Organizational Behavior in the Nest of the Mighty Eagle

The mobile application Angry Birds has become a worldwide phenomenon. During our short stay in Helsinki the group was fortunate enough to visit Rovio Entertainment, they are the creators of this simple yet addicting game.

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Intense branding efforts were not the only thing that stood out, Rovio also has a unique office format. A lack of walls is extremely evident as there are no visible offices.

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The streets of Helsinki are eerily quite, but the main floor of this business is abuzz with chatter and the clamor of ideas. Creative developers share tables with interns.

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This free flowing of ideas is intensified by Rovio’s unique pride in answering every tweet and Facebook post offered by their growing fan base. It was this that enabled Dr. Myhr to get us an impromptu tour of their offices. While traditional companies work to limit the use of social media by employees, here it is being actively pushed as a core competency of Rovio. Social media efforts are used here to grow the brand through the direct link between consumers and employees.

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The Angry Birds brand has high ambitions as soft drinks, candies, and even a future full length motion picture depict the epic fight against those nasty pigs. Cheers to the birds and their Mighty Eagle.

Comments

  1. Was the concern that Rovio may be overextending their brand to the point of saturation/overexposure ever brought up in your conversations? Sure, I’m a fan of the game, but personally I feel there’s just too much Angry Birds merchandise everywhere you look these days. I could care less about AB soft drinks, candies, or a movie.

    My main concern for Rovio would be what’s next once they’ve milked this franchise for all it’s worth?

    • This was certainly brought up. When we spoke with the CMO he indicated that Rovio is positioning themselves as more of a marketing commpany. Instead of thinking of the birds as a game they view them as more of a grouping of characters which happen to have become famous from their game. Think