PRESS. Indie Festivals Turn to Best Friend Gigantic To Take The Strain

Hundreds of independent festival organisers from across the UK are turning to Gigantic in a bid to secure a competitive advantage in a saturated marketplace.

With no let up in the growth of the UK’s festival sector, the independent ticket agency is reaping the rewards of stepping up to relieve the pressures facing the festival organiser.

With almost 300 festivals on sale, Gigantic is on track to double the size of its festival roster over the last three years, with an 84 percent increase in the number of festivals it put on sale between 2015 to 2018.

From lack of time and resource to effectively manage customer relations and ensuring safe and quick access for thousands of people to their event, the festival organiser can often struggle to cope with the myriad demands on their time.

Mark Gasson, Gigantic, said: “Festivals up and down the UK hit the headlines for the wrong reasons last year - whether it was leaving customers waiting for hours in the baking sun as their access control failed or failing to manage communications when things go wrong leaving customers to air grievances on social media instead. These can all impact on the bottom line or even spell the end of a festival as people opt to go elsewhere next time.”

Cornwall's internationally recognised, multi-award winning Leopallooza; Kent’s biggest music festival Southbeats; family-friendly weekend festival PennFest; Chagstock and Handmade are among the latest to appoint Gigantic as their lead ticketing agent.

With more than a decade in the ticket industry, Gigantic has drawn on its experience to become an invaluable one stop shop with bespoke packages offering quick and easy purchase process, marketing, website integration, customer service and payment plans.

Mark added: “We have significantly strengthened our position within the extremely competitive marketplace over the past 18 months. We pride ourself on working closely with festival organisers because we are passionate about what we do. We are proud to be independent, which allows us to be flexible and supportive. We consider ourselves as the best friend to independent festival and events.”

This year alone an estimated 500,000 customers will be scanned through its queue-busting, access control system used at events across the country. Using its own secure network, Gigantic avoids the pitfalls of replying on patchy WiFi, essential with e-tickets often being the sole method of entry.

Derbyshire’s indie music festival, Indietracks (27-29 July), has seen huge benefits to them as organisers and to the festival goer since getting Gigantic on board to relieve the strain and workload of handling the ticketing inhouse.

Andrea Hett, Indietracks, said: “We couldn’t be happier; Gigantic has become part of our team, provided a smoother and clearer experience for our customers, reduced our workload massively and made it quicker for people to enter the festival with its handy wireless access control system.”

Gigantic works with some of the biggest independent festivals in the UK, including Tramlines, The Great Escape, Shrewsbury Folk Festival and more. Its festival roster also includes Reading & Leeds, Lovebox, Latitude, and Download.

Gigantic’s festival offer includes a fully responsive white label ticketing service, allowing all tracking and data collection in accordance with GDPR regulations; industry leading customer service; on site access control by a fully trained team with robust equipment enabling customers to get in quickly and securely hassle free; advance access to funds and a bespoke booking fee/rebate structure; marketing to its 750,000+ database, with further ad-hoc activity when and where required including social media takeovers, live video, segmented solus mailers and exclusive affiliate tie ins.