Gigantic aims for ‘next level’ after promotions

Gigantic Tickets’ Simon Carpenter has shared his hopes of taking the UK agency to the “next level” after being elevated to co-CEO, kicking off a new era for the DEAG-backed business.

Carpenter, who has led the commercial team for the last nine years, will serve as co-CEO alongside company founder Mark Gasson, and also joins the board as part of a series of senior promotions at the Nottingham-based firm.

In addition, Joe Lilley becomes co-CTO alongside existing CTO James Woodward after 13 years on the core technical team, while Kelly McKinney is upped to head of operations following eight years working in event management & client services at Gigantic.

“I want to take it to the next level,” Carpenter tells IQ. “I want to build on the foundations laid by Mark and James and continue to grow the company – and for us to be the ticket agent for new music as well as established artists.

“I’ve been working within Gigantic for close to 10 years now and have learned a lot from Mark, which means there’s a lot of continuity there, but Mark and James are still heavily involved and will shape what the company looks like. I’ll just take more of a steer on commercial matters.”

One of the UK’s leading ticket agencies, Gigantic was launched in 2007 and is part of the KMJ Entertainment group. Carpenter describes the last 12 months as “very strong” for the firm.

“In terms of the ticketing market, I think it’s very open. There is still a lot of opportunity in the rock and pop world”

“We’ve broken some records and had our biggest selling stadium shows ever on the system with Stereophonics at Principality Stadium in Cardiff,” he notes. “We’ve got more onsales in the pipeline for the next six months that we’re really positive about, we’ve got new clients that have come on board that will start to grow and sell more tickets for us, so we’re very excited about what the next six months brings.”

He continues: “In terms of the ticketing market, I think it’s very open. There is still a lot of opportunity in the rock and pop world. There has been a massive upsurge in interest and as long as that stays the same, the market will always be strong.

“I want us to be on the front foot, future-proofed and deliver products and innovations for our clients and for our customers to make ticket buying very much hassle-free.”

German live entertainment group DEAG acquired a 75% stake in Gigantic back in 2009, but Carpenter suggests little has changed from an operational point of view.

“DEAG has always treated us as our own standalone company and allowed us to make our own independent decisions,” he reflects. “We’re still able to compete in the market and work with whoever we choose to work with, so we’ve maintained the independent spirit we’ve always had.”

Gasson adds: “I’m proud to see such a positive promotion of our internal team, which is testament to the ongoing hard work and commitment of the talent here at Gigantic. We look forward to a future of continued growth and strength.”

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