Debut day for Ticketleap’s new ‘Selfie Ticket’

2013 was the year of the selfie. Now a Philadelphia tech company is bringing you the “Selfie Ticket.”

2013 was the year of the selfie. Now a Philadelphia tech company is bringing you the “Selfie Ticket.”

“It’s fun, it’s new and it’s going to be faster,” said Beah Burger-Lenehan, vice president of product at Ticketleap. “You won’t be waiting at the door.”

Ticketleap is trying to stand out from the online ticketing pack by being more human, the company says. That’s why it’s launching a smartphone app that puts your face front-and-center, instead of a standard-issue bar code.

“It’s a relatively alienating, robotic way of interacting with somebody when you’re trying to build a relationship with them,” Burger-Lenehan said of the current ticket-taking process. “It works pretty well for a Phillies game, but not necessarily for a smoked beer festival at Yards.”

Ticketleap, which has been around since 2003, has been refining its focus over the last year. Its target market is increasingly organizations or brands that see events as a way of building community, Burger-Lenehan says. The Selfie Ticket is one tier of that strategy. A redesigned event page, which has increased sign-ups by 23 percent, is another.

Monday was the Selfie Ticket’s first big test. 

It was the primary way in to the LAUNCH startup festival in San Francisco, which was expecting about 10,000 attendees.

“It’s a massive stage to be trying this out,” Burger-Lenehan said with a laugh, before tweeting a picture of her own Selfie Ticket on the way to the venue.