This presentation summarizes information from Building the Angry Birds Brand, a research paper by Yasheaka Oakley. It analyzes the public relations and marketing strategies of Rovio Entertainment’s Angry Birds franchise from 2009 to 2012 by highlighting Rovio’s ability to successfully differentiate its brand and collaborate with partners as described by Marty Neumeier in his book, The Brand Gap.

1. Yasheaka Oakley
8 December 2012
Master of Arts in Journalism & Mass
Communications – Public Relations
Kent State University

2. About Yasheaka
 Cheyney University, 2011
 Bachelor of Arts in
Communication Arts
 Public Relations
 Minor - Graphic Design
 Kent State University, 2014
 Master of Arts in Journalism
& Mass Communications
 Public Relations

3.  Public Relations  Social Media
 Content Development  Facebook
 Media Relations  Google+
 Online Marketing  LinkedIn
 Email Marketing  Twitter
 Web Management  WordPress Blogging

4. Introduction
 This presentation summarizes information from
Building the Angry Birds Brand, a research
paper by Yasheaka Oakley.
 It will analyze the public relations and marketing
strategies of Rovio Entertainment’s Angry Birds
franchise from 2009 to 2012 by highlighting
Rovio’s ability to successfully differentiate its brand
and collaborate with partners as described by
Marty Neumeier in his book, The Brand Gap.

6. An Innovative Leap
Cousins Mikael and
Niklas Hed playing
with Angry Birds
plush toys at Rovio
Entertainment, Ltd.’s
headquarters in
Espoo, Finland.
 By 2009, Rovio Entertainment had already released 52
failed games and was on the verge of bankruptcy.
 In 2009, they invested more than €100,000 (~$130,970) into
the development and release of the Angry Birds game

7. A Slow Start
 Ignored by major mobile markets (like the U.S.
and U.K.), Rovio redirected its marketing strategy
to target smaller App Store markets to increase
popularity
 The U.K. App Store offers to feature Angry Birds as
Apple’s Game of the Week during the 2nd week of
February 2010

8. Media-Rich Advertising
“Campaigns using rich-  To prepare for the Game
media-with-video of the Week feature,
advertising formats Rovio produced:
[like YouTube] have the  More than 40 additional
largest significant Angry Birds levels
increase in aided brand  Built a free Angry Birds
awareness and lite version for iPhones
exposure.”  Designed and released a
-Spalding et. al(2009)
YouTube trailer to
promote the game

9. Aviation Domination
Angry Birds
became the #1
downloaded
mobile game in
the U.K., U.S.,
and Chinese app
markets
On May 9, 2012, Rovio celebrated Angry Bird’s one
billionth download by releasing a YouTube video entitled,
“1 BILLION Angry Birds downloads!”

11. What Makes it a Good Game?
 Addictiveness “A good game
 Cheap or Free
has to be easy to
 Portability
 Simplicity
pick up and
play, but hard
to master.”
- Mikael Hed,
CEO of Rovio Entertainment.

12. What Makes it a Good Brand?
“No decision Instead of using Angry
should be made Birds’ success to launch
a new game, Rovio
without asking
convert the company
‘will it help or into an entertainment
hurt the brand?’” media company and
- Marty Neumeier (2006)
focused on turning
Angry Birds into an
entertainment
franchise.

13. 6 Angry Birds Themed Editions
 Angry Birds  Angry Birds Space
 Angry Birds Seasons  Angry Birds Magic
 Angry Birds Rio  Angry Birds Star Wars®

15. A Nest of Opportunities
Over 200 licensing Themed editions and
partnerships to ensure custom applications of the
the brand remains flagship game extend the
“creative and focused on brand “further and
entertaining our millions further into popular
of fans by continuously consciousness” as a
developing new and cultural phenomenon
innovative products and
services.” - C. Stevens (2011)
- Mikael Hed

16. Increased Time with the Brand
The goal is to  Digital Media
 Animated TV series on
“create physical Nickelodeon
goods that drive  Games on various mobile
platforms and game
more time spent consoles
with the video  Physical Goods
 Merchandise
games, and vice
 Food, drinks, etc.
versa.”  Entertainment
- Peter Vesterbacka  Playgrounds, activity and
amusement parks

17. Angry Birds Land
 Real-world playgrounds,
activity parks and
amusement parks called
Angry Birds Land
 More than 20
playgrounds open in
Finland and Britain, with
another park anticipated
to open in Haining,
China in 2013

18. Angry Birds Soda
 In just 8 months, Angry Birds  7.5 million cans sold in
soda is outselling Coca-Cola Finnish markets, with the
and Pepsi in Finland, making expectation to export to
it the country’s most popular Australia and New Zealand
drink soon

20. A Living Brand
 A strong brand requires
that employees understand
customer expectations
 Rovio employees are “A living brand is a
surrounded by Angry Birds never-ending
memorabilia
 Conference rooms are
play, and every
named after hallmark person in the
characters company is an
 Understand why
consumers enjoy the actor.”
product - Marty Neumeier

21. Fun Facts
 Angry Birds players
spend more than 300
million minutes
playing the game and
interacting with in-game
advertising
 About 30% of Rovio’s
sales are physical
goods, like the 1 million
Infographic by IGN Entertainment
plush toys and t-shirts
sold each month

22. In May 2012, Rovio Entertainment
reported annual revenues of €75.4
million (~$106.3M) for 2011
Analysts speculate
that the company
will launch a public
IPO of $8-9 billion
Sramana Mitra

24. Additional Research
 To read the full research paper, Building the Angry
Birds Brand by Yasheaka Oakley, please visit the
following link
 Discusses: Differentiating the brand, collaborating
with corporate partners, internal branding, Angry
Birds addiction, and much more.
http://bit.ly/11T2PDU

25. Connect with Yasheaka
 Facebook.com/YOakelyPR
 LinkedIn.com/in/YOakley
 Twitter.com/YOakleyPR
 Google search “Yasheaka
Oakley”
 Sign up for my FREE public
relations e-newsletter:
http://eepurl.com/oD_-T

26. References
 Rovio Entertainment, Ltd.
http://www.rovio.com/
 Spalding, L. et. al. (2009). “How rich-
media video technology boosts branding
goals: different online advertising formats
drive different brand-performance
metrics.” Journal of Advertising Research
49, no. 3: 285-292.
 “With new products, Rovio seeks to
maintain explosive growth.” Sramana
Mitra, 5 June 2012.
 Neumeier, M. (2006). The Brand Gap: how
to bridge the distance between business
strategy and design. New Riders: Berkeley,
CA.
 Stevens, C. (2011). Appilionaires: secrets
from developers who struck it rich on the
app store. John Wiley & Sons: New York,
224.
books.google.com/books?isbn=1119978645.
A complete list of references is available within the full research paper.