. But it's still gonna be a great atmosphere and, yeah, really looking forward to it.

Speaker 1: 7:20

Great. I'm sure it'll be huge success and I mean it also is a good start for what's gonna come in the future. Right at Bronn Stadium, a week later, the tables turn and the women's team go to Barcelona, where Barcelona will welcome them at a study. Hong Kong is where there's room for about 6000 people. How many a wave fans do you think will be traveling from that match?

Speaker 2: 7:44

We have sold 540 tickets for our fans and I also know that Some people didn't want to wait for them so they bought tickets next to the way section. So I'm guessing around 650 Supporters gonna go to that match. So that's more than we get. Primarily here in Norway have away fans at the men's matches. So it's, yeah, it's even in Easter holiday here, so it's not cheap to go to Barcelona attack down here. So it's, yeah, it's, it's amazing.

Speaker 1: 8:21

Now, that's great. It'll regret that was very Barcelona as well. Yeah, thinking of big matches, is this one of the biggest match in the history of ask a brand?

Speaker 2: 8:32

Yeah, it probably is. We played Liverpool in the men's European makeup in 97 in the quarterfinal there, which was a Big thing back then. But, like, barcelona is now, yeah, next to Leon, the biggest team in women's football and If you see the budget and their interest and like, yeah, it's a big, big club and really a club to look up to. So, yeah, this is a huge match for us and probably the biggest in history of Bono.

Speaker 1: 9:06

So there's something about the 20th of March and, in history, of one, so let's pay visit to the men's side. As you mentioned, you're doing quite well there as well and these days, with silver medals in the series last year and a quite nice track record in Europe, how are the expectations for the 2024 season for Brown in Bergen?

Speaker 2: 9:32

I think some of our competitors are doing really good. Just Bordeleumt and Molda have had some good games in Europe now have big budgets and there's also some clubs like Tungse and Vicky who is really up there and trying to go to Europe as well. So the expectations for Brandeis season is top four, I think. To go for the goal we always say that the goal is coming home. We do that every year because it never comes home Just three times in our entire history. But people in Bergen will always say that the goal is coming home. So for me I can say we're going for the goal. But if you asked the coach, the head coach, they would never say that Because the Norwegian Premier League I call the Premier League a league, to say it.

Speaker 2: 10:22

It's really good at the moment and you can see that with some of the results that Bordeleumt and Molda has had in Europe. See some of the players who sold to leagues in Europe and of course, all on and on and on and all those players. You see that something happening in Norwegian football. Yeah, I'm really proud to be a part of Norwegian football at the moment because all the clubs are really working their asses off at the moment. But for us, I think it's going to be a great season for ticketing wise, and we have a lot of sponsors knocking on our door, we have a lot of people who want to do collaborations with us and all parts of the business, so it's going to be a busy and really fun year, I think.

Speaker 1: 11:08

I look forward to it as well. And you mentioned that the gold comes home to Bergen. I think I heard once that's a tradition, isn't it the local brewery? They make a gold beer every time. You guys take the gold home and it's been a close call, hasn't it a couple of times? And I think they actually made it too early last time, or was it?

Speaker 2: 11:30

before that yeah, I think it was in 2017 or 2018, if I remember it correctly they started making it, yeah, optimist. That's the thing about people from Bergen is that you try to be ironic. I had a boss in my old job who was from Ponyam, the home city of Rosenborg, and he was so pissed off at people from Bergen's always saying that the gold is coming home. Who do we think we are? And I just had to know we're going to win this season, we're going to win this season, then we're going to win the next season. And then he would laugh at me and then I was like really, do you really think that we mean it? Do you really think that everybody means it? We haven't won since 1963 and then we won in 2007. But you have to believe.

Speaker 1: 12:20

Believe is the most important thing for a football fan 100% agree, but I think there's a lot of fans who believe this year you have I mean, is it a record the amount of season tickets you're selling now? 10,000, is that right?

Speaker 2: 12:35

Yeah, we had more in 2008, but then the capacity was different back then. I had a larger capacity back then, so this is definitely a record in modern times. So 10,000. Now we have to stop selling at 10,000 because Bonn is a club for everybody and not everybody can afford to buy season tickets, and we also understand that how the features are. In Norway, it's like you can have some games in the middle of the summer vacation. Suddenly there's maybe like 50% of the matches are played in April and May. So it's, yeah, we have to stop it at 10,000. So everybody can join our matches and see them.

Speaker 1: 13:22

So that's two beautiful words sold out. That's a nice thing to say. So good luck with that Matse. It's going to be great to follow. Thank you. One question I mean now that women's team is moving into the stadium as well, does this mean that you have 10,000 season ticket holders that will be able to go to the women's team matches as well this season?

