Tarana
Khan | agencyfaqs! | Mumbai, October 03, 2007
Contests2win, one
of the earliest entrepreneurial ventures on the Internet in
India, is in for another revamp. In a conversation with
agencyfaqs!, founder Alok Kejriwal says the company is
planning “a complete re-launch of the site focused on the
consumer rather than the brand”. This includes making the site
more consumer-friendly rather than just a showcase for brands.
Kejriwal adds that the site’s focus will now be completely on
the consumer.
Talking about how online contests will
evolve, he said, “So far, consumers have been at the receiving
end and brands have been creating contests. Now, consumers
will start creating contests.” The site is slated to be
relaunched some time next month and Kejriwal promises that a
“lot of stuff is going to happen”.
Founded in
1998, Contests2win became a first-of-its kind online contest
site in India. It survived the tumultuous dotcom bust and
continues to revamp itself at regular intervals. In 2006,
Kejriwal quit as CEO of Contests2win and decided to play a
leading role at his latest venture, Games2win, which received
funding of $5 million in March. Talking about the move,
Kejriwal says, “Games2win is a very new business and requires
entrepreneurial experience and building a team from
scratch.”
Games2win, which has been known for its
India-based games, is now going to cater to a more universal
audience. The company has been promoting itself on message
boards and social media sites and has realised the site is
attracting significant traffic from international gamers. “As
we stand today, Games2win is five times more popular abroad
than it is in India. This has just happened over the last
three or four months and it has caught us totally by
surprise,” reveals Kejriwal. He adds that gamers from about
180 countries visit the site daily and this includes traffic
from the Americas, Europe, China, Korea and
Japan.
Kejriwal and his team feel gamers want Indian
themes with a universal play. “The Indian consumer is not that
crazy about Indian content. He likes a touch of India, but
it’s not like everything has to be dipped in Indian oil.” So,
Games2win will now concentrate on “universal game ideas with
an Indian touch, so that our (Indian) identity is preserved”.
Games2win is also acquiring licenses for MMOGs, or
massively multiplayer online games. MMOGs are virtual worlds
where a game is played by thousands of gamers on the Internet
at the same time. MMOGs are very popular in the US and South
Korea. Kejriwal thinks the gaming market in India (IAMAI and
IMRB puts its size at Rs 21 crore) could get a boost through
MMOGs.
While Contests2win is largely built on brand
promotions, Kejriwal thinks that in-game advertising is still
not acceptable to most gamers in India. Citing his experiments
with in-game advertising, Kejriwal says that the ads put
gamers off. “I believe in-game advertising in India will take
at least a few months to evolve because the consumer has to
appreciate that the content is coming free to him because of
the advertising,” says Kejriwal.
Apart from
Contests2win and Games2win, Alok Kejriwal is also the founder
of mobile agency Mobile2win and interactive agency Media2win.
Read the
full
interview here.
© 2007 agency
faqs! story fileby