Flow Lucky Winners look forward to Jazz and Blues

Kingston, Jamaica; Six lucky winners will be at the 2012 Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival courtesy of special Jazz promotions which gave Flow’s new and existing customers and Facebook fans the chance to win tickets to  the  event.  The promotions were part of Flow’s continuing partnership with the organizers of the Jazz Festival and international broadcast cable channel partner HBO.

Gloria Schenk of Kingston, has been to every Jazz and Blues Festival, but had decided to forego the event this year. When she received the news that she had won the Grand Prize in the Jazz It Up with HBO and FLOW promotion, she was forced to change her plans. Schenk won a VIP Treatment package which includes VIP tickets for 2 nights at the Jazz Festival and weekend accommodations for two at the luxurious Ritz Carlton Resort and Spa, in addition to one month’s free access to HBO.

Neil Gordon won tickets to Friday night’s show when he signed up to receive HBO as part of his Flow Watch package. “I can’t wait to see Celine Dion, she is one of my favourite artistes and I really must thank Flow for giving me this chance,” said Gordon who revealed that this would be the first time he would be going to the Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival.

In the photo above: Four of six winners in Flow’s Jazz  giveaway promotions pose with their coveted tickets to the JAMAICA  Jazz and Blues Festival. Pictured (l-r)  are Robert Simpson, Shelly Ann Clarke, Gloria Schenk, and Neil Gordon.

“We are thrilled to share this experience with our dedicated customers,” said Jeanette Lewis, Public Relations Manager at Flow as she expressed her enthusiasm about the promotions. “At Flow we are passionate about giving value to our customers and wanted to give them the chance to enjoy some of the benefits of our partnership with one of Jamaica’s biggest and most exciting concert events.”

 Flow also wanted to ensure that fans on their Facebook had a chance to enjoy the festival with the offer of 3 sets of tickets to the event.  With a “Refer A Friend” promotion on Facebook,  Flow offered the tickets to those who would generate the highest number of their own friends to LIKE Flow on Facebook.  “Our Facebook fans are very loyal and we felt it important to ensure they were not left out of the excitement that the Jazz and Blues Festival generates every year,” Lewis said.

With almost 5,000 friends on Facebook, winner Stacey Ann Clarke was able to turn her on-line relationships into tickets to enjoy the highly anticipated performance of Celine Dion on the Friday night of the Festival. “I was determined to see Celine Dion and I spent a lot of time reaching out to my friends to help me achieve this. I got a great response,” said the delighted Utech student who will sacrifice some class time at school to head to the Greenfield Stadium in Trelawny.

In the photo above: Karen Jones shows genuine joy as she displays her tickets won in the Jazz it Up with Flow Promotion

Robert Simpson, the second place winner of the Facebook promotion will be jazzing it up with the Temptations and Grammy winning artiste Cee Lo as a result of his own efforts. The young accountant from Kingston created a special script encouraging his friends to LIKE Flow on Facebook, and spent hours online after work each evening to send it to all his friends who responded enthusiastically to send him to 16th staging of the Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival.

 Flow will power the Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival by providing access to the fastest internet service at the venue with Flow Unplugged. Patrons, artistes, media and sponsors will be able to post comments and photos to their Facebook pages and tweet to their Twitter followers in real time from the stadium in Trelawny which Flow has converted into a huge WiFi hot spot with speeds of up to 100mpbs.

 Flow’s partnership with HBO for the 2nd year will see a feature on the Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival broadcast to millions of viewers in 22 countries across Latin America and the Caribbean. This year’s feature will not only showcase the Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival, but will highlight the country’s historic 50th Anniversary of Independence celebrations.

This year, the Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival is  headlined by Celine Dion and  will also feature performances by a number of celebrated Jamaican and international artistes. Peformances by the sensational Cee Lo Green, Damian Marley, Shaggy, Yellow Man, Mykal Rose, Marcia Griffiths, Luciano, Christopher Martin, Destra Garcia, Heads of State, Etana, and Byron Lee’s Dragonnaires are expected to thrill audiences over the 3 nights of the Festival.

Flow Friends Hit ‘High Note’ at Jazz

Kingston, Jamaica; Patrons of the Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival this year will connect in a new way, as Flow introduces its “Refer a Friend” programme where Flow Friends win big!

Flow customers who refer their friends to sign up for Flow’s service will earn $500 for themselves and each friend who actually signs up for any of Flow’s Watch, Talk or Click services.

The Jazz component was an added extra for the Promotion.  Earlier this week, the broadband company encouraged their Facebook fans to refer their friends to Flow for a chance to win tickets to the music festival, now the hottest event on the social calendar.  At the festival, the company is giving all patrons a chance to experience real value and rewards with the launch of this incredible offer.

