TiiCKER marks largest deal yet with movie studio partnership

TiiCKER Inc., a Michigan-based financial technology firm that manages direct-to-shareholder marketing platforms and perks programs for publicly traded companies, has launched a new partnership with a global movie studio.

Company executives announced that a new deal with Santa Monica, Calif.-based Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. (NYSE: LGF.A) is TiiCKER’s largest since launching in 2020. TiiCKER will manage the program that offers various rewards to retail shareholders in Lions Gate, whose portfolio includes STARZ and 17,000 film and television franchises. 

The idea is to convert fans of the studio’s entertainment offerings into shareholders.

“This is a blockbuster deal for TiiCKER because of the wide reach of Lions Gate films and fans, and we think this is going to be the catalyst for a lot of other big public companies and their brands to look at their shareholders as their large, untapped audience that it is,” TiiCKER founder and CEO Jeff Lambert told MiBiz. Lambert also is founder and CEO of Lambert & Co., a Grand Rapids-based public relations and investor relations company. 

The Shareholder Red Carpet Rewards program is intended to increase retail shareholder engagement with the movie studio through various perks, such as commemorative certificates featuring Lions Gate films and series, discounts on the STARZ streaming platform and movie ticket discounts.

Jenefer Brown, Lions Gate executive vice president and head of global products and experiences, says the partnership will “create an experience with lasting value for our shareholders.”

“It is a ground-breaking way of connecting with retail shareholders, while continuing to grow the worlds of our biggest brands with consumers around the globe,” Brown said in a statement.

According to a Bloomberg report, Lions Gate officials estimate that small investors own fewer than 5 million of the company’s 229 million outstanding shares. The deal also comes amid a widespread sell-off in the media and entertainment sector, which has dented Lions Gate’s market value by more than half, to $1.6 billion, according to Bloomberg.

Lambert noted that Lions Gate’s STARZ streaming platform has more than 26 million subscribers, while its franchises — which include John Wick, the Hunger Games, the Twilight Saga and Mad Men — have “millions more fans.”

TiiCKER’s role is to verify the shareholders and manage the rewards program.

“They came to us with this idea of converting their fans to investors and wanted a custom program,” Lambert said. “The result is the most comprehensive shareholder rewards program ever launched. … This is the beginning of something large.”

Lambert founded TiiCKER in 2020 to better connect public companies and individual investors that typically comprise 10 percent to 30 percent their shareholder base. Most of TiiCKER’s initial investors are from West Michigan, and the company has branding partnership deals with Whirlpool Corp., and Wolverine World Wide Inc.