“Celebrity Access,” viagogo CEO added to Ticket Summit

Celebrity Access, a leading provider of news and information to the live performance industry, will be the media sponsor for Ticket Summit 2008, the third annual secondary ticket industry conference scheduled for July 23-25 at the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino in Las Vegas. In addition, industry heavyweight Eric Baker, co-founder of StubHub and founder of viagogo.com has been added to the line up of speakers.

The collaborative marketing partnership between Ticket Summit and Celebrity Access will provide exposure of Ticket Summit 2008 in editorial coverage and banner ads in Celebrity Access' industry newsletter, Encore, in the months leading up to the conference. Through the sponsorship, Celebrity Access will be granted exposure to attendees at Ticket Summit 2008 via the event's web site, in addition to a booth presence and an opportunity to provide a presentation during the conference.

Ticket Summit 2008 is the leading trade show and conference in the secondary ticket industry, and this year’s event expects to bring together more than 1,000 attendees, composed of experts and leaders within the ticket community, offering them a chance to establish and foster relationships valuable to their business.

"We are excited that the live entertainment industry's leading source for venue, artist and tour information has teamed up with TicketNetwork.com to co-promote Ticket Summit 2008," said Molly Martinez, Executive Director, Ticket Summit, which is owned by TicketNews owner TicketNetwork. "The unparalleled data Celebrity Access provides to entertainment industry decision makers will be available to Ticket Summit 2008 attendees in free trials along with other partner incentives at the event."

Baker is CEO and founder of viagogo, Europe's leading ticket entity. Prior to viagogo, Baker co-founded StubHub, the leading U.S. online secondary ticketing company for live events. Baker graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard College and received his MBA at Stanford Business School.

In addition to Baker, two other industry experts have also been chosen as speakers for the event, Lewis Blanchard, president and CEO of Augusta, GA-based Executive Marketing Services, and Gerry Wilson, CEO and co-founder of yoonew.com.

Blanchard has built a strong reputation within the sports marketing and corporate hospitality industry, and has achieved success through the development and planning of complete programs and incentive packages for major sporting events for corporate clients.
Wilson is one of the original thought leaders behind yoonew’s innovative product offering, Fantasy Seats™, which gives die-hard fans the opportunity to lock in ticket prices in advance of playoff or championship contention to some of the most sought-after events in the world. Wilson holds an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management and a BSE in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University.