Beeb.com's first advertising foray onto British TV screens breaks next Monday, promising to be markedly different to other dot.com campaigns.

The £7m campaign, developed by agency In Real Life and bought by NewPHD, will stretch over the next eight months and will be mostly concentrated on TV ads running over the autumn months.

TV ad spots will run on ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and cable and satellite channels. The ad, which is aimed at a 'middle England' audience, is linked to the theme of learning and understanding and is in the style of a Ladybird 'How it Works' book. A tie-in with publisher Ladybird will see a book produced about the basics of the internet, which will go on sale from mid-October.

The TV commercial will be accompanied by print ads throughout the autumn in national daily and Sunday papers as well as a radio and online campaign.

Julian Turner, the recently appointed chief executive officer of Beeb Ventures, said: "The dot.com marketplace has traditionally advertised using slick and gimmicky hooks to get people interested. However, we feel that people who are not habitual internet users can feel alienated by this approach."