PRESS RELEASE: “VIAGOGO AND RUSSELL BRAND TEAM UP TO RAISE MONEY FOR CHARITY”
London, ENG (viagogo) 20 October, 2009 – viagogo (http://www.viagogo.co.uk), has today teamed up with Russell Brand to auction tickets for his upcoming UK tour. Russell has given viagogo premium box seats for his show at the Albert Hall in London on November 8th, one of the FINAL trio shows that bring the curtain down on his hugely popular ‘Scandalous Tour’. This will be the LAST CHANCE to see the explosive and thrilling show LIVE. All of the proceeds from the auctions will go to Russell’s chosen charity Focus12 (www.focus12.co.uk). The charity deals with all aspects of addiction and helped Russell overcome his past addiction problems. Russell has been a patron of Focus12 since 2005.
Successful bidders will not only receive their fantastic private loggia box seats, but will also have the opportunity to meet and be photographed with Russell himself during the interval. Fans should go to http://www.viagogo.co.uk/Russell-Brand-Tickets for the chance to bid for these once in a lifetime tickets and raise money for the Focus12. Food, drinks and programs are also included in the package.
Eric Baker, CEO of viagogo, added: “We are delighted to be working alongside one of the biggest names in comedy right now and over the moon that Russell’s management chose viagogo to run the auction.”
About viagogo
viagogo is Europe’s leading ticket exchange that allows people to buy and sell live event tickets in a safe and 100% guaranteed way. viagogo is bringing efficiency and transparency to what has traditionally been a murky marketplace. By managing payment and delivery, viagogo guarantees that buyers will receive their tickets and sellers will receive payment. For this service, viagogo takes a commission which is a percentage of each exchange.
viagogo was launched in August 2006 with landmark deals to become the official secondary ticketing partner of two of the leading English football clubs Manchester United and Chelsea, making it the only way of legally re-selling tickets to these clubs, due to the special laws in England. Similar partnerships followed with German giants Bayern Munich, Everton, Hearts and leading rugby clubs, Leicester Tigers, London Wasps and Harlequins RFC.
Deals followed with the likes of the Independent and Lastminute.com and Warner Music International became the first music label to partner with a secondary ticketing company. A deal between viagogo and Live Nation in the Netherlands was the first ever partnership between a secondary ticketing company and a music promotion company. viagogo pioneered the first charity auctions, working directly with music artists such as James Blunt and Peter Gabriel.
In May 2008, viagogo struck a partnership with the biggest female recording artist in the world. It became the official premium and secondary ticketing partner for Madonna’s Sticky and Sweet European tour. This is the first time an artist has signed a deal of this kind, signalling a dramatic shift for both the recording and ticketing industries and proving viagogo to be a true market leader.
In November 2008 viagogo moved into theatre with the world’s leading theatre impresario: Andrew Lloyd Webber and his Really Useful Group. Again this was a first, marking the first time that a theatre producer had struck a ticketing deal of this kind.
March 2009 saw viagogo sign a deal with Festival Republic (organisers of the Reading, Leeds and Latitude Festivals) and the Isle of Wight Festival. These historic deals give fans the opportunity to buy and sell tickets to the festivals in a safe and secure environment on viagogo. It is the first time that music festivals have endorsed the secondary ticketing market.
viagogo provides fans with its safe, secure exchange in the UK, Germany, France, Netherlands and the US. Further expansion across Europe will follow in the near future.
viagogo was set up by Eric Baker, the co-founder of StubHub.com, the leading online secondary ticketing company in the US that was acquired in March 2007 by eBay for $307m.
About Russell Brand’s Scandalous Tour
Russell Brand’s FINAL ‘Scandalous’ dates are:
November
Sun 8th LONDON, Royal Albert Hall
Tue 10th DUBLIN, The O2
Wed 11th BELFAST, Odyssey Arena
Russell also releases his third DVD ‘Scandalous – Live At The O2’, November 9th. The highly-charged set was recorded at Russell’s sold out O2 show to an 18,000 strong audience, April 17th. He rolls out two hours of boundary pushing, fantastically original material, confronting ideas that others would never dream of voicing.
Brand, who won ‘Best Live Stand-Up Performer’ at 2008s British Comedy Awards, kicked off his critically acclaimed 30-date ‘Scandalous Tour’ back in January. It was also brought to Australia for four performances and New York as part of a one-hour special for Comedy Central. www.russellbrand.tv
For more information about viagogo please contact:
Harry Porter or Louise Myson at freud communications
Tel: 020 3003 6300; Email: [email protected]