Speaker 2: 13:45

This is something we have to work on now. This is the first season for the women's team at Bonn Stadium and we get a lot of questions about this. So how we can do it is that we can, of course, sell one season ticket that you get both matches. But then again it's like some people just want the women's team, some just want the men's team and those seats will they be empty when the women's play? In my head, it's not correct that the women's team should be like an add-on product. You should really have people who wants to see those games.

Speaker 2: 14:23

It's different groups that come to the women's team. We see that all over Europe, like in Arsenal and Manchester United, for example. They say that they have different groups that go to the men's team. It's more women with their children and for us it's a really exciting new group to work with. So at the moment we sell two stands that you can buy a season ticket for at the women's team, and then we also have like a different VIP section which is a bit cheaper. To buy a VIP season ticket for the women's team you get a snack, you get to meet some players, you get to meet people who work at Bonn and you can chat with other people inside the stadium. So it's really cool to try out some new concepts that we can't do with the men's team because it's so packed, and also we want to recruit more people from other sports teams in Berg, especially for young girls and young women who come to the games.

Speaker 1: 15:24

Super cool and basically, you can be more innovative, right yeah, which is great, and testing new things, etc. I think it's a great opportunity, for sure.

Speaker 2: 15:35

For men. We learn something and we learn other things from the women's team. The women's team has always had a meet and greet after the matches, so we did that a couple of times with the men's team as well and we see that that actually sells a lot more tickets to families and younger people that they can actually meet their heroes after the match, and that's a really cool thing for a lot of young people to go and meet the players after the match.

Speaker 1: 16:03

Great, good match to experience, for sure. So, switching tags a little bit here at MOTS, let's discuss a little bit of ticketing, because that's a big part of your day and you spend a lot of time working with ticketing and afterwards, the ticketing podcast. Where do you see ticketing progressing in the next three to four years? Will we see something that we haven't seen before? Will there be any products coming? The big wave of AI? When you're looking into the future, what do you see?

Speaker 2: 16:33

MOTS I think that COVID killed a lot of innovation in ticketing. Why should you sell tickets to something you can't go to? But still it looks like for me as a user when I tried to get some matches abroad during the season if it's like visit Sun Zero or go to England and see some matches there, and sometimes it's so complicated. So I really hope that it's going to get much easier to buy tickets in the future and I also think that the technology with AI would probably help you a lot finding the perfect ticket for you, because sometimes if I buy a ticket at Sun Zero, I look at the price, I look at where do I want to sit. So if I go with my wife and I like would she like to be with the Ultras, and I'll add, that's a good experience I wouldn't buy a ticket there with the Ultras and it was a good experience.

Speaker 2: 17:29

But you sit there with like a feeling that what did I buy? What kind of ticket is this? You have no idea, right, and it's all in Italian and everything, and I think if some program or something could choose the best ticket for me and my wife, I think that's going to come and also hopefully a lot easier for us who works with ticketing. Like, if you didn't take it, tokar Olukan, come to the match, sell that ticket, yeah. And also like coming into the match with the turnstiles and everything. I think that's going to get a lot easier. Hopefully it's going to be a lot easier.

Speaker 1: 18:08

I mean, it sounds like you have a good wish. Lizzer Moths and I couldn't agree more. But what about the other way around? Is there any features out there that you wish were never invented?

Speaker 2: 18:18

That's a really good question. That was never invented the plastic seasoned ticket card, which has never been invented. Everybody should have a smartphone, please. I can't say there's one specific thing, but I have a big problem with the seat maps. I think seat maps are really bad. In almost every ticketing platform you use, it's so difficult to find that seat. Of course, I understand that if you have 50,000 seats it's going to be difficult to present them, but we get a lot of people who buy a ticket and I think it's there, and then they come and they sit in the rain because they picked the first row and they thought it was the upper row. Even when I buy tickets myself, or like Yulevol or Old Trafford or the Den, you don't really know where you're going to sit. I see some folks have pictures of this is where you sit and this is what you see, but still you're not 100% sure that's the view you're going to have. You come there and it's suddenly something in the way. So I think, like seat maps, that's a big hassle.

Speaker 1: 19:34

Yeah, I mean, you mentioned it on your wishlist, right? The personalized ticketing. I think once you're personalized ticketing, you might not even need a seat map in the future, right? Why would you? We know that you prefer the rain, jörgenberg, and maybe you'd like to have an open roof over you, who knows?

