Sussex firm's unique idea is just the ticket for success (From The Argus)

Sussex firm's unique idea is just the ticket for success

12:55pm Tuesday 22nd September 2009

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COMPANY PROFILE

NAME: Ticketmedia

BUSINESS NATURE: Printing and media sales

DATE ESTABLISHED: Early 1990s

LOCATION: Maple Works, Old Shoreham Road, Hove

NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: 19

ANNUAL TURNOVER: £2.3 million

Bus tickets, train tickets and till roll are items many of us handle every day without giving it too much thought.

But these small bits of paper are far from insignificant for Hove-based Ticketmedia – for which they have created a £2.3 million turnover.

The company has come a long way.

It started 20 years ago as a paper converter, cutting large rolls of paper into smaller ones.

It is now the only firm in the UK to offer advertising on the back of transport tickets.

The firm has achieved a huge 50% year-on-year growth for the past three years since it was bought by managing director Jeremy Burbidge and chief executive Tim Davies.

Susannah Burbidge, sales and marketing director, said: “It has now become a media sales business.

“Our current managing director was the production director.

“At the time they were busy fellows, working terribly hard at the business. But while the company was doing well, it wasn’t as busy as they had hoped.

“About 15 years ago they thought, hang on, why can’t we put an advert on the back of the bus tickets?”

A trial was arranged with a small fast food company for a special offer advert, and the more than encouraging results led them to approach giants KFC.

The colonel signed up and the rest, as they say, was history.

Susannah added: “It worked well for KFC – they were almost running out of chicken. They are still great customers of ours today.

“As a company, we took the decision that the transport ticket idea had validated itself as an advertising medium.”

Like all good ideas, it now seems like a no-brainer – promote a business to an audience that will literally take the advert in their hands.

For £1,350, a company can advertise on the back of a bus ticket with 250,000 adverts.

On average, a bus ticket will have 1.75 adverts on the back.

So why aren’t there more ticket media sales companies turning a profit?

It boils down to the fact that Ticketmedia has solid printing technology at its foundation.

Susannah said: “Jeremy Burbidge is an engineer by trade. All of our machines are bespoke and have been designed by him.

“That has enabled us to have very short production runs, which is the reason why we can do what we do.

“People have tried to do what we do over the years after seeing the potential and how well we have done.

“However, they haven’t got the production technology and are not prepared to make the investment like we do.”

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