| CASE STUDIES |
Contests2win.com: Games that people play |
Contests in newspapers and magazines may be an age-old formula to promote brands, but online contest-based consumer promos are the latest buzzword in the world of promotions and advertising. Such contests are interactive, innovative and are a major draw among potential consumers. And for the brand owners it’s a wonderful medium for an extensive brand awareness programme, which is also pocket friendly.
The beginning
This innovative idea of online contests clicked in the mind of a 29-year-old entrepreneur who himself was crazy about contests. So driven was he that when he decided to start a business, he decided to do what he loved the most. Alok Kejriwal, the founder of Contests2win (c2w), gave a go by to his family’s established hosiery business to start the journey as a netpreneur.
The pioneer of online or electronic contests worldwide, c2w is a success story today. But, of course, the journey towards success was not as smooth as it seems today.
Alok Kejriwal set c2w in motion in August 1998, with an investment of Rs 9.5 lakh from his personal savings (the rest being funded by venture capitalists at later stages). An avid competition freak, Kejriwal hated using competition postcards. Looking for an alternative he bumped into the idea of starting an electronic post office on his own.
c2w started off without a revenue model. This was purposely done keeping this in mind the fact that brand owners like Hindustan Lever did not have an Internet connection those days. It seemed logical because prospective clients would be naturally wary to pay for an untried and untested concept. Forget generating revenue, c2w initially had to face a lot of difficulty just convincing clients about this unique concept.
Perseverance pays off
After making on “an average 200 calls a day for three months with a success rate of getting only two brand owners over the phone”, contests2win.com got its first break with Gunendar Kapur at Hindustan Lever. He agreed to a contest for Kissan Annapurna Salt – branded the Bright Kids contest.
c2w started with a media barter model where it offered online contests for free in lieu of c2w branding in all forms of communication – print ads, television supers, and, of course, MTV veejays cajoling viewers "visit us at c2w.com!". This gave c2w the additional advantage of getting free promotion in all leading media properties in India.
After bagging the HLL contract, the greatest concern for c2w was to in bring in visitors to its site. Though Internet was still at a budding stage when he started out, what goaded Kejriwal on was the knowledge that everyone is crazy about winning prizes. What was imperative was to make the c2w contests so much fun and interactive that even fence sitters – who generally did not participate thinking they would never win a prize – would become avid contestants.
“The idea is to help the consumers and participants get out of the stupid slogan contests and actually participate in interactive campaigns. We have successfully creating a new community of 'winnaholics', and this community comprises not just the die-hard contest types, but also housewives, lawyers, merchants and investment bankers, stockbrokers, and even a few retired people! c2w has a registered user base of 8,32 000 Indian members, with 32,000 new unique members joining every month,” claims Kejriwal.
Time to encash
After establishing its reputation as a successful model for online contests for two years, revenues started trickling in for c2w. By the end of the first quarter of year 2000-01, that is, in June 2000, c2w’s revenues stood at Rs 83 lakh, with profits of Rs 7 lakh. In the last financial year, c2w did business of US$1.5 million establishing itself as one of the more profitable online ventures.
The big idea
The entire concept of c2w is based on one simple idea – creating a window of interaction between consumers and the brand owner and also monetising their services. Take the example of Coke’s Thanda Zone currently on on c2w. Unlike conventional advertisements on television, the Thanda Zone contest actually offers consumer an opportunity to interact and play with popular Hindi movie personality and Coca-Cola ambassador Aamir Khan. The Zone comprises three contests built around the Tapori, Punjabi and Bihari ads of Coke, which have made the slogan “Thanda matlab Coca-Cola” a hot property today. Incidentally, Khan’s Hyderabadi ad will be featured in the site soon.
Revenue model
c2w has a strong but simple revenue model. It charges between Rs 1.5-5 lakh per month for a campaign, depending on the nature of the campaign. Each campaign lasts for a month and is refreshed the next month. The total time period offered to a brand is six months. The brand visibility in these types of contest sites is much higher than in a conventional medium, explains Kejriwal. For example, a consumer spends 4-5 minutes interacting with the brand on a one to one basis in an ‘unadulterated environment’. Such interaction costs Rs 1-2 per contact for 240-300 seconds.
Associates of the site
The contests on c2w have been so effective in creating brand awareness, say c2w executives, that corporates such as Samsung, Electrolux, Nokia, Nestle, Britannia, Starbucks Coffee, Godrej, L’Oreal, Bertelsmann, Sony, Bacardi, Procter & Gamble among others have become regulars on the site.
c2w has strong alliances with different media companies as well – such as ZEE English, ZEE MGM, SET, Elle, B4U and BMG Crescendo – to offer cross-media deals. Brand owners get the benefit of cross-promotions, courtesy the alliances c2w has with other media – wireless (cellular operators), online (MSN is a sales partner), on-ground (Crosswords bookstore), and on air (ZEE English, ZEE MGM and SET).
Time to go abroad
After tasting the success in India, c2w moved abroad to explore the markets of neighboring country, China. In 2001, the company launched the site contests2win.com.cn in a joint venture with the leading Internet investor, Softbank. Today, contests2win.com.cn is among the top 15 sites in China, with a consumer base of 1.4 million, growing at 20 per cent per month.
At the outset the company did face problems in China – like the language barrier as well as the government regulations for Internet and the media in general. But having the right partner like Softbank sorted out the problem by helping c2w cope with government regulations and by helping it hire the right kind of people. Today, out of the 25 team members in China, 20 are locals.
c2w’s invasion of the Chinese market had a solid strategy behind it. First, China has a similar psychographic profile as that of India. In other words, a huge chunk of Chinese and Indians are avid contestants and are ready to go any length to win free prizes. Moreover, China has the advantage of being a low cost market for infrastructure and labour, in addition to having wide Internet connectivity and a large number of Internet users.
Adding feathers to its cap
The overwhelming success in India and China has prompted c2w to launch another venture Mobile2win, which is a 50-50 joint venture between contests2win.com, India, and Softbank China Venture Capital. Mobile2win provides mobile marketing solutions to brands. The company operates as a wireless agency with a reach of close to 200 million users in China. Although it is too soon to gauge the performance of this six-month-old project, the c2w brass claims Mobile2win is also “doing well”.
Planning the road ahead
The plan of c2w is audacious – it wants to rule the market for online promotions and contests all across Asia. Its next three destinations are Thailand, Philippines and UAE. c2w is in the process of launching a website in Thailand, where it plans to go with a franchisee-based business model. In effect, c2w will get a royalty for the brand and also have a share of the revenue generated.
Despite being in an unconventional business in a new medium, what is that one factor that has made c2w a profitable venture today? It’s const control, informs Kejriwal, who still uses a Delhi cell phone number whenever he is in the capital, instead of using a roaming Mumbai number. No wonder, the company, which started off as a one-man show, has 70 members on board today and a zero employee turnover rate.
So as online ventures across the world fold up operations or go back to the drawing boards for course correction, the CEO of the MMNC (Marwari Multinational Company, as Kejriwal refers to his company) gets ready to chalk out the roadmap ahead.
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