BigRock launches .net campaign to broaden reach amongst Indian businesses

BANGALORE, INDIA: BigRock, one of India's leading domain registrars and web hosting companies, announced that it is working with Verisign, the world's leading domain name registry operator, to further the reach of .net domain names amongst Indian businesses. Verisign has operated the infrastructure for a portfolio of top-level domains that include .com and .net (among other domain extensions) for more than 15 years.

To increase the adoption of .net amongst Indian businesses, BigRock has unveiled a .net website package that includes a .net domain name, email hosting, and web hosting integrated with an easy-to-use interactive website builder priced at Rs 299. BigRock has also launched an aggressive integrated media campaign that comprises a television commercial (TVC) and extensive digital campaigns to build awareness amongst Indian consumers.

BigRock recently launched a first-of-its kind series of events called httpx in association with .net targeted towards web designers and developers at Mumbai and at Delhi. The events brought together more than 700 attendees and a speaker line-up of some of the top developers and designers in the country.

Through this campaign, which continues BigRock's focus on bringing Indian SMEs/businesses online, BigRock drives home the fact that millions of successful online businesses globally have been built on either a .com or a .net domain. While the popularity of the .com is well established, fewer people are aware that a significant number of businesses all over the world have relied on .net and that it is the Internet's second largest generic top level domain name after .com.

"This new campaign is one of the largest we have ever launched at BigRock", said Bhavin Turakhia, founder, BigRock. "Our commercials continue to target the small business consumer in India and we have leveraged a creative concept which uses a futuristic domain name assembly line to illustrate the idea that every business needs a domain name and a website.

"Through the years, we have continued to build awareness of our products and the importance for businesses to be online - and we continue to invest in growing the overall market. Indian consumers are now registering around 350-400,000 domain names a quarter and will soon start to contribute double digit percentages to the 6 million domain names added globally per quarter. This is only apt as we are now the third largest Internet population worldwide."

"We're excited to work with BigRock on the .net campaign," said Manish Dalal, VP, Asia Pacific for Verisign. "As one of the first Web domains, .net has the credibility that comes with experience to help businesses start, grow and get their best chance online. When an organization puts .net after their domain name, they are showing the world that they are available, reputable and going places. Recently, .net hit a major milestone when its zone surpassed 15 million domain names registered globally.

"To help celebrate this milestone, Verisign in partnership with Entrepreneur Magazine recently launched a poll asking readers to pick their favourite .net websites in the world, with the .net 100 ranking to be published in early 2014. Through the .net campaign with BigRock, we hope many more Indian businesses join this innovative community."

Shashank Mehrotra, GM and Business head at BigRock, said: "It's been an amazing journey for us to showcase .net as one of the Internet's great brands. .net enjoys high awareness as a domain extension across India as we discovered in recent market research studies and we are continuing to build on this. As part of this campaign we have launched an extensive TV and digital outreach. We have also recently launched India's first conference series called httpx focused on web designers and developers.

"These events have allowed us to engage more deeply with this community which forms an important part of our growth strategy. BigRock is now in its fourth year of catering to Indian customers and we have consistently recorded NPS scores of over 50 which highlight our commitment to them and their businesses."