Maik Erkelenz

Maik Erkelenz is the Global Director Marketing at vivenu, helping event organizers reclaim data sovereignty via API-first ticketing. Drawing on over nine years of experience as a Business Consulting Director and Data Protection Officer, he scales SaaS marketing through CX, CRM, and cybersecurity. Maik also serves on the board of TV Osterath, leading digital growth and youth development for his local club.

Maik Erkelenz

Expertise

SaaS Marketing in Live Entertainment TechDigitalization ConsultingCustomer Experience (CX)Customer Relationship ManagementData Protection (GDPR)Brand StrategyDigital MarketingBusiness Development

Experience

  • Global Director Marketing

    vivenu · 2024 – present

  • Director Business Consulting

    CROSSMEDIA Deutschland · 2020-2024

  • Head of Digital Consulting

    adisfaction GmbH · 2017-2019

Articles from Maik

4 Trends Shaping Performing Arts Ticketing in 2026

Industry Insights

4 Trends Shaping Performing Arts Ticketing in 2026

About this article This guide is for the ticketing professionals at the operational heart of the arts. While leadership asks about 'innovation,' you are the one who must translate it into reality. We break down the trends that will move you from a data processor to a strategic architect of the patron journey.. 1. Automated Workflows and the AI-Powered Back Office Manual data entry is the primary bottleneck for your team. Performing arts organizations are replacing tedious back-office tasks with automated workflows that act as an invisible engine for operations. AI now accelerates this process. These tools handle the heavy lifting of audience segmentation by grouping patrons based on actual purchase history. This happens without the need for manual exports to a CRM. Guest expectations have fundamentally shifted. Anyone attending an event today simply assumes that digital self-service options are available. Managing bookings, exchanging tickets, updating account details, all of this should be possible without calling the box office. Automating these processes gives your team something valuable back: the time and headspace to focus on what really matters. The relationship with the guest. 2. The Rise of Multi-Faceted Experience Bundles The definition of a ticket is expanding. Live entertainment access is no longer just a seat in a row. It is a gateway to a broader experience. Theaters now offer digital streams, dining packages, merchandise, and exclusive backstage access within a single transaction. You are becoming the architect of the digital story. As leadership pushes for higher revenue, your ability to bundle gastronomy or backstage access into a single checkout is what justifies your seat at the strategy table. It’s not just a ticket; it’s a fiduciary responsibility to maximize the value of every visit. KKL Luzern provides a clear example of this shift. They unified concert tickets, gastronomy, and partner events into a single checkout process. They used an API-first architecture to ensure the brand remained front and center while the technology stayed hidden. 3. The Tension Between Flexibility and Revenue Predictability Patron behavior is changing. And so are the demands on ticketing. Traditional season tickets remain the financial backbone for many institutions. At the same time, younger generations are increasingly rejecting rigid schedules. They don't want to commit to an entire season. They want to choose, combine, and curate their own cultural calendar. This creates a tension in ticketing. On one side, the institutional need for predictable revenue. On the other, the guest's desire for flexibility. A good strategy finds the way between the two. Flex passes are one way to solve this problem. A guest purchases a package for four performances of their choice. They select from the program themselves, book the dates they want, and complete everything in a single transaction. You retain full control throughout: over pricing, availability, and which performances are included in the package at all. You also set the terms. Whether that means individual multi-show packages, specific access for different audience segments, or demographically tailored offers. A good ticketing software helps you bring any vision to life. 4. Data sovereignty as a strategic foundation Data sovereignty means: you know who your guests are, how they behave, and what drives them and that information belongs entirely to you. Not to a platform. Not to a third-party provider. To you. That sounds obvious. In practice, it rarely is. Many cultural institutions sell their tickets through systems that retain the most valuable data: purchase histories, behavioral signals, contact details. What remains is revenue without context. A full house, but no knowledge of who was sitting in it. That's a problem, because guest data is one of the most important strategic assets an organisation holds. Giving it away means giving away the ability to truly understand your guests, reach them in a targeted way, and build lasting relationships. Those who own this data can put it to work. AI-powered systems help read behavioral signals directly within the platform: premium seat choices, loyalty across different genres, frequency of visits. On that basis, individual offers can be created that reach the right guest at the right moment. And that moment, the checkout, is also the moment of highest attention. It's the point where a transaction can become something more. Not through pressure, but through relevance. A guest who has just chosen a ticket for a production that matters to them is open to the question of whether they'd like to contribute beyond that. For example with vivenu Fundraise, exactly this moment can be captured with targeted donation prompts directly in the checkout flow. A ticket purchase becomes a deeper relationship. A guest becomes a patron. Not by chance, but through the right infrastructure at the right time. Final Thoughts The relationship between an artist and their audience begins long before the lights go down. It begins at the moment of decision, when someone buys a ticket, puts together a package, chooses an evening that matters to them. Cultural institutions that own that moment own more than a transaction. They own the entry point into a relationship that can extend far beyond the evening itself. Automation, flexible ticketing models, data sovereignty, AI-powered segmentation. These are not technology topics. They are strategic decisions about who the future of the institution belongs to. By taking control of your architecture and your data, you ensure that your institution can grow and thrive on its own terms.