Speaker 2: 19:52

I want to be where the best atmosphere is. I don't want to be next to the way supporters. I need a safe place for me and my children. My leg hurts so I need to sit at the end of a row. I think that's going to be good for the future and, of course, as a football fan, the easiest and the best thing would be just to buy a ticket and it would be a free seat thing. I went to Belgium in December and saw a lot of matches there and it would be like the main stands would just be standing and you just buy a ticket and you go in and you find your place and that's like for me, that's the most real experience. But as you progress as a club and you sell out and you have different groups of people coming, so I think that's going to be a really cool feature of you if we get that.

Speaker 1: 20:43

In the future. Very good input, mats. So we're all about traditions, aren't we here in this podcast? One of them is to ask our guests about their matchday rituals. Someone told me that you have a special one, mats, and that one involves both electric scooters and a rock and roll tune. I don't know if they go hand in hand, but at least do you mind sharing it with us?

Speaker 2: 21:12

Work at one stadium and I live like five minutes away from the stadium. So when I go to the match day I always take an electric scooter. I stop just before I see the stadium. I put on a tune which is a supporter song, which is a rock band called the 12 man, then told them on it's called the Masterlog and the beginning I'm not going to translate the whole sentence, but one of the first lines is that somebody is at the Mount Flayan. So then I see Mount Flayan and I go around the corner on the scooter and I see the stadium and I go into the stadium up to my office, a cup of coffee, and when I sit down the song stops and then I'm ready for the match.

Speaker 1: 21:58

Perfect timing. Very, very good. I think that's a good tip for everyone.

Speaker 2: 22:03

I can just say maybe it's stupid, but it gets me to think about the town and it gets me to think about the club and it's so important for us working here with people. Bergen and the city and one is so close connected yeah definitely.

Speaker 1: 22:19

I think it's not stupid, because it serves a very important purpose for sure, and I agree with you. So another tradition. We have a month and that is to sum up the discussion, and if you would do that for us, that would be fantastic. Two to three key takeaways. You want our listeners to remember from the conversation. Who those be?

Speaker 2: 22:42

As for us, at the moment, when we have Barcelona here for the women's team and we have a new record now in modern time with season tickets for the men's team, would be to just throw yourself into it. That's how we work. We just throw ourselves into it. Just do the next thing on the list and try to do it as best you can. It's a really simple advice, but it could destroy us. Imagine having we could have sold out the stadium. 16,000 people could come to see Barcelona, but it's only 3,000. So imagine all the emails we get. Imagine all the people you know your family members, the family members of the coaches and who needs tickets and we have to say no to so many people. But just throw yourself into it and try to learn from everybody. Learn from like. For us, we learn from Budigan, but we also learn from our women's team experience and from our men's team. So also learn from yourself, not just all the other clubs. And, of course, when we sell out 10,000 season tickets, marketing wise.

Speaker 2: 23:46

We haven't talked that much about it, but we have created a new world. I don't know how to translate it Bilat angst, which is like inside of not getting the ticket for the match. So we've done a lot of marketing around the FOMO, the fear of missing out which always been like a dream, like you have to go to the matches at one stadium. If you don't go there, you're not part of anything. You know what I mean. So when we sell out so many times and we know we're going to have a European conference league qualification, we know that people is going to have that anxiety not getting the tickets. Is that a correct word? Anxiety for not getting tickets Is that correctly?

Speaker 1: 24:28

translated, I think it's a definition of FOMO. For sure, yeah.

Speaker 2: 24:32

Yeah, and the last thing is never stop pushing your ticketing provider, never stop.

Speaker 1: 24:42

That's a good. That's very good. That's very good. Put them on the edge. I couldn't agree more, Mots, Thank you so much. It's been a privilege to have you as our guest. I mean, with the knowledge you have, the things you're doing at the club now with the women's team, I think it's super interesting. People want to learn more from you, Mots. Is there any way for them to reach out? How could they get hold of you?

Speaker 2: 25:04

Yeah, sure, write me an email. I'm not going to spell it, but you can find it on baronno or on LinkedIn. Of course. I'm there, motslieber, and I'm on Twitter. I'm on Facebook, just reach out. Maybe LinkedIn would be better.

Speaker 1: 25:21

Great Thank you. You're not far away. The world is small. For sure We'll find you in Bergen as well. Mots at Brand Stadium. Thank you so much. It's been great to have you as our guest. You've been listening to ticketingpodcastcom, where today's guest has been Mots Lieber, head of marketing and ticketing at SK Brand. Thank you again, and thank you to our sponsor, ticketco, for powering this podcast. My name is Kallerik Moberg and until next time, have a great day. Thank you.