Website Planet had the chance to sit down and chat with Adact’s CEO, Kalev Kärpuk.
We discussed how the company started, how they make sure to stand out from the competition, and what opportunities and challenges he sees in the future of their industry.
Let’s introduce Adact to our audience. What is it and how does it work?
Adact is the world’s leading gamification platform that supports brands by turning their target audience into engaged customers in just 30 minutes without writing a single code. Adact offers a variety of interactive game solutions that companies can personalize, and use for their marketing campaign or HR purposes. Adact is committed to helping businesses unlock the benefits of gamification marketing, including the ability to generate 4-7x more leads, acquire more qualified leads, and differentiate themselves from competitors. Adact’s campaigns have demonstrated an impressive conversion rate, with approximately 83% of customers becoming leads.
How did it all start, and what are your achievements to this day?
When I was in Singapore, I stumbled upon a company that I can’t quite remember the name of. They specialized in creating tablets that offered various marketing games. I recall having done similar things for businesses in the USA before, and I’m well aware of the time and cost involved in creating such solutions and the positive results they can yield. I was really intrigued by their concept and idea. Once you develop a gamified solution, you place it in cinemas or stores, and people passing by don’t just watch your advertisement; instead, they engage interactively by playing games or answering questions. It got me thinking, and I reached out to some friends to explore the potential of creating a similar system. The idea was to develop this solution once and then use the same base for multiple brands, with minor design adjustments. That’s how the initial idea was born.
In the fall of 2019, we decided to establish our company after securing our first investment from Startup Wise Guys. Interestingly, their investment came with an unspoken condition that we needed to pivot from our current business model. They seemed more interested in investing in our team and people rather than the product itself. Initially, our concept revolved around using tablets in physical locations like stores, but we faced some challenges with it. As time went on, we eventually made a significant shift in our approach around February and decided to forgo the physical tablets altogether and focus solely on developing our software. This was probably the first biggest achievement.
Now, we have worked with prominent brands like Starbucks, KIA, Gucci, Coca-Cola, A1, and so on. It’s constant learning, but the more demanding the customer, the fiercer the result.
How does your mission differ from the other companies in your niche?
Our mission is to grow and evolve our product in tandem with our customers. We carefully listen to their needs and ensure that the experience resonates with their audience. This way, we avoid creating something based solely on our assumptions, and can be confident that our product will genuinely resonate and succeed. And as our customers have said previously, when comparing us with competitors, our product is the most easy to understand and implement.
Who are your typical clients and what problems do they have when they come to you?
Our clients are companies from different fields but mostly with the same problem – how do we create more loyal customers, generate leads or raise awareness in a fun and engaging manner, or how to activate and surprise their employees.
And what makes them eventually choose you over your competitors?
One thing we are truly proud of is our customer journey and the level of personalization we can offer them. We love brainstorming together with our customers, understanding their pain points, and working collaboratively to solve them. As I already mentioned, the product’s ease of understanding has been our goal from the beginning.
Can you share one success story from your customers? What was their pain point, and what results did they get thanks to Adact?
One of my favorite examples is Cipsi, a potato chip brand. They launched a public competition where people could vote all across the country, which specific product should return to the stores. But instead of a classic landing page they had a game where people were voting on the products just like swiping on Tinder. If you wished for the product to return then swipe right. Each week the lowest 5 products would fall out of the competition. This competition had over 20+K participants per week and was a huge success.
What do you see in the future of your industry, and how do you plan to cope?
The future would hopefully be more gamification campaigns and we are coping by enabling companies to build them.
