The Neon Carnival held Jan. 16-19 is an outdoor fair with gigs and games—all free for Globe subscribers who signed up at the gate. Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama cut the ribbon during the opening, with Globe retail transformation and management head Joe Caliro.
“This is the biggest Sinulog for Globe,” Caliro said. “Sinulog is usually spread out in several places. We owned a spot here in IT park to provide entertainment.”
A Globe Mobility Store on the Go truck featuring a graphic Santo Niño design greeted the crowd on the carnival grounds. It is a mobile Globe center where subscribers can buy phones, reload or check out promos exclusive to Sinulog. The Store on the Go caravan travels to major Philippine festivals to make services more accessible to subscribers.
According to Globe communications manager EJ Francisco, 30,000 subscribers have attended the Neon Carnival.
Globe Telecom has 36.5 million subscribers nationwide, and Cebu’s booming economy makes it a “key market.”
Francisco said that Globe has an ongoing $790-million network modernization program which started in 2011.
“Over 80 percent of the network is already on 4G HSPA+ providing faster mobile browsing experience to customers,” he said. “Nearly 900 Long Term Evolution (LTE) sites in key cities and destinations are already operational.
Interactive
While Sinulog is traditionally a religious event to honor the Santo Niño, it has been made hip with interactive events such as the Neon Carnival. There we spotted “Nicki Minaj” among the crowd, the winner in the “Kalokalike” impersonation contest in “Showtime,” an ABS-CBN noontime show.
DJs who flew in for the Neon Carnival were DJ Eric Capili from Juice Bar in Boracay, DJ Elmer Dado, DJ Pharm from Guam, DJ Clyde Harris from Australia and DJ Vega from San Francisco. They dished out electronic dance music (EDM) for the partygoers who checked out booths between sets.
These booths featured Globe products such as Globe Tattoo Broadband and postpaid plans.
The new LTE phone Huawei Ascend G526 was also launched in the carnival. Mark Go, Globe postpaid acquisition director, said it is available for postpaid subscribers starting at P599 a month (payable in 24 months).
“It is a 4.5-inch touch-screen smartphone best for new postpaid subscribers who want an Android LTE unit,” he added.
Prepaid subscribers who collected stamps by availing themselves of the Go30Plus promo got limited-edition festival mugs and tumblers featuring pop-art Sinulog design.
Globe also presented the Life Dance party on Jan. 17 at the Boardwalk reclamation area. It was drizzling but the young Cebuanos didn’t mind. The high-energy crowd of 22,000 partied Sinulog-style until dawn.
Sunday was still party day as Elektro Mundo music festival was staged in Ayala Terraces Cebu. DJ Mars Miranda played and was introduced as Globe Tattoo endorser. Other DJs who performed for the 5,000-strong crowd were DJ Tall Sasha from San Francisco, DJ Serafin from LA and DJ Nina Saputil.
Visit www.globe.com.ph; follow @enjoyglobe on Twitter and Instagram.