Alok Kejriwal is the founder of http://www.contests2win.com (c2w), a consumer media company that dabbles in various formats of online and mobile contests. A small town lad from Parel (Mumbai) Kejriwal gave a go by to his family’s hosiery socks business at 28 to launch his first dream boat (c2w) in 1998. Later, he went on to raise capital for three more ventures - www.mobile2win.com in China and India, www.media2win.com and www.games2win.com.
A hands-on player himself, Kejriwal is a self-descript “pavement pounder” who loves to meet clients and partners as often as he can.

mo:life
Can you give us a fast introduction to your business? What’s the 30-second blurb you give potential VCs? What’s unique about what you do?

Alok Kejriwal
We create games that are tinged with an Indian flavour but also carry a universal appeal. The pitch is – games made in India; sold to the world. Today, what’s unique about us is that we are No 71 in the global ranking of game companies (comScore July 2008 numbers) – without having spent a dollar on advertising!

mo:life
We took a brief look at Games2Win - and we found the games high on ‘gimmick’ factor, and low on sophistication. Is this the nature of flash games or do you think this standard is more than adequate to satisfy your audience? Please comment.

Alok Kejriwal
That’s a deliberate strategy. We like to be topical and relevant. Flash games allow us to turn around games fast – so we are almost like a gaming news company.

mo:life
mo:life is interested in things mobile. What’s your strategy for the mobile media?

Alok Kejriwal
We believe that the phase of charging for mobile applications and downloads is almost over. Consumers are entitled to get free stuff just on the basis of their eyeballs (i.e., through advertising) and hence we want to pursue a business that just gives away everything free (games, games and more games) with ads before and after the game that will be the basis of our revenue. This will also allow us to circumvent the operators who we believe are speed breakers and need to be bypassed.

mo:life
mo:life is based out of Australia . Can you tell us a little more about the potential audience for mobile stuff in India and generally in Asia?

Alok Kejriwal
Consumers in India and Asia have an emotional dependence on their phones. It connects them to their families and friends. Also, in India the tariff for mobile services is perhaps the lowest in the world, so it’s very easy to maintain a mobile phone. Further, given that Internet is not such a wide phenomena in India and some parts of Asia, mobile appear to be the next best choice.

mo:life
It appears that Indian games are heavily influenced by games from the West. Is there a movement to create games that are more closely linked with Indian/Asian culture?

Alok Kejriwal
Games are universally of common themes – racing, shooting, puzzle and probably strategy. The ‘skins’ around the games may be of varying cultures, but games that are made for specific cultures are tough to sustain. Today, all digital entrepreneurs sell to a global world – they cannot risk limiting their products to a closed community.

mo:life
An estimate is that nearly 80% of mobile handsets in India are not sophisticated to be gaming platforms — is this true?

Alok Kejriwal
Only 10% of handsets have GPRS connectivity – so it’s nothing to do with the sophistication of the handset – it’s to do with the subscription to GPRS.

mo:life
Marketers are beginning to incorporate advertising in to games. Are you concerned by this? Does it spoil or interfere with the gaming experience, or will advertising placements be a reality in games?

Alok Kejriwal
It will be one of the best ways to build a brand new advertising platform between consumers and brands. Imagine the power of interactivity combined with one on one marketing – of course permission based. Consumers are not playing games as if to pass exams, so a bit of interruption doesn’t matter at all! In fact, once consumers learn that the advertising can make the game free, they will only prefer to play those games!
Advertisers must choose relevance – so a sanitary napkin ad game in a complete macho shooting game that will be played only by boys in very avoidable.
Also, advertisers must insert ‘call for action’ triggers in the game. Imagine a racing game that starts with a pizza company ad – after the game gets over, the same ad can appear with a simple line – click this to call the pizza hotline and order your pizza now – so advertisers must take full advantage of the fact that the mobile can actually make their potential consumers order and even pay using their mobile wallets.

mo:life
Can you give us your vision for the next three to five years on where mobile gaming is heading, from an Indian perspective? And please tell us how you see the revenue models working?

Alok Kejriwal
I see mobile gaming in the next three years as: Free and away from the operators’ clutches; customized to target audiences – that implies different games for housewives, students, working people etc., and almost completely sponsored by brands.