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Safaricom’s out of the box 4G promo

December 22nd, 2015 2 min read

By THOMAS RAJULA

Safaricom have always been known to come up with the craziest, most extravagant methods of creating awareness on their products and services.

Nairobi residents may already have seen the tents along streets which look like carnival affairs, with music and huge screens offering deals on Safaricom 4G network.

How do you drive data use among youths? You give them an opportunity to be at an exclusive event, and hence they get to post pictures to their friends about it, and conversation on social media kicks off.

On Saturday, December 19, a selected few of their youthful customers were selected to hang out with Kenya’s “it-group” Sauti Sol at Sankara Hotel’s Sarabi Deck poolside lounge.

Revellers taking selfies with Mudigi Savara from Sauti Sol, at "4G speed is good party with Sauti Sol at the Sarabi Deck –Sankara", on December 19, 2015. PHOTO | THOMAS RAJULA
Revellers taking selfies with Mudigi Savara from Sauti Sol, at “4G speed is good party with Sauti Sol at the Sarabi Deck –Sankara”, on December 19, 2015. PHOTO | THOMAS RAJULA

The lucky revellers were picked from Kenya Cinema, Prestige Plaza and Village Market activation points, and an engaged deejay event at The Junction mall. They were then put through on a live video call with Sauti Sol for a personal invitation, besides receiving a card invite.

The invite read “You are invited for the 4G speed is good party with Sauti Sol at the Sarabi Deck –Sankara”. Range Rovers and Mercedes Benz vehicles were used to transport the lucky invitees to the venue straight from the pickup points.

LIVE PERFORMANCE

Once they got to the hotel, they were registered and then ushered to the rooftop pool area, where they were provided with all sorts of beverages and food.

With Amina Abdi emceeing the event as DJ Protégé pumped music on the decks, the atmosphere created a great summer feel; models dressed in bikinis and surf shorts providing the perfect pool party allure. In the spirit of Christmas, some of the invitees were also given Santa-hats.

Models clad in bikinis and surf shorts at "4G speed is good party with Sauti Sol at the Sarabi Deck –Sankara", on December 19, 2015. PHOTO | THOMAS RAJULA
Models clad in bikinis and surf shorts at “4G speed is good party with Sauti Sol at the Sarabi Deck –Sankara”, on December 19, 2015. PHOTO | THOMAS RAJULA

There were also give-aways including tablets, airtime, and other gift hampers. Sauti Sol mingled freely with the audience, providing selfie-moments with them and even presenting a live performance of their songs Isabella and Shake Yo Bam Bam before leaving.

Safaricom launched the 4G network in December 4, 2014, to become the first operator in Sub-Saharan Africa to launch LTE Advanced (data speeds that are supposed to be up to 10 times faster than the current 3G network).

The activations picked up in October after the company’s 15th anniversary, although the 4G is only available in Nairobi and Mombasa currently, as other cities will be integrated in 2016.