Tete-a-Tete

CLINCK which is an Active Desktop Application from the house of Ideacts aims at creating revenue opportunities for cybercafés. The desktop client CLINCK acts as an ad delivery channel wherein the cybercafés get a fixed amount every month for ads delivered by Ideacts. CLINCK is a breath of fresh air in the unstructured cybercafé scenario. We got Saurabh Khullar (Co-founder & Head Sales) talking about the product offering and Ideacts future plans.

How did Clinck happen? (Share the process of ideation to inception)

CLINCK happened back in 2009, when the three entrepreneurs Rudrajeet Desai, Saurabh Khullar and Maninder Gill were students. Surfing in cyber cafes’ as students led them to the idea of a desktop application. Since the idea was a little ahead of its time, they went about their regular jobs, and then picked up the same concept again after 6 years.

They made CLINCK on a single laptop and brought it to proof of concept stage in Bangalore. Post that, due to the merit in the product and the business plan, Ideacts innovations got funded by Sequoia and CLINCK reached 9 major cities in India. It has only grown in distribution ever since.

How has the response been?

CLINCK delivers higher Click through ratios than other online advertising mediums. Also the TG that CLINCK captures is very much in demand, hard to catch youth, who form 70% of the cyber café audience. The advertisers who have tried it out, have come back for second and third campaigns.

Could you share your clientele?

http://www.ideacts.com/CLINCK-Advertisers.html

Indian clients are known to be headstrong. Was it tough to sell the concept in the initial stages?

To introduce any new medium in India is a challenge. Luckily the initial stages of selling the concept were at a very small pilot level, and the results proved to be in the favor of advertisers. Indian advertisers are now also getting more experimental and demand innovations.

CLINCK being a youth oriented new age medium definitely faced its hardships, but is looking positive now.

Any particular campaign that made waves?

Recently, an IPL property has been launched on CLINCK, where a complete tab has been dedicated to the event. It has attracted very high interaction and interest from both users as well as advertisers.

Another campaign that got a very good response was Mentos, by Perfetti, and the Congress campaign.

What mediums has Ideacts used to advertise the unique product?

CLINCK is a medium on which advertising happens. Ideacts innovations does not advertise CLINCK on any platform, but rather attracts campaigns

The Government has been dissing cybercafés due to security measures leading them to shut down. How do plan on tackling the issue?

Cyber cafes contributes 37% of the internet access in the country. While it is a huge touch point, it is also a matter of concern since it’s a public access system. Ideacts innovations is introducing a new product – CLINCK Cyber Café Manager, which is going to help in the following ways

• Maintain a digital log of users on each terminal
• Help to maintain traffic record in-and-out of a café on any given day
• It is also acts as an accounting software for the café owner
• It has the help of cyber crime support cell to maintain security standards in the cafes
  
  

Sify has ingeniously introduced ticketing and bill payment facilities in their cybercafés. Are you planning on similar initiatives to boost cyber cafe footfalls?

Not in the near future

Should we expect for any other products in the near future?

Cyber Café Manager is the next product that will roll out from Ideacts.