AgTalk | Growth has been beyond our expectations: LINE's Morikawa

Line Corporation, owner and operator of LINE, a free call and messaging app officially launched in India in July 2013 has announced the number of users in the country that has touched an impressive 10 million only three months from the official release making it the fastest growing region globally. The two year old company that was launched in June 2011, LINE is aiming to become the No. 1 smartphone communication app in India, and is shoring up its plans for further marketing development. In anticipation of the continuing growth of the smartphone market in India, popular Bollywood actress Katrina Kaif has been brought in as a brand ambassador. LINE will launch it’s new television commercial campaign featuring the actress on October 11, coinciding with the Diwali festival.

LINE has reached over 260 million users in 230 countries. LINE lets customers communicate through more than just simple text messages, offering a wide variety of stickers that can express a range of emotions in just one finger tap. Their key markets include Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Spain and also plan increasing their locations in other parts of the globe. The TG LINE is targeting is mostly girls in the age group of 10-20 years. With an increase in usage of smartphones and the scenario  undergoing a change this TG is applicable to India as well.

In terms of partnerships LINE has partnered with Sony India, who will pre-install LINE on their flagship smartphone, the Xperia Z1 and Xperia C, as well as launch a cooperative marketing campaign. Sony Music Entertainment is opening official accounts with LINE which will cater to fans of major genres of music including Bollywood, Indipop, Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi and International music and in order to connect with a large audience and provide localized content LINE is also partnering with major Bollywood films, such as ‘Krrish 3’ and ‘DHOOM:3’, giving exclusive content to customers .

Presently the agenda they have set for the Indian market includes the short term format that they normally follow. In India where there are tentative users, LINE plans to reach out to more users in the next three months.

In an exclusive conversation with Adgully, Akira Morikawa, CEO, LINE spoke about their messaging app that is currently making waves on the Indian continent, their partnerships, competitors  and LINE’s agenda for the Indian market. Following are the excerpts:

Adgully (AG): How is LINE different vis a vis other competitors present in the market?

Akira Morikawa (AM): We are planning to provide better communication with our offerings and that's why we feel LINE will be well accepted. WhatsApp is very popular in India and in other countries too LINE has picked  up after WhatsApp. So, I feel it's a good time now to enter the Indian market  and I have heard that Indians love to communicate so they will also take to this new app from LINE.

AG: At a time when the era of emails was considered to be over, Gmail came and changed the rules . Has LINE too been inspired by Gmail to do something similar on that lines?

AM: Yes, things will change. LINE is about communication with stickers, visuals and functions with a new way of communication.

AG: Will the new app from LINE be able to beat WhatsApp that currently prevails in the market?

AM: Other countries too have been in similar situations, but Whats App was the first era, and we  being in the second era are creating a new market. One of the things which is different is apart from instant messaging we have enhanced services. We have a platform called SNS and games too. So, people who are already using Whats App will understand LINE better as they are already using this format and ours is an enhanced and additional version.

AG: According to you are the consumers for LINE already evolved?

AM: We are looking for new users. As LINE has all enhanced functions compatible to smartphones it is compatible with the evolution.  With an increase number of smartphones and value added services our reach too is increasing.

AG: So, are your competitors just Apps or also social media sites like Facebook too?

AM:  People using Facebook on personal computers can also use LINE. In India there's still a shift to happen from feature phone to smart phone so once they start using smartphones and  choose apps for communication LINE too will be an option. So, we are actually looking to create these kinds of engagement. Today smartphones users have increased and have adapted to these apps, hence they will be able to use LINE in a much better way.

AG: Primarily, you are working outside India and do not have a ground team based in India.  Are you looking at forming a LINE team here in India as well?

AM: We are planning to establish an office in India, with Indian staff. We'll start with a team size of 2-3 people and slowly expand it. We have one member of LINE team in India who is studying the Indian market and the Indian environment. We will eventually employ local people. We haven't selected the location as of now but planning to have our first India office in Delhi.

AG: Recently Alibaba also jumped into the fray. What is your take on this? Any  comments ?

AM: Where messengers are concerned  there are several messenger service providers. Two years back when we started with LINE we knew that India would be a big market for us.

AG: You got Katrina Kaif as the ambassador for LINE and other service providers too have had celebrities to endorse their brands. Do celebrities brand endorsements drive the actual sales? Please share your honest opinion on this. 

AM: We do not invest in anything which does not have a future so I think it's a balancing investment. It's all about increasing the user base.

AG: What kind of user base are you looking at in India?

AM: We are looking at a similar user base as in Japan and Thailand where one out of every two consumers use LINE. Therefore business and revenue will definitely increase.

AG: In terms of business what are the opportunities for monetization?

AM:  We have three business models in comparison to other companies which have one business model. First one is LINE Stickers, the second is purchase of Apps with LINE and also the free voice chat feature of  the app . What was B2C till now has become B2B model, which is sponsors with Stickers and Sponsors with official account.  These three will help in making the business strong. Globally its 50 percent games, 30 percent is sticker revenue and B2B is 20 percent. I think in India B2B will work well.

AG: With regard to the growth of LINE what do you envisage for the future?

AM: Till date the growth has been beyond our  expectations. Having initially started in India it has moved to Asia and is now expanding globally.

AG: You are a Japanese brand but not an automobile which has always seen success in India . Hence what would your strategy be to work against the odds? 

AM: This is applicable to all the countries. One is to enhance the basic functions, enhance smartphones with LINE communication. Second is to be Indian, and localize with stickers. With Indian illustrators we are making localized stickers. For e.g. we will have Dhoom 3 and Krrish 3 stickers too. In the focused countries we have localised stickers.

AG: Any business target you have set for next 3 to 5 years?

AM: India has overtaken Japan to become the country with the third largest number of smartphone users.  It is only natural to anticipate further growth of the smartphone market in India, and we believe that it will become a vital territory as LINE expands into the global marketplace

AG: Any message you would have for young app users in India?

AM: We are working very hard to be no.1 player in India and also adapting and localizing our service for Indian users.