Spectra by Comcast Spectacor Announces Client Community Awards From Annual PACnet '17 Conference

IRVINE, CA--(Marketwired - Feb 28, 2017) - Spectra by Comcast Spectacor today announced its Ticketing & Fan Engagement division has recognized five clients as recipients of its annual awards from PACnet '17, an annual community conference held Feb. 12-15, 2017 at the Newport Beach Marriott Hotel & Spa in Newport Beach.

Playhouse Square, National Hot Rod Association (NHRA), and University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) were recognized as Star of the Year award winners, while the Mississippi State University (Mississippi State) was acknowledged as Rookie of the Year and Cincinnati Arts Association was honored with the third-annual Founder's Award. Each organization was recognized Feb. 14 during the annual awards keynote.

Spectra Ticketing & Fan Engagement executives Kim Damron, Chief Operating Officer, and Steve Demots, Senior Vice President of Business Development, announced Playhouse Square, NHRA, and Ole Miss as recipients of the 2016 Star of the Year Awards in their respective genres. Each organization was acknowledged for exceeding expectations, achieving exceptional results by improving the customer experience through innovative programs, showing overall success in ticketing, marketing and fundraising, and embracing Spectra's technologies and services.

"We are thrilled to honor Playhouse Square, NHRA, and Ole Miss as recipients of our esteemed Star of the Year awards," said Kim Damron, Chief Operating Officer of Spectra Ticketing & Fan Engagement. "Each organization has distinguished itself as an industry thought leader. They have exceeded expectations and enhanced their overall business and operations through thoughtful partnership with Spectra, including implementing new initiatives, technology, services and functionalities to improve the customer experience and better serve their fans."

Playhouse Square was recognized as the Star of the Year from performing arts for their achievements in ticketing, eCommerce, marketing and fundraising. The Cleveland-based theatre has a pioneering spirit with technology, often being first-to-market. This year, they were the first Spectra performing arts client to implement the combination of Salesforce CRM and Marketing Automation, and the first Spectra performing arts client ever to launch a custom Personalized URL (PURL) to their subscriber base. They have made noteworthy achievements in sales, growing their Broadway subscription to a three-week run. Playhouse Square has created an exceptional online consumer experience by selling gift cards, promos and donations, as well as integrated hotel packages in their ticket-buying process.

Acknowledged as the Star of the Year from the pro sports, arenas and ticket partners genre, NHRA was recognized for their inventive and thorough use of the tools in the Spectra Ticketing & Fan Engagement Platform. The organization reached its highest paid attendance in the last five years in 2016, entertaining more than 1 million fans throughout the season. The NHRA works with Spectra Ticketing & Fan Engagement to ticket seven multi-day events across the country making full use of the platform including online renewals, pick-your-own-seat maps, upselling and cross/selling, creative packaging, and print-at-home and mobile delivery. For the 2015-16 season, the NHRA marketing team realized a more than 22x return on investment using Google Services with Spectra. They also achieved success using retargeting, including for the 2016 Topeka Kansas Nationals event at Heartland Park, where retargeting across all channels led to a return on ad spend (ROAS) of $14:$1. NHRA also implemented Experience Upgrades through Spectra Ticketing & Fan Engagement's integration, creating a significant ancillary revenue stream as well as a great fan experience.

Ole Miss was presented with the college athletics Star of the Year award and recognized for their overall excellence in ticketing, marketing, fundraising and student ticketing efforts. Ole Miss continues to grow in their commitment to partnering with Spectra. They push the envelope on best practices and utilization of new products and services, continuing to adopt everything that Spectra has to offer. This year, they implemented StubHub, Marketing Automation and Salesforce, coming out of the gate aggressive. Ole Miss rolled out more than 15 customized Quick Donate instances to drive sport-specific giving campaigns. The university launched Marketing Automation including PURLS, cart abandonment, new purchaser welcome campaigns, and digital invoicing for donors. They were also one of the first to launch a fan survey, heavily focused on fan engagement and retention. In addition, they sold more than season tickets online with the Rebels25 auto add donation generating significant gift contributions, delivered tickets via student ID, and enabled student-to-student transfers for the first season. Ole Miss also enhanced their Ballena seat upgrades for football, men's basketball and baseball.

