The Indian Startup

We interviewed Mr Prabhat Kiran about his venture Clayology.com. He is the Founder & CEO of this firm which has been helping companies to adopt ‘fresh’ techniques for their marketing campaigns.

What is your startup about?

Clayology Interactive Agency is a Social Media Marketing & Production company with a twist.

We understand that the success of every viral campaign, be it a viral video, game or an application is in its uniqueness.  Claymation or Stop Motion Animation is something quite different and unique because it does not involve computer generated avatars. They are hand-made and completely organic.

So, when we came up with this unique combination ( Claymation and Viral seeding) we were greeted with open hands by Media Agencies.

What is the story behind Clayology? What led to the inception of Clayology?

I have been in the internet marketing industry for quite sometime.  I have been an Online Marketing & Brand Management Consultant for various companies and so always had to come up with tailor-made strategies for each of them.

Industries like Travel, Gambling etc had high competition. The media buying slabs sometimes don’t even justify a decent break even for them.
I was consulting for a poker company in China , they wanted to tap the local market with local games.  We decided to go with a viral game campaign with a ‘fresh’ approach.

The so called ‘fresh’ approach clicked and that inspired me to come up with an Agency with a twist..something that grabs attention & something that cannot be replicated easily.

What experience do the founders bring and what are their roles?

The company has been founded by Prabhat Kiran who is a Social Media Strategist, who has developed strategies & consulted for many A list Venture funded companies in India, Hong Kong, China & UK.

The expertise lies in Social Media Marketing, Optimization, Branding Establishing Features, Functionality and Traffic Promotions.

He has experience with various Web 2.0 promotions like Viral Marketing (Video, Games), Third-party Applications, WOM, Video Promotions, Pod casting, Google / Yahoo Verticals, Mobile Marketing, SEO, PPC  etc  and has covered various researches on segments like Social Network / Online Video / Media / Web 2.0 platforms.

Each and every member of the team has ample experience and a strong background to boast in their respective forte.

Which is the most popular feature of your service and which one are you most excited about? Who is your target audience?

The most popular feature of our service is of-course claymation.  Since we are a B2B company we target Media Agencies in major.

Who are your competitors? How do you try to differentiate yourself?

Our competitors are mainly companies like Webchutney &  -  involved in viral creation and campaigning but since we are exclusively into claymation, we have an edge over them.

How did you fund the venture? Do you have external funding? When did external partners step in?

All the funding had been raised internally.  We are negotiating with some Venture Capitalists at this moment.

How do you market your initiative & educate prospects?

Since our target is Media Agencies, we have customized brochures and show-reels  for them.  We do a lot of Media Buying in Facebook and Google Adwords and also do Organic Optimisations.

Can you disclose statistics? User base? Revenue? Profitability?

Its too early to disclose.

What are your future plans?

We are on some plans which are still on paper but you can expect a new venture from  Clayology in next 6 months time.

Our Views on Clayology.com

Claymation constitutes only around 5% of the Rs 1200 crores Indian animation sector, however it is slowly becoming a force to reckon with.

Although firms like O&M and Vaibhav Studio are present in this area, Clayology.com is the only Indian venture which combines social media with claymation and shall surely reap the benefits of being a first mover in this category