According to Denise Williams, Director of Corporate and Government Affairs at Flow, ‘We could not have selected a more suitable place or time to launch this programme.  We know friends connect at Jamaica Jazz and Blues.  So for us here at Flow, this was the perfect opportunity to give back to our customers who share the good news about our products and services with others.”

Through ‘Refer a Friend’, existing Flow customers who refer their friends to sign-up for Flow services will receive $500 credit towards their bill once they meet the minimum requirements. On signing up, newly referred customers will also get $500 credit toward their bill, giving them a head-start on great deals from the Company. New Flow customers can also look forward to the best products and services available in the market. Flow’s services give customers the fastest and most reliable internet service with speeds of up to 100mbps, the most affordable digital land-line telephone packages with free on-network calls and the best rates for international calls, plus over 250 cable TV channels.

 “Our satisfied customers often recommend us to their friends.  So we now thank and reward them with this exciting new promotion. There are no limits to the number of people that a customer can refer, so the potential financial benefits that a customer can earn in the form of  bill credit through referrals is really unlimited,” said Williams.

Exciting Giveaways

Over the course of the three-day festival, Flow customers who participate in the referral programme will also have the opportunity to leave the Flow booth with a J$500 gift. Each night, customers who visit the booth with their completed referral cards, will immediately receive exclusive prizes from Flow and their partners at HBO.  “We are making sure that our customers leave with something in-hand, so there will be a wide variety of exciting Flow and HBO gifts to choose from,” said Williams.   In addition, patrons who wish to sign up for their Flow package on spot, including HBO and HBO OnDemand, can do so at the Flow Retail outlet at the event.  

As Platinum sponsor of the festival, Flow will be keeping all patrons, sponsors and media connected with its state of the art broadband service.  Flow’s high-speed internet will support live streaming from the event as well as enabling BlackBerry smart phones, iPads and other Wi-Fi compatible devices to ensure patrons, artistes, sponsors and media can stay in touch.

The 2012 Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival promises an incredible line-up of local and international artistes. Patrons will be enjoying performances from international Grammy winning artiste Celine Dion as well as Cee-Lo Green, the Temptations Review, Shaggy, Richie Stevens and Gentleman.

Jamaica 50th Anniversary Celebrations Flowing at Jazz

Trelawny,  Jamaica;  When the lights went up on the main stage at the 16th Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival, it was clear that this was a celebration of Jamaica's 50th.  From the local serving of food and drinks in the various skyboxes and the energy and dynamism of the performances, this was one of the best Thursday nights ever.  Patrons saw the best of classic Jamaican music through the years with an amazing line-up of performances from Luciano, Etana, Marcia Griffiths, Yellow Man, Half Pint and Shaggy. Off stage the action was just a potent.  The festival saw companies such as Flow teaming with local groups to ensure that the Celebrate Jamaica theme was everywhere in the stadium. 

Flow joined forces with L’acadco, to bring local culture live on the grounds of the festival.  With drummers and stilt walkers, the audience were able to walk and participate directly in the "celebrate" Jamaica vibes. Many of the patrons stopped to dance with the drummers and take photos of the still walkers.  Visitors were in awe of the skills and talents displayed and cameras clicked and photos were uploaded and sent worldwide.  Local talent and culture was certainly everywhere in the festival and was sent to friends across the world.  Denise Williams, Director of Government and Corporate Affairs explained that Flow welcomed the opportunity to help kick start the Jamaica 50th anniversary celebration.  “We have such a rich and wide culture, the world is captivated by it.  We are happy to help showcase this fantastic talent, through the technology of WIFi, and through Flow TV and our partnership with international partners,” she said.

Part of the showcasing will be done through a special partnership with international cable channel HBO who were capturing all the action at the Greenfield Stadium in Trelawny for a special documentary.  HBO will this year place special focus on Jamaica’s historic 50th Anniversary of Independence and will showcase cultural icons and places of interest throughout the island to promote Jamaica as a prime tourist and business destination.  The  Flow/HBO partnership will bring the internationally renowned festival and Jamaica into the homes of millions of viewers across 22 countries in the Caribbean and Latin America.

Powered by Flow for the third consecutive year, the Jazz and Blues Festival is the first major entertainment festival of Jamaica’s 50th anniversary year. The festival sets the stage for the highly anticipated celebrations and pays tribute to Jamaica’s rich cultural heritage. Jamaica raised its own flag on August 6, 1962 and has since then has made significant strides in the development of the country’s cultural and technological landscape.  Flow, through its own mandate has made a commitment to providing state of the art technology to Jamaicans.