Mississippi State was recognized as this year's Rookie of the Year, an award given to one of the dozens of newly-installed Spectra organizations who embraced new technology and services offered by Spectra Ticketing & Fan Engagement. In their first year of the partnership, Mississippi State raised the bar on quickly embracing new technologies, including becoming a beta for KLEAR Analytics and PACfund. They went 100-percent digital for student ticket sales, transfers and deliveries. Mississippi State embraced our best-in-class partners, integrating with StubHub for direct listings, FanMaker for Student Loyalty, Ballena, and Experience for their season ticket package, upgrades, and experiences while embracing a mobile-first mentality. They were also one of the first to offer an online exchange process for Flex Season Passes for Baseball.

"We are honored to recognize Mississippi State University as our Rookie of the Year for the entire staff's engagement and innovation. They have truly embraced our new partnership and serve as a great example of the great results we can achieve with our partners," said Steve Demots, Senior Vice President of Business Development at Spectra Ticketing & Fan Engagement. "Mississippi State implemented numerous technologies, strategic partnerships and best practices, tapping into what Spectra has to offer from ticketing, marketing, fundraising and reporting."

Cincinnati Arts Association was honored as the recipient of the third-annual Founder's Award, presented by Spectra Ticketing & Fan Engagement (formerly Paciolan) founder Jane Kleinberger. The award recognized Cincinnati Arts Association's great strides achieved since partnering with Spectra Ticketing & Fan Engagement. The spirit of the award encompasses an organization that implements new technologies and strategic initiatives, remarkably utilizes Spectra's tools to generate revenue and a continued willingness to leverage new services to enhance the fan experience.

Cincinnati Arts Association continues to innovate. The organization has embraced new technologies, from the CarbonHouse API and Broadway Across America shared-inventory system, to working to implement Salesforce CRM. They launched the first-ever Instagram retargeting for all-channel ad retargeting, resulting in more optimization between channels. Cincinnati Arts Association's success with Google Search keeps growing and the company is continually adding hundreds of new customers and emails to their database with 67 percent of customers form Google visiting Cincinnatiarts.org for the first time.

"I am pleased to recognize and honor Cincinnati Arts Association, and their entire staff, with the third-annual Founder's Award," said Jane Kleinberger, Founder of Spectra Ticketing & Fan Engagement. "This award commends the journey and great strides Cincinnati Arts Association has made under the leadership of President & Executive Director Steve Loftin and Director of Ticketing Services John Harig since partnering with Spectra. By utilizing all of the tools available to them as part of our Spectra Community, coupled with a strong partnership with Broadway Across America, CAA continually proves itself to be an integral part of their Cincinnati community, promoting the arts through each inspiring and entertaining event."

PACnet '17 was the largest PACnet to date, including more than 750 Spectra clients, strategic business partners and attendees, highlighted by eight keynote speakers, 175 presenters and 60 sessions during the four-day community event.

About Spectra Ticketing & Fan Engagement 
Spectra's Ticketing & Fan Engagement division is a leader in ticketing, fundraising, marketing, and analytics solutions with over 35 years of experience. Spectra Ticketing & Fan Engagement enables college athletic programs, arenas, professional sports, and performing arts clients to sell more than 120 million tickets per year.

About Spectra
Spectra by Comcast Spectacor is the expert in hosting and entertainment, partnering with over 300 clients at 400 global properties to create memorable experiences for millions of visitors every year. Spectra's expertise is embodied within three divisions: Venue Management (formerly Global Spectrum), Food Services & Hospitality (formerly Ovations Food Services) and Ticketing & Fan Engagement (formerly Paciolan). Learn more at SpectraExperiences.com.

About Comcast Spectacor
Comcast Spectacor is part of Comcast Corporation, a global media and technology company that operates Comcast Cable and NBCUniversal. Headquartered in Philadelphia, Pa., Comcast Spectacor's three core businesses are the National Hockey League's Philadelphia Flyers, the Wells Fargo Center venue, and Spectra, the expert in hosting and entertainment through its Venue Management, Food Services & Hospitality, and Ticketing & Fan Engagement divisions. Visit us at ComcastSpectacor.com, PhiladelphiaFlyers.com and
WellsFargoCenterPhilly.com for more information.