Verizon Holds 'V Sing' Competition at Chinese Lunar New Year Events in New York City

NEW YORK - To usher in the Chinese Year of the Golden Pig, Verizon will hold a singing competition, dubbed V Sing, at the annual Flower Market in Columbus Park (Mulberry Street, between Bayard and Worth Streets) on Feb. 16 and 17.  During the two-day event, visitors to Verizon's booth can learn about the company's most popular broadband, wireless and entertainment services; pick up a variety of gifts such as key chains, earmuffs, mouse pads, mints and much more; and enter the V Sing competition.

"As a broadband and entertainment company, we love to engage our customers," said Clare Fang, manager of multicultural Asian marketing for Verizon.  "Visitors to Verizon's booth at the Flower Market can learn about some of our products and services and have fun at the same time."

Jeff McFarland, director of multicultural marketing for Verizon, said, "Verizon is a long-time supporter of New York City's biggest Lunar New Year celebration.  We are proud to support and to maintain close ties with the Asian community."

The V Sing competition will be held at the Verizon booth.  Each contestant will have a few minutes to sing a cappella on camera.

Judges from Verizon and Verizon Wireless will review the performance tapes and choose three finalists within a week.  The finalists will get the chance to perform on the Verizon float during the Chinese Lunar New Year Parade on Feb. 25.  During the parade, which begins on Mott Street, spectators can also join the Text to Win game promoted on the float and check Verizon's booth every hour to see if they have won a prize.

The top V Sing performer, as determined by the Verizon judging panel the day of the parade, will win the grand prize of a Verizon Wireless phone and $800 in cash.  All three finalists may be asked by Verizon to perform at another Verizon-sponsored event.

Visitors to Verizon's booth at the Flower Market or at the Chinese Lunar New Year Parade will have the opportunity to learn about Verizon's FiOS Internet and FiOS TV, as well as bundled packages featuring unlimited calling, DIRECTV and Verizon High Speed Internet.

The Chinese New Year is one of the biggest holidays on the Asian calendar, and   families and friends celebrate by getting together for traditional festivities.  This will be New York's eighth annual Chinatown Parade and fourth annual Flower Market event.  It is expected that 500,000 spectators will attend the parade, and 150,000 will visit the Flower Market for the Year of the Pig celebration.

Reaching out to the Asian community has always been one of Verizon's top priorities. Verizon features an in-language Chinese Web site for consumers around the country.  For over a decade, Verizon and predecessor companies have provided in-language sales representatives to support customers who speak Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese), Korean and Vietnamese.  Today, more than 1,000 employees staff 13 Verizon consumer multicultural sales and solution centers in various parts of the United States, all of them communicating with customers in their native languages.  For more information about Verizon's broadband services in Chinese, visit www.verizon.com/chinese or www.verizon.com/chinese/fios.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ), headquartered in New York, is a leader in delivering broadband and other wireline and wireless communication innovations to mass market, business, government and wholesale customers.  Verizon Wireless operates America's most reliable wireless network, serving more than 59 million customers nationwide.  Verizon's Wireline operations include Verizon Business, which operates one of the most expansive wholly owned global IP networks, and Verizon Telecom, which is deploying the nation's most advanced fiber-optic network to deliver the benefits of converged communications, information and entertainment services to customers.  A Dow 30 company, Verizon has a diverse workforce of approximately 242,000 and last year generated consolidated operating revenues of more than $88 billion.  For more information, visit www.verizon.com.

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