• by Aaron Baar , June 27, 2014

Samsung Galaxy owners will be getting the chance to move from the back row to backstage at AEG-operated events and venues.  

In one of the largest deals of its kind, Samsung Telecommunication America is partnering AEG to launch the “Samsung Owner’s Experience” which will allow Galaxy Owners (who have downloaded Samsung’s Owner’s Hub app) access to rewards such as entry to VIP luxury suites, seat upgrades and discounts and concessions. 

The owner’s experience signage, which use NFC-chips to communicate with the phone and app, will be installed at 41 AEG venues in the United States, including the Staples Center in L.A., Best Buy Theater in New York City and The Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The program will also be available at AEG events, such as the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.

“This program crosses many of our business units. It affects our events and music business, it affects our venues,” Andrew Klein, senior vice president of global partnerships at AEG, tells Marketing Daily. “We are all about enhancing the customer experience. If you’re buying a nosebleed seat, now you have an opportunity to get a front-row seat or a backstage pass.”

Among the prizes that will be available will be instant seat upgrades at the event being attended, access to VIP areas or free music downloads and access to Samsung’s Milk Music streaming service. 

“You touch the code to the poster and are instantly offered upgraded experiences,” Klein says. “It’s an opportunity that only Samsung Galaxy Owners can have to go behind the velvet rope.”

“We want to create new and surprising experiences to reward our owners for being part of the Galaxy family, and with AEG, we're able to give our Galaxy owners a unique and rewarding experience at the nation's most popular arenas, theaters and clubs across the country,” Colleen McDuffe, senior director of digital marketing at Samsung Telecommunications America, said in a statement provided to Marketing Daily. 

As part of the program, Samsung has also signed on as an “official sponsor” of AEG’s ticketing and digital media service, AXS.com, which will also tout the Galaxy Owner’s Hub and Experience.