Lucky winners of Digicel’s online top-up competition win a trip for two to Jamaica to have dinner with World’s Fastest Man
Monday, October 24th 2011 – Kingston, Jamaica: The lucky winners of the Digicel online top-up competition and their guests were hosted by Digicel Brand Ambassador, Usain Bolt, on Saturday night last, at his renowned Kingston restaurant, Tracks and Records, where they got to chat and mingle with the record-breaking athlete.
The winners – Antonio Gilkes from Barbados; Stanford Brown from Jamaica and Harold Williams from Turks and Caicos – arrived in Kingston on Friday 21stOctober, each bringing a guest for this a trip of a lifetime. They were flown into Kingston’s Norman Manley airport courtesy of Digicel – or collected from their home in the case of the Jamaican winner – and driven to their luxury hotel where they were met by Digicel representatives.
On Saturday, the winners and their guests were taken on an excursion, which included a visit to the Bob Marley museum and Trenchtown – the area of Kingston where Bob Marley grew up.
The main event of the weekend, however, was dinner with the World’s Fastest Man. Upon arrival at Tracks and Records, the winners were shown to their exclusive area upstairs in the restaurant, where they settled in for the evening. Usain Bolt’s arrival was met with great excitement from all the winners and guests, who were already planning their many questions for the athlete.
Jamaican winner, Stanford Brown, won the prize after his friend, Carrol-Anne Simpson, sent Digicel credit online to him on the last day of the promotion. Carrol-Anne, who is Jamaican-born but has been living in Atlanta, Georgia, for the last 20 years, could not believe her ears when she got the call from Stanford to say they had won; “I couldn’t believe it when Stanford called me to say he had won – and that he was taking me as his guest. I was so excited to meet Usain – I watch every single race and Stanford has been following him since 2000.
“This whole weekend has been amazing. The tour of Trenchtown and then the visit to Bob Marley’s former home was such a fantastic experience – particularly to see how far he came in his life. Like Usain, he is a fantastic ambassador for Jamaica.”
Barbados winner, Antonio Gilkes, who brought his 11 year-old son, Shanon, was thrilled with his weekend away; “This has been a fascinating trip and one which I will take many good memories from. For my son, Shanon, this is his first trip abroad – and what an experience it has been for him. We all took something special away after our visit of Trenchtown and the Bob Marley museum, and then meeting Bolt – well, that was the icing on the cake,” he said.
During the dinner, the winners and their guests received signed Usain Bolt and branded Digicel merchandise, before posing for photos with Bolt, who was thrilled to welcome the winners to his restaurant.
Digicel Brand Ambassador and the World’s Fastest Man, Usain Bolt, said; “I am always happy to interact with fans and I had great time at Tracks and Records with the Digicel top-up winners. When I make a fan happy, I am happy so it was cool hanging out with them. The stories of how they won were very interesting and we had a great time.”
The promotion which offered this opportunity ran from September 1st to September 30th, and was open to any Digicel customers who sent or received online top-up in the Diaspora, Barbados, Bermuda, Jamaica and Turks & Caicos.
Digicel’s General Manager for the Diaspora, Valerie Estimé, said; “At Digicel, we are always looking for new and exciting ways to give back to our customers and to keep them connected with friends and family – and this online top-up competition did just that, giving these lucky winners the experience of a lifetime.
“We would like to congratulate all the winners, we were delighted to welcome them and their guests to Kingston this weekend, and we hope they had an unforgettable time meeting the World’s Fastest Man and Digicel Brand Ambassador, Usain Bolt,” continued Estimé.
Digicel’s online top-up is available on all Digicel websites. For more information, visit www.digicelgroup.com
