Yahoo! I'm a Crorepati

I've tried to collect some random thoughts after writing the previous post.

I had assumed that it was a wrong move on Yahoo!'s part to rope in Malaika Arora to promote their web mail service in India. I still stand by it. Going by Thejo's analysis, more users might mean more profits, and some advertisement is imperative to get more people to sign up. I agree. But how else could Yahoo! have done it? Someone like Shahrukh Khan? Or Sachin Tendulkar? Or Amitabh Bachchan?

Amitabh Bachchan wins my vote. He is appearing in almost all ads these days selling everything from pins to planes. Why not Yahoo! India Mail? Here's the blueprint...

Kaun Banega Crorepati 2 is on the anvil. I read somewhere that 1.5 crore (15 million) people rang up in the first 10 days. That's quite a number. Yahoo! India can sign a deal with STAR to promote KBC on its website, and in users' mailboxes. They can then organise some kinda contest themselves on these lines.

1. Invite your friend to Yahoo! and get 100 points. For each person he signs up, you win some referral bonuses.
2. Each time you send a mail, you get 10 points. (Beware: No spam allowed!)
3. Each time you open a new mail, you get 5 points.
4. Create a Yahoo! group, win 1000 points.
5. Register with partner sites (like Shaadi.com etc) and win some points accordingly.

At the end of each month, a random draw will be held. A person will have as many entries as the points he has (say you've accumulated 10000 points, your chances of winning are that high). That winner will gain an automatic entry into the Fastest Finger First round in KBC. Or direct to the Hot Seat.

This way, Yahoo! can ride on the popularity of KBC thus creating a win-win situation. Actually, Yahoo! stands to gain more from this because they can use Amitabh Bachchan's images to promote their services. No dud-vertising this, eh?

Of course, MSN and Rediff can try this too... but whoever does it, don't forget me. All I need is one ad-free, spam-free 100 MB mailbox!