More than 200 Winners walk away with Big Prizes from Flow

Kingston, Jamaica;  Shock, disbelief and excitement were the range of emotions displayed by Paul Rookwood; final grand prize winner in the Upgrade with Flow for Free Christmas Promotion, on January 5. “I can’t believe this, all I came for was the digital camera and I am walking away with the Grand Prize!” said Mr. Rookwood who won a 32’ inch LCD TV, Home Theatre System, HP Netbook, HD Box and cordless phone from Flow.  

This, was the general sentiment expressed by many of the winners during the ten-week Christmas Promotion,  which sought to encourage consumers to upgrade how they watch, talk and click, during the Christmas season; rewarding them for their loyalty, and giving  price breaks and more value to those signing up for new Flow services.  

“We know that our customers are always looking for real value and for ways to enhance and enjoy their lives, so this is why we extended this special offer,” said Jeanette Lewis, Flow’s Public Relations Manager.  “It was important to us to say ‘thank you’ to our customers and what better way to do that than by giving them an opportunity to win big,” she added.  

Another winner, Kemrod Riley who collected on behalf of his sister, travelled all the way in from St. Ann’s Bay had his eye set on the HP Netbook, which he ended up taking home.  According to Mr. Riley, incidentally, his car was broken into only two months ago; among the items stolen was his laptop.  “Words cannot describe how I feel right now.  I came here hoping  to bring home this laptop for my sister and although I’ve always been considered ‘the good luck charm’ in my family, I wasn’t sure if I was going to get it.  I am just truly grateful that Flow gave us this opportunity,” said Riley.

All Flow customers were given a chance to win a wide range of electronic items such as the coveted iPAD2, 32" LCD televisions, netbook computers, digital cameras, wireless kits and the grand prize of a Watch, Talk, Click Home Makeover for the duration of the promotion.  According to Flow’s Public Relations Manager, Jeanette Lewis, “The team at Flow was delighted to give our new and existing customers a chance to take home some wonderful prizes this holiday season.  We want all our customers to know how much we value their business and want to continue to consistently give them the value they seek from Flow.”  

During its 5 years of operation, Flow’s name has become synonymous with services that enhance the lives of Jamaicans in the ways they play, work and learn.  This is the fifth Christmas Promotion from Flow.  

Over 200 lucky customers island-wide won weekly prizes throughout the course of this promotion.

In the photo attached:

Week 10 Grand Prize Winner  

Paul Rookwood is the tenth and final weekly Grand Prize winner in the "Upgrade with Flow for Free“ promotion. On Thursday January 6, out of 21 weekly winners, he drew the grand prize package which includes: a 32"LCD TV, a netbook, a wireless phone, an HD Personal Video Recorder, and a Panasonic home entertainment system.

FLOW and HBO repeat partnership to Boost exposure for Jazz and Blues Festival

Kingston, Jamaica; Jamaica and the Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival will once again receive another boost as Flow leverages its broadband technology and partnership with international content provider HBO to help create multiple avenues for exposure.

With the partnership with HBO, viewers across the Caribbean and Latin America will be treated to another Special feature showcasing Jamaica and the 2012 Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival, a repeat of the highly successful initiative that was such a key element of the previous year's festival.  Flow's technology will also facilitate live streaming to various countries across the globe, OnDemand programmes on its Flow OnDemand platform, and a local feature on Flow TV.

Michele English, President and Chief Operating Officer for Flow, speaking at the launch for the 2012 Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival, announced the repeat of the partnership with HBO and highlighted the significance of the Festival as being the first major event of the year in which Jamaica celebrates the 50th anniversary of independence. "This was an extremely important motivator for us at Flow as we welcome the opportunity to support and celebrate such a significant milestone in Jamaica's history."

English also announced that in addition to the HBO Special, FLOW TV would produce a feature to showcase the festival and also work with the Festival team to develop programmes for Flow's OnDemand platform, enabling viewers to see what they want to see, when they want to see it. "We are delighted that the festival is placing such a strong focus on highlighting the best of Jamaican music and talent over the years. As part of our commitment to support local culture, we continue to seek out avenues to help develop and showcase the rich talent, both on and off the
stage, in Jamaica."

"HBO is delighted to be back on board to support the Jamaica Jazz Festival at this very significant time in the island's history during the 50th anniversary celebrations.  We continue to show our commitment by investing and partnering with Flow and the Ministry of Tourism to produce an HBO Special that will be featured throughout the Caribbean and the rest of Latin America." said Miguel Angel Oliva, Vice president of Public Relations and Corporate Affairs for HBO Latin America.  "Our viewers will enjoy this relevant program showcasing the rich culture and beauty of Jamaica."

