SOCA FACES an uphill battle in Barbados, which is why it is necessary to get as early a jump on it as possible, said Starcom Network’s advertising manager Vilmore Johnson.
Johnson was speaking to the MIDWEEK NATION yesterday after the launch of the Hott Carnival Safari 2014 inside Digicel’s Williams Towers office, Warrens, St Michael.
“The Trinidad Carnival sets the tone in terms of fetes and the number of people attending. Trinidad has a million people and 950 000 of them [are] about Carnival; Barbados has 275 000 people and only 50 000 interested in soca [and Crop Over] so we have to change the mindset of people and it has to be a cultural change,” he said.
Johnson said reggae and dub were bigger in Barbados than soca so it was up to those pushing soca to get into the public psyche early.
“We are more dub and reggae-oriented than soca-oriented. I’m not knocking dub and reggae, I’m just saying that for us to have a season called Crop Over that runs for almost three months, we need to get more people involved and I see the Hott Carnival Safari, through the influx of the Trini music and the various fetes, as an impetus to drive the process forward . . . if Crop Over is to be seen as a million-dollar event,” he said.
There are a few changes this year in the annual event such as increased giveaways and a greater focus on the social media aspect with the safari being promoted on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and on the Hott 95.3 website.
The safari begins on January 18 in Kathy’s Cozy Corner, Airy Hill, St George, and continues on January 24 at the Doorless Bar in Porters Hill, St James; on January 25 at the Kittie Kat Bar in Thornbury Hill, Christ Church, and January 31 at the Limeaway Bar in Farm Road, St Peter. No other locations were made available to the Press.
The grand prize is a trip for two to Trinidad to experience carnival. (CA)
