Rediff.com to roll out TV campaign next week

The Internet player will use traditional media to promote its newly launched mobile phone application, called Rediffmail NG. The print campaign has already gone live today

Rediff.com has launched a mobile phone application called Rediffmail NG (new generation), which, once downloaded on a GPRS-enabled phone, allows a mobile phone user to access e-mails (Rediffmail) on the move.

To promote and encourage adoption of the application, the Internet firm is all set to roll out a traditional media (print and television) campaign.

Speaking to afaqs!, Ajit Balakrishnan, chairperson and chief executive officer, Rediff.com India, says, "The print campaign to promote the adoption of Rediffmail NG has already gone live today - with a full page ad on the back of Hindustan Times newspaper in Delhi and Mumbai editions. The TV campaign (a 60 seconds TV commercial) will be aired early next week."

Balakrishnan did not reveal the name of the TV channels where the TVC will be aired. He says, "We are still deciding or finalising our media plan." He also declined to comment on the amount of spend that will be routed towards traditional media.

However, as per industry estimates, Rediff.com may spend up to Rs 7 crore on traditional media advertising for the promotion of the application.

Apart from traditional media advertising, the Internet player plans to promote the mobile application through online and direct marketing as well.

The launch of the application was announced yesterday during a press conference organised by Rediff.com in New Delhi.

The Rediffmail NG application, targeted towards youth and entrepreneurs, is actually a push based e-mail service. It implies that the application user will get a notification on the home screen of the phone whenever he receives a new e-mail. Also, the mail will be reflected in the inbox on its own and the consumer is not required to refresh the inbox page to retrieve the e-mail.

The application is capable of functioning on most of the phones - including low priced mobile handsets manufactured by firms such as Micromax and Karbonn - across all major mobile phone platforms such as Symbian, Java and Android.

The Internet firm will charge a subscription fee of Rs 50 per month to provide unlimited (no limit on the size of file attachments and number of e-mails) access to e-mails through the application. Initially, the unlimited usage service will be available to MTNL users (more than 5 million) in Delhi and Mumbai. Later, it will be extended to mobile phone subscribers of other mobile service providers as well.