Vincy Mas has received a marketing boost, thanks to a collaboration between the Carnival Development Corporation (CDC) and cable television provider FLOW.

The boost comes as FLOW and CDC signed a contract on Wednesday that will allow persons in Curacao, Trinidad, Jamaica, Barbados, St Lucia and Grenada to view three of Vincy Mas’s biggest events.{{more}}

Chair of the CDC Dennis Ambrose and country manager of Columbus Communications (parent company of FLOW) Christopher Gordon signed the contract on Wednesday during a press event, which was held at the CDC’s office in Victoria Park.

The three events that may be viewed by persons outside of SVG on FLOW’s 100 channel are the Miss SVG show, the Soca Monarch event and the Miss Carival pageant. Persons who have FLOW set top boxes in the mentioned countries will get these shows free of cost.

Speaking to the media at the signing ceremony, Ambrose said that they were happy to team up with FLOW, as it also saw an extension of the local pay per view service.

He noted that the pay per view service will bring Vincy Mas into many homes to persons, “who are unable, for one reason or the other, to attend the shows at Victoria Park,” while noting that the regional broadcasts provide the opportunity to give exposure to our events and the country on a whole.

Ambrose stressed, “It is a costly exercise to engage in marketing strategies, but we can now get our message out. We have been trying so send the message across the region by broadcasting during cricket matches, but now, this allows a direct exposure to take the message across the region in real time, happening live.”

Also commenting was country manager at Columbus Communications Christopher Gordon who said that FLOW is happy to support culture.

He noted that the initiative has the potential to expose hundreds of thousands of households to Vincy Mas, while Vincentians in these countries now have a way to view Carnival activities free of cost.

It was also noted that FLOW has partnered with One Caribbean Television station. A team from this station will visit the country from July 2 to 7 and will produce and air short segments about Carnival and other aspects of island life. This station is said to have a large number of US viewers.

Marketing coordinator of the CDC Anthony Dennie said that he is excited about the collaboration. He noted that locally, pay per view will be attached to Miss SVG, Fantastic Friday, Junior Calypso and Soca, Steel and Glitter, Miss Carival and Soca Monarch.

He noted that he is quite happy to have the three shows shown in the wider Caribbean, as this is an excellent marketing tool, “for us to market not only Carnival, but as a tourism destination.”

Pay per view locally is being done on VC3, channel 115.

The gathering also heard from Marketing and Communications manager at Columbus Corey Garrett who added that One Caribbean personality ‘Joey’ and his parrot will be here in SVG and this is a great opportunity for the country, “as the channel has wide reach across the eastern seaboard of the USA.”