Indian Gaming Ecosystem is thriving than any other entertainment segment at the moment. Every day, new casual and professional players, brands and teams, agencies and esports organisations are entering the space, with the common motive to grow and cash in on the GenZ trend.
One such entrant is the new-gen marketing agency, called AlphaZegus that’s taking the gaming industry by storm. In less than six months, they have onboarded over 30 top talents, and are working with the likes of Adidas, KFC, H&M, L’oreal, MSI, Acer, and many more brands, at a scale that’s not happened in the Indian gaming space before.
AnimationXpress spoke to the founder and director of AlphaZegus, Rohit Agarwal, to find out his inspiration behind ALPHA ZEGUS, plans and so on.
26-year-old Agarwal have been in the marketing space for over six years in past six years, he has worked on campaigns for brands such as Intel, Amazon, OnePlus and so on. Apart from that he has been working on grounds-up to build 20+ start-ups and small businesses. Since past three years gaming industry have boomed while observing on the growth of the industry he started working on small campaigns for a few techs and gaming brands and sooner his interest for the sector started burgeoning. “From learning about GenZ behavior to discovering an ultra-engaging and real-time form of content, every nerve of the gaming ecosystem was a new discovery,” Added Agarwal.
AlphaZegus came to real when he has been working on tech and gaming campaigns and discovered a big gap where the brands or the creators/gamers unable to utilize the complete potential of the sector despite the sector growth in engagement numbers and engagement tools. This happened because of the lack of knowledge, communication gaps, inadequate measurement tools, or barriers to entry. That’s when he got the idea of AlphaZegus for redefining the gaming space and bridging the gaps for brands and creators.
Speaking on how AlphaZegus filling the gaps he shared “At AlphaZegus, it’s all about relationships. Our team activity scouts for the best gaming talents and organizations to work with, and forms deep-rooted connections with them. Our association criteria are quite selective – we only work with people with who we are able to form connections. Once these connections are built, we spend time understanding the pain points, ideas, and feedback from all our partners. We indulge in regular brainstorming sessions with them and create a big whiteboard with ideas and upcoming trends.Finally, we take these to endemic and non-endemic brands, and with our years of experience dealing with brands, create campaigns that are fruitful for both parties.”
In the past few months their brand has been working with endemic brands such as Intel, LogitechG, MSI, Asus, Acer, LOCO, Colorful, and many more. In terms of non-endemic brands, they have worked with KFC, H&M, L’oréal, Fastrack, Adidas, Maybelline, Muscleblaze, Tinder, and many more. They offer predominantly creative and influencer marketing, through their partner network, and are also able to offer tournament IPs, gaming IPs, digital and media solutions.
He cited few examples of his recent works; they are as follows:
“We had the opportunity to work with some really big and exciting non-endemic brands, many of which were introduced to gaming in India for the first time. To give you a few examples:
With KFC, we created a property called KFC Binge Night, where we got top PC streamers to redefine the concept of ‘Netflix and Chill’ to ‘KFC and Chill’ – a night full of gaming, chatting, and binging on their favourite KFC meal.
With Adidas, we supported the launch of their new product, 4DFWD, through augmentation of a gamers’ lifestyle.
With Muscleblaze, we carried out the launch of their new product – Game On – through influencer marketing. For brands like L’Oréal & Maybelline, we created high quality content to match the style of these international brands.Some of our other non-endemic collaborations include: Tinder, Netflix, Old Spice, Nickelodeon, Redbull, Upgrad, Unacademy, and so on.
Similarly, for endemic brands, some of our projects include:
For MSI, we created a New Gaming IP – Game on with Pros, which is a high traction community engagement piece and a recursive property with new games and challenges. With Colorful, we explore innovative content formats – funny videos, interactive livestreams, lifestyle shots – to increase awareness and goodwill of the brand. We’ve also been actively working with brands such as Intel, LogitechG, LOCO, Acer, Asus, WD Black, and many more.”
Their team is comprise of a highly talented individuals, ranging from early 20’s gaming enthusiasts, mid 20’s social trendsetters, late 20’s creative thinktanks, and marketing mentors that have seen more world than all of us combined.
With such a diverse set of people, they are able to look at things from various angles – be it ROI, social trends, or innovations.
They have partnered with 30+ dynamic creators including Rakazone Gaming, Xyaa, Hydraflick, Tbone, Kaashvi, and so om and partners such as SkyEsports, EsportsXO, F1:LS, and so on.
Speaking on the current initiative he shared, “Our latest initiative is called ‘India’s Next Alpha’, where we are reaching out to gaming talents across India who haven’t had a platform to showcase their skills yet, and majorly belong to Tier-2 / Tier-3 towns. Our aim is to recognize such talents, nurture and grow them, and connect them to our partner network (reputed esports organizations/brands/agencies), thereby benefiting all parties, and leading to the growth of the Indian Gaming Ecosystem.”
They aim to pull in more FMCG, Hospitality, and Luxury brands, and give them a taste of the absolute potential of the Indian GenZ audience, and show them the power of gaming as an entertainment tool.
He added, “We are already in the works to create some creative digital IPs, that fuse gaming, entertainment, and lifestyle. We will also be expanding into lifestyle marketing segment very soon, and we plan to create a similar culture within that space.”