I joined the SMART iPhone 4S launch at Rockwell Power Plant last night. It seemed that SMART pulled out the stops for this event. Aside from free food and drinks from Burgoo, Cibo, Sumo Sam, and Starbucks, unlimited playing at the arcade, continuous free screenings of Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol in all cinemas, parties in strategic locations at the mall featuring some famous people and DJs, loads of prizes to win including a Subaru Impreza STI. Who doesn’t want to have a chance to win a Suby? No brainer right? And indeed it turned out to be a good event in that respect.
The catch is in the event organization, or rather disorganization. First problem was the scheduling. Jeanne and I got there at 7:30PM to catch the start at 8PM per the email invite. Nothing at the registration area other than a bunch of black-clad pretty faces being briefed. We went to the SMART Store and was told registration will start at 9PM so I bought Jeanne a pack of jelly beans and we waited it out. Around 9PM we went back to the registration area and was told registration will start at 10PM. So I took Jeanne to Toys R Us and waited it out. Around 10PM, we went back and there was already a crowd though we did register pretty quickly.
The second problem was the phone demo area. After registration we were funneled straight into the demo area. Unfortunately, although they had practically the whole mall, the demo area was small, enclosed, and quickly got crowded. I’m sure they had security of the phones in mind but I’m sure there are other solutions.
The third problem was the lack of clear procedure. While in the demo area, I asked what to do next and I was told to either get the freebies or talk to the people in pink, sales reps. But there were like one person in pink for every twenty customers and they were all busy. And did I mention it was crowded? So we went for the freebies. We got some food and watched Mission Impossible.
It was only later, when we went out of the cinema, that I found out that you need to fill up an application form (not necessary if you printed and filled the form already), go to the processing area and then to the releasing area at the Smart Store (starting at 12MN). But by then, it was almost releasing time, I decided it was already too late. So after Michelle arrived and met up with us, we just went home.