By Saw Lidong • UrbanWire
email reporter • email story • printer friendly

What started off as a Creative warehouse sale event to offload some of their more dated products, and has since developed into a full-fledged promotional extravaganza with carnival like atmosphere to boot. Creative will be holding its 5th such event, the Creativex Family Fun Fest on the 28th of May and already it promises to be bigger and better than all its predecessors.

Over the past 4 sales, we've seen bargain hunters from all corners of Singapore flock there to grab bargains. Some overzealous people even camped outside the venue for several nights to beat others to the heavily discounted products.

What will people camp for this time?

Since the first Creative warehouse sale, refurbished items have been a huge hit and this weekend's sale is looking to be no exception. Refurbished web cameras will be going for as low as $9, purchasing refurbished speaker system and soundcard bundles instead of the brand new sets can save you as much as $300, and many internet forum users are already anticipating Creative's range of competitively priced refurbished graphic cards to be snapped up within the first hour of the warehouse sale. Students will also be able to purchase the Creative Desktop Wireless 6000 at half price ($49).

Send an SMS if you're staying home

However, if those promotions are not strong enough to entice you to spend the night queuing up for the sale, you can try your luck with Creative's SMS balloting system.
All you have to do is send in SMS ballots to Creative before the sale, for your "Star Buys" picks. Successful balloters will be notified on the weekend of the sale. Among the 150 units of Creative products available through the balloting system, the 17" LCD monitors, going for $99, are the hottest. Creative received over 50,000 SMS ballots when the system was introduced during the last sale. If your SMS ballots aren't successful, you can still participate in the Star Buy lucky draw with every SMS ballot you've sent. Prizes include the NOMAD Jukebox Zen Xtra 60GB, going for $199.

Wait, the fun doesn't end there. After you've made all your purchases totalling at least $100 and you're feeling brave enough, you can participate in the Creative Auction. Starting bids on all products available, including the Creative GigaWorks S750 priced at $1238, are at $1. If you've bought at least $200 worth of goodies, you can sign up as a Creative Card member for free. If not, just pay $20 for the membership. The Creative Card is basically a loyalty programme that allows members to receive rebates of up to 35% on their Creative purchases. The rebates can then be used on your next Creative purchase.

The Catholic High Connection

Other than Creative products on display, participating partners: Canon, Sharp, Microsoft, PalmOne (check out the $99 PDAs), TwinMos, Shinco, Panasonic and Catholic High School, will also have a presence at the event. Yes, you heard me right, Catholic Highl. In conjunction with the warehouse sale, the students of the school will be managing a carnival at the event. According to its principal, Mr Lee Hak Boon, the carnival is planned and organised by the students alone, and all the funds generated from the carnival will go to the Student Programs Development Fund. Although Creative will be sponsoring most of the carnival products, it's all up to the students' creativity and innovativeness to attract your purchasing dollar. Also, some of the students will have a chance to manage the Creative Auction.

With all that said, do make it a date to check out the Creativex Family Fun Fest at the Creative Technology Headquarters this weekend. For more information, visit http://creativex.creative.com/promos/whs/sale.asp