The Honourable Edmund Bartlett, Minister of Tourism reiterated the importance of the Flow/HBO partnership to Jamaica's tourism. "HBO's presentation on the last Jazz Festival was an absolute success. HBO brought real images and the power of the product to the world which greatly benefitted Jamaica," he said. "I believe that it is HBO that has assisted us in getting the major acts that are headlining the Festival this year. When major acts see that large networks are interested, it invites them to participate." Minister Barlett confirmed that the HBO/FLOW initiative would have a positive impact on efforts to increase tourism arrivals from new markets in the region when he said "Latin and South America are the next frontier for visitors to Jamaica and we are greatly excited that the HBO feature will help us in conveying some of Jamaica's key values which will assist us in our strategic efforts."

The festival this year will also focus on technology for greater avenues for exposure.  English revealed that Flow will leverage its state-of-the art broadband network to provide 100 MBps high speed internet service for the event, enabling live streams and updates from the event. "With this kind of power, the team will be able to stream live all the action to anywhere in the world at the best quality. Local and international media, business partners and patrons will be able to file reports, blog, tweet and post commentary and photos of everything that is happening as part of their Jazz and Blues Festival experience sharing instantly in real time with those who are not able to be there to enjoy it in person," she said.

The 2012 Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival will open on January 26th with first night dedicated to highlighting the best of Jamaican music and talent over the years. Headliner for the festival will be multi-platinum, 5-time Grammy award winning songstress, Celine Dion. he festival this year will also focus on technology for greater avenues for exposure.  English revealed that Flow will leverage its state-of-the art broadband network to provide 100 MBps high speed internet service for the event, enabling live streams and updates from the event. "With this kind of power, the team will be able to stream live all the action to anywhere in the world at the best quality. Local and international media, business partners and patrons will be able to file reports, blog, tweet and post commentary and photos of everything that is happening as part of their Jazz and Blues Festival experience sharing instantly in real time with those who are not able to be there to enjoy it in person," she said.

The 2012 Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival will open on January 26th with first night dedicated to highlighting the best of Jamaican music and talent over the years. Headliner for the festival will be multi-platinum, 5-time Grammy award winning songstress, Celine Dion.

HP partners with FLOW to deliver affordable internet computing to consumers

Kingston, Jamaica:  Consumers now have access to more affordable state-of-the art portable computers coupled with internet service due to a new partnership between computer manufacturer HP and Jamaica’s sole triple play service provider Flow. 

Flow and HP have joined forces to give consumers great value when making their PC purchases this season - a PC/Internet Service bundle that combines the HP’s personal computers with the power of Flow’s blazing speed internet. This initiative is in keeping with the broadband service provider’s commitment to deliver the best value to customers by leveraging strong strategic partnerships.

Consumers who purchase select models of HP portable computers at participating retailers and who are new Flow Internet customers will receive one month of free Flow Rock internet. Four models from the portfolio of HP portable computers, fully-loaded with a features ideal for business, school or entertainment applications, are available as part of the promotion.  Eligible consumers will also receive a free wireless upgrade and free standard installation. The offer is available at participating retailers from December 9, 2011 through to January 20, 2012.

“Consumers today are looking for the best value for money when making purchases, as such Flow is constantly trying to identify ways to ensure we meet our customers’ needs.  As far as possible, we leverage our relationships with business partners to deliver the kinds of value that consumers need,” said Denise Williams Director of Corporate and Government Affairs at Flow. “This partnership with HP means that it is now easier for consumers to obtain affordable premium quality portable computers, and also have easy access to Jamaica’s fastest, most reliable and affordable internet service.”

With recommended retail prices for the HP computers starting as low as $28,925 + GCT, the special promotion offers consumers a choice between 4 models of HP portable computers which meet different needs in regards to mobility, processing speed and storage capacity. The range includes the small yet powerful HP Mini and the HP Pavillion Entertainment notebook.  Also available are the HP Compaq Notebook PC and the HP 2000-350US Notebook PC.  All have features which enable users to take advantage of all the resources that are accessible with a high speed internet service such as file sharing, video downloads, gaming, social media and Skype.

The offer is available through a wide network of HP resellers island-wide. With the purchase of the HP portable computer, the customer will receive a coupon for 1 month of free broadband internet service redeemable at any Flow retail outlet by January 31, 2012.

Participating retail partners are Watts New Limited (Kingston, Ocho Rios and Montego Bay), One Stop Computers (Kingston and Montego Bay), Innovative Systems (Kingston), Computer Wizz (Ocho Rios), Computer Depot (Montego Bay), Smartbox (Mandeville), Best Tech Jamaica (Kingston, Ocho Rios and Montego Bay), and Shadrock Enterprises Limited (May Pen).