Digicel keeps Carnival spirit roaming through campaign

WITH Digicel, Carnival lives on. The digital operator is ensuring that this happens with its 2021 campaign of the same name.

The Carnival Lives On with Digicel campaign will see it create and promote a series of virtual events to keep TT engaged during what would have been the Carnival period. The campaign was launched on January 22.

If there had been no covid19 pandemic, people would have been getting their Carnival bodies ready, fetes would have been aplenty and the preparations for the two days on the road (February 15-16) would have been robust.

Colin Greaves, head of public relations for Digicel TT, said it is the official network for TT’s Carnival and is in a multi-year contractual agreement with the National Carnival Commission (NCC). Despite there being no Carnival 2021, the company decided to keep the spirit of Carnival going, understanding how much it means to Trinidadians.

“Of course, this year, out of caution and in keeping with the covid19 health restrictions, there is no Carnival. But because we understand how much Carnival means to people as well as the amount of artisans, artists and Carnival practitioners that are out of job and income with there not being a physical festival.

“We have launched our campaign which is Carnival Lives On with Digicel. The essence of the campaign is that the spirit of Carnival is going to live on with us and the things that we do.

“So we are going to keep Carnival alive of course in a responsible way by a series of virtual activities.”

The campaign will feature virtual concerts, events, podcasts, conversations and interviews which will be delivered free of charge.

The spirit will also be kept going through Instagram Digicel Carnival filters, Carnival Tik Tok challenges, its stores being decorated with costumes from Carnival bands and designers.

Digicel will also have photo booths at its retail stores where,“as people wait to get their stuff done they can stand at a digital photo booth and get a nice photo of them with a Carnival filter.”

Through its Shake It mechanism on the My Digicel App, people can win various prizes including a 2022 Carnival costume and/or $50,000.

Its 2021 Carnival Lives On campaign will culminate with a live, pre-recorded event which will air between Carnival Sunday and Tuesday and will be filmed at the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port of Spain.

The content will be accessible through Digicel’s various apps and platforms.

Greaves said the content will be available on its social media pages, its D’Music, Play Go and its GoLoud apps among others.

The content provided will include fitness and make-up tutorials, mixologist showing different types of Carnival cocktails, chats with Digicel ambassadors, all hosted on its Bip Discover channel which is a part of the Bip messaging app.

“So there is a Bip channel called Discover Carnival. On there we have been filling it up with a lot of great Carnival content people can consume. In addition to that, on our Go Loud app, we have podcasts on the history of Carnival, culture, the commercial aspects related to Carnival.

“We also have the Island Vibe series hosted by television and radio presenter Whitney Husbands and in-house segments with our nine Digicel soca brand ambassadors.”

The Digicel ambassadors are Nadia Batson, Patrice Roberts, Nessa Preppy, Nailah Blackman, Voice, Sekon Sta, Swappi, Preedy and Rome.

There is also a series called Down Memory Lane with Rome (Jerome “Rome” Precilla) where he interviews artistes, designers and mas makers on their craft, how they got started and their process.

Concerts by Digicel’s various soca ambassadors such as Nadia Batson, Voice and Preedy will also be pre-recorded and aired on Digicel’s various apps.

Greaves said the shows will also be accessible on its video-on-demand platform on Digicel Plus.

For Digicel, it is also about building partnerships with key Carnival stakeholders: from soca artistes to calypsonians to costume designers to masqueraders and more.

It has also been doing its part to generate income for many of those stakeholders who have felt the harshest brunt of the pandemic.

“We have been hiring a lot of these people to ensure that they have some kind of income during the period still and to develop the really amazing experiences for the public,” Greaves said.

He said while the virtual events are not meant to replace the physical ones, it assists with income for those putting together various virtual shows and events.

Greaves said, “With covid19 many of the artistes, suppliers, event people have had no income because they have had zero activities happening.

“Every time we stage one of these virtual concerts we would hire lighting technicians, engineers, stage crew to build the stage. We would hire the sound engineer, camera operators, the make-up artist, the stylist. They all would be hired and generate some sort of revenue even if it is minimal when compared to what they would usually have…”

Greaves said last year Digicel announced its repositioning in terms of being a digital operator instead of just a basic telecommunications company and since then, its focus has been on playing a much bigger role in its customer’s lifestyles and journeys.

He said even if 2022 has to be a local Carnival, Digicel is, “ready, willing and able to partner with all of the relevant stakeholders to ensure that they have the technology, bandwidth and internet capabilities, apps and infrastructure needed to ensure the festival is broadcast to the wider world and consumed more heavily on the digital realm.”

Digicel added it will continue its support of the NCC and its various projects.