Malang Studio (Alarmon)

Malang Studio walked away with the second top prize with their product – “AlarmMon”. Based on the words “Alarm” and “Monster”, Alarm Mon is, as the company describes “a new alarm clock application that gamifies your morning wake-up call with games and characters”. Launched in 2012, it has become the most popular alarm application with over 4 million downloads to date, successfully embedding itself into the daily ritual of people’s most intimate (and frustrating) moment – getting out of bed! It has also demonstrated potential and attractiveness in global markets, with 60,000 downloads in just 24 hours among users in China.

Malang Studio designs its own characters that users can select to use as his or her morning butler, and with each character comes different missions that the user has to complete before the alarm turns itself off. It is a simple concept but has received rave reviews from users who are not only thankful for this wake-up call (literally) but who over time, bond with the cute characterspainstakingly crafted by the company’s designers. Just barely a month ago, Malang Studio welcomed a new addition to its family, a turtle with a flower growing out of its head called Dooby. It joins Black Cat, Henny Penny (a hen), Bready (a piece of toast), Floppy Fish and Lengtoo (a pink rabbit from China). For those interested in the creative process of this character, check out the interview with Violet Kim, a character designer with the company.

Malang Studio is riding on the popularity of its characters and enabling monetization through character licensing for emoticons or stickers, plush toys, widgets and smartphone cases. On top of that, it also relies on built-in advertising as a form of revenue generation. Here is what Violet Kim, the representative who presented on behalf of Malang Studio at Startup Battle Korea had to say about the company’s success and development,

“We would like to first give our thanks for the unconditional support we have received during our journey. This distinction means so much more as we earned it as a team! The fact that this recognition comes from a panel with judges from different cultural backgrounds made it all the more meaningful. Malang Studio is a group of eccentric individuals who came together with the idea of creating fun things. Starting with the AlarmMon app, Malang Studio will change the lives of individuals all across the globe – one morning at a time!”