Maik ErkelenzApril 21, 2026
The Fan Identity Problem

Industry Insights

The Fan Identity Problem

Who am I? You know the game. A name on your forehead that everyone else can see, except you. So you start asking questions. Is it a person? Are they still alive? Are they famous? Question by question, you close in on the answer. But as long as no one gives you the right information, you're stuck in the dark, even though the answer is sitting right in front of you the whole time. Full stadiums, empty databases Look closely at how most sports organizations operate today, and something familiar starts to emerge. Many of them are playing exactly that game. The fans are there. They buy tickets, show up on matchdays, wear the jersey. Everyone can see them. But the organization they support don't know who they are. The organization estimates. It assumes. It wonders whether the fans come back, without ever knowing the answer. The Anonymous Fan Index, an industry-wide study on this topic, published a number in 2026 that gives you pause: sports organizations have identifiable first-party data on just 24% of their fans. Three out of four people buying tickets and filling the seats are commercially invisible. One in three rights holders estimates they lose between one and five million dollars annually as a result. And here's what makes it strange: it's not because stadiums are empty. Attendances are up. Social media reach is growing. Merchandise is selling. The attention is there. Organizations just don't know, in most cases, who it belongs to. Where Does the Data Come From? Across the entire fan journey, there is exactly one moment where an anonymous fan can become known to organizations. Not when they scroll through the club's Instagram feed. Not when they watch a highlights video on YouTube. And not when they buy a shirt through a third-party shop that processes the order and keeps the data. It's the ticket purchase. 67% of all identifiable fan data is generated through the ticketing process. More than through loyalty programs, more than through social media, more than at any other touchpoint between a club and its fans. The moment someone buys a ticket is the moment they say: I'm in. I'm real. I'm interested. That signal belongs to either you or someone else. There is no middle ground. And yet, for most organizations, this was never a conscious decision. It happened through structures that grew over time, through legacy contracts, through the quiet assumption that this is just how ticketing works. What's worth saying clearly: this is not a technical problem. It's a fundamental strategic one. The decision not to own this data was made, most likely without fully understanding what was being given up. What Changes When You Start Knowing Imagine you don't just see that 4,200 tickets were sold. You know that 800 of them went to people attending for the first time. They are people who will decide in the coming weeks whether it was worth it. You know that 340 of your most loyal season ticket holders haven't renewed for next season yet. You know which fans buy early and which wait until the last minute, which matches drive a spike in demand and which fans show up no matter who's on the pitch. That knowledge changes how you work. The first-time visitor doesn't get a generic email. They get an offer that brings them back before the memory of matchday fades. The season ticket holder who hasn't renewed gets re-engaged early, while there's still time. The fan who buys regularly but has never upgraded gets a targeted offer for a better seat or a hospitality package. And the fan who's been there for two seasons gets something that recognizes that, because loyalty has a value worth acting on. It's a fundamentally different way of working. Not because you suddenly have more data, but because the data starts to mean something. Instead of broadcasting to a crowd, you're speaking to people whose behavior you understand. Decisions get made on real signals. Problems get spotted early enough to do something about them. Clubs that work this way stop reacting to numbers. They start understanding people. And when you understand your fans, you can make them offers that land, create experiences that stick, and build a commercial foundation that holds regardless of what happens on the pitch. From Fan to Fan Relationship The name on your forehead. The questions piling up. The answer that everyone else already knows. In the game, the guessing eventually ends. Someone tells you, if you can't figure it out yourself. In ticketing, that doesn't happen on its own. Knowing your fan means recognizing them at the moment they reveal themselves. That moment is the ticket purchase.

Maik ErkelenzApril 15, 2026
What Data Sovereignty Really Means in Sports Ticketing

Industry Insights

What Data Sovereignty Really Means in Sports Ticketing

Imagine this scenario: a major rivalry game. Demand is higher than usual. The ticket shop is live. And yet, the West Stand remains one-third empty. Why? No one can say for sure. There were clicks. There was interest. Somewhere between seat selection and payment, part of that demand disappeared. Where exactly, and why, remains unclear. This is where data ownership and data sovereignty start to diverge. What you know, and what you understand Most sports organizations sit on solid datasets. Purchase histories, contact details, revenue numbers. That is data ownership: knowing who bought, when, and how. Data sovereignty starts when you understand why someone didn’t. It sounds like a small distinction. In reality, it changes how you operate. If you only look at transactional data, you always see the same picture. Decent numbers. No context. No cause. You see the outcome, not the path that led there. The decisive moments happen earlier. In the search. In seat selection. In how a price is perceived. In the decision to continue or drop off. Demand does not start at checkout. It builds across a series of small decisions. If you can’t see those steps, you are guessing. The signals most teams never see Data sovereignty means access to what happens before and during the buying process. Demand before revenue Which sections get consistent attention but don’t convert? Which matchups drive traffic that never turns into sales? This is where pricing, offer, or timing start to break. Real-time buying dynamics How fast do different fan groups react when sales open? Where does momentum build, and where does it stall? This tells you early whether a game will carry itself or needs support. Friction in the funnel Where do fans drop off? On mobile? At a specific price point? During the transition from seat map to cart? Without this visibility, optimization stays guesswork. Campaign impact and causality Which campaign actually drove purchase intent, not just clicks? Which segments respond to which message? Once you can connect that, budgets become more precise. These signals exist. In many setups, they are either not captured or spread across systems that don’t connect. What changes when you have this visibility Once you see these signals, your approach to ticketing shifts. You no longer react after a game underperforms. You intervene while demand is still forming. A simple example: A seating section gets a high number of views but low conversions Traffic continues to increase The signal is clear: interest exists, conversion does not Now you have options: adjust pricing at a granular level instead of broad discounts promote that specific section more intentionally introduce short-term bundles or add-ons target segments that converted in similar situations Without this data, you only see the outcome. Empty seats. With it, you see where to act. Decisions become less about intuition. More about timing and precision. What this means for reporting Reporting will always look back. What changes is how much it actually shows. A basic report tells you how many tickets were sold. It answers what happened. A data-driven report shows more: where demand started where it gained momentum where it dropped off which actions influenced the outcome That turns reporting into a working tool. Not a summary, but a basis for the next decision. Clubs that operate this way don’t just plan better for individual games. They start to understand demand patterns across opponents, competitions, and entire seasons. Beyond ticketing: where this really matters Understanding fan behavior doesn’t stop at ticket sales. Sponsorship becomes more valuable. You can show who your audience is, how they behave, and when they engage. Marketing becomes more efficient. Budgets shift toward actions that drive actual demand, not just visibility. Fan experience becomes more targeted. Different groups receive different offers, based on how they behave. Season ticket renewals become more predictable. Early signals show who might churn, long before it happens. All of this comes from the same foundation: visibility into what happens before revenue is created or lost. Data sovereignty is a strategic decision Many clubs invest heavily in campaigns, content, and outreach. At the same time, they lack the foundation to understand what actually works. Data sovereignty closes that gap. It gives you the ability to shape demand, not just report on it. In real time. Based on actual behavior. Filling the West Stand is the outcome. Understanding why it stayed empty gives you control over what happens next. That’s where the real shift begins.

Maik ErkelenzMarch 25, 2026