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PocketGamer.biz21 Jun 2013

My first call at Rovio was to NASA says marketing director Marja Konttinen

Key insights

5 takeaways

01
Marketing at Rovio functions as a hybrid of account management and creative business development, focusing on securing partnerships that provide mutual value.
02
The partnership with NASA for Angry Birds Space serves as the primary model for integrating non-gaming entities into interactive entertainment to differentiate the brand from competitors.
03
Rovio’s marketing strategy for Angry Birds prioritizes unconventional, high-profile external partnerships over traditional advertising to reach demographics outside the core gaming community.
04
The company maintains its established fan base through a robust internal promotional network that utilizes direct social media channels and app-based cross-promotion.
05
Collaborations with high-profile celebrity fans are used to humanize the brand and create authentic touchpoints that resonate with diverse global audiences.

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Transcript

okay so funky game is in Helsinki we've just been at the free free your games free your play free your play conference and we found someone from the finished game industry which is good so do you want to introduce yourself and tell us who you work for quite a famous Finnish games company Entertainment Company nowadays uh sorry I'm from ravia I work as a marketing director okay probably on I'm working mainly with the Angry Birds IP okay Angry Birds we all know Angry Birds so what is the marketing director Rodeo what's that entail when you have something like Angry Birds that a lot of people pretty much everyone knows about now billions of people well I think it's at least personally for me it's it's put up marketing it's a bit of Business Development it's a bit of account management at the same time so it's taking care of something that we're doing internally but also finding really good partners to work with and make sure that the game or whatever the product is is going to be the best of its kind okay and making sure that we're having really cool relationship both with the

consumers as well as the partners at the same time and I guess if you make a phone call for someone say we're doing new Angry Birds can you help us out people generally say yes I guess yeah well my favorite story and my my game that I'm taking care of especially is Angry Birds Space okay so that was a couple years back when I joined the company my first phone call to a client was to NASA so I did make that phone call saying what's up guys should we do something together and they giggled and they said yes let's do it so a year later we did Angry Birds space that was interesting because that was still fairly early you know so so you still like you wouldn't assume Nestle would go oh yeah that's the that makes sense oh I can't find that it was almost unknown for them so they were like oh mobile gaming I don't know that's kind of interesting obviously it's a bit different now we're more established but also just because we've been doing these things with with different partners but we'll still get like really exciting Partners like latest one was Slash so he's a massive fan so we ended up working with him but how cool is that that you get to work with one of your

biggest fans I know it's all the radio guys E3 all had slash did they awesome but I guess it's I mean the sort of language now I mean is it almost like you have to go in these kind of different ways because I guess the chance the normal channel to do if you were working on a game that no one knew about yeah I mean that doesn't work for Angry Birds because everyone knows it so you have to terrible turn to think out the box yeah absolutely well it's been all the time out of the books and out of the nest for sure um I guess there's two kinds of marketing for us it's a cross-promotion through our own channel so we have established pretty good promotional Network through through the apps of the social media we have so we can definitely talk to directly to our fans as it is but reaching the audience that we don't even know about yet that's where the partners come come along so finding musicians and finding crazy companies like NASA that have not been into the gaming side yet that's where it's really exciting because there's no rules there yet excellent lovely thanks all right well that was easy

Summary

Marketing strategy for a globally recognized intellectual property like Angry Birds requires a hybrid approach that balances internal business development with high-profile external partnerships. Because the brand has already achieved massive consumer awareness, traditional advertising channels are often insufficient. Instead, the focus shifts toward unconventional collaborations that expand the brand’s reach into new demographics and industries, effectively moving the product outside of its established ecosystem to engage audiences that are not yet part of the core gaming community.

A primary example of this strategy is the collaboration with NASA for the development of Angry Birds Space. Initiated during the early stages of mobile gaming’s mainstream adoption, this partnership demonstrated that even non-gaming entities could be successfully integrated into the interactive entertainment space. By identifying partners who are not traditionally associated with gaming, the company creates unique, rule-breaking experiences that differentiate the brand from competitors. These efforts are complemented by a robust internal promotional network, which leverages existing social media channels and app-based cross-promotion to maintain direct communication with the established fan base.

Beyond institutional partnerships, the strategy also involves leveraging celebrity influence, such as collaborations with high-profile musicians who are genuine fans of the franchise. This approach serves to humanize the brand and create authentic touchpoints that resonate with diverse audiences. Ultimately, the marketing function at a major entertainment company like Rovio operates as a blend of account management and creative business development, where the goal is to secure partnerships that provide mutual value while ensuring that every product remains the best of its kind in a crowded global market.