LINE aims for aggressive Malay growth

Mobile messenger service provider LINE announced its goal to exponentially grow its Malaysian user-base this year through various collaborations with local businesses and an extensive integrated marketing campaign featuring Korean star Siwon Choi.To kick off its first local campaign, LINE will be airing a locally filmed TV commercial starring Choi, who unveiled his virtual brand room and avatar on LINE PLAY, LINE's avatar communication service, at a recent press conference in KL.Hyun-bin Kang, head director of Line Plus Corp, said Malaysia has one of the highest smartphone penetration rates in the world and is a key market with high growth potential.LINE has also engaged with Malaysian celebrities, such as Zizan Razak (Raja Lawak), Danny One, Liyana Fizi and Isaac Dang, to allow them to directly engage their fans on LINE Official Accounts.In addition to celebrity partnerships via LINE's Official Accounts, LINE is also becoming  a new platform for music. G-Dragon of K-pop group Big Bang recently released a new song via his LINE Official Account. Fans can download an exclusive set of G-Dragon stickers which allows them to listen to his new song Go for free."We expect that 2013 to be a year of transformation for mobile messengers to become a mobile platform for content," said Jin-woo Lee (pictured left), general manager of the global LINE business office.LINE is also supported by Nokia's S40 platform and also comes preloaded on Nokia's Asha smartphones, besides iPhone, Android, Windows Phone and BlackBerry devices.