Chasing “Rihanna” around Manila with Smart Music

Hundreds of Rihanna fans all over Metro Manila raced against each other and chased their “idol” to grab a couple of limited premium tickets to Rihanna’s Diamonds World Tour held last September 19 at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Mobile leader Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart), through its largest online music store Smart Music opened the Rihanna Twitter Zoom contest days before the popstar’s Manila concert, encouraging fans to score free tickets by participating in an interactive online game.

Twitter Zoom is an online hunt where Smart subscribers got the chance to win premium Rihanna concert tickets just by registering at Smart Music, following @SMARTCares and @SMARTPromos on Twitter and tweeting the hashtag, #SmartMusicRihanna. For every 500 hastags, the online map zoomed in, leading to the locations of the concert tickets given by a Rihanna look-alike.

Fans and onlookers alike were surprised to see contest participants making a mad dash to the Rihanna look-alike awaiting the Smart Twitter follower who can give her the correct password in exchange of concert tickets.

Smart’s hit Twitter contest also gave away tickets during Black Eyed Peas and Katy Perry’s Manila concert tours.

“When we introduced Smart Music, we promised to provide our subscribers not just the most affordable music tracks but the total music experience. From downloads, to exciting fan events and access to the biggest concerts, Smart Music is the all-in-one portal for the true blue music lover,” said Mellissa Limcaoco, head of Smart’s Innovation and Product Development group.

Lucky chance

The Rihanna Twitter Zoom promo excited many fans of the singers who wanted to experience her concert for free. Netizens flooded Twitter with the #SmartMusicRihanna hashtag, eager to join the unique contest that’s frar from the ordinary Twitter promo.

“Idek but @SMARTPromos got the coolest, craziest and out-of-this-world promo strategies! applause to the team,” said Twitter user @jiiensam.

Other Twitter users applied equally unique strategies to make sure they get the much coveted tickets.

“Nung gabi pa lang, nagbabantay na ko ng Twitter,” said John Paulo Baticulon, winner of the first leg of Twitter Zoom at SM Fairview. “So yung ate ko yung naiwan sa bahay para magbantay ng tweets tapos ako yung tumakbo all the way here. Gusto ko talagang mapanood si Rihanna up close. Parang soundtrack na kasi ng buhay ko yung mga songs niya. So thank you, Smart, for giving this gift to me.”

Along with Baticulon, the other two lucky winners of premium Rihanna concert tickets were Jay Mark Isais who went all the way from a class in the University of Santo Tomas to SM Megamall; and Julius Provido, who braved the night’s rain to finish the last leg at the SM Mall of Asia, coming all the way from his work at Quezon City.

“Nung sinabi na clue ay ‘heart of Manila,’ kumuha na agad ako ng taxi papuntang Megamall, kahit traffic. Then I was using my Smart LTE for monitoring the tweets” Isais said. “Nung nalaman kong may ganitong Twitter Zoom, hindi ko na siya pinalampas. Sobrang idol ko kasi talaga si Rihanna. Her songs really inspire me more.”

Rihanna fans can also download her music for as low as P10 using their prepaid load or charged to their postpaid bill at smart.com.ph/music, along with over three million other songs from the Smart Music catalog.

Smart Music is a co-presentor of Rihanna’s Diamonds World Tour in Manila.

Distance was not an issue for John Paulo Baticulon, the winner of the first leg of the Smart Twitter Zoom. At 6 AM, he already left Las Piñas and went all the way to SM Fairview. His sister was the one monitoring the tweets while he was going to the location.

Jay Mark Isais was in a class in his class in the University of Sto. Tomas when the clue was given that second location will be at the “heart” of Manila. With only his determination and a tablet powered by Smart LTE, he maneuvered his way to SM Megamall amidst the heavy traffic and won the second pair of Rihanna premium concert tickets.

As much as Julius Provido wanted to join the first two legs, his work schedule won’t allow him to do so. But when hope came and he found out that the last location of the Smart Twitter Zoom is in the SM Mall of Asia, immediately after his work, he rode the train and braved the rains from North to South, earning him a pair Rihanna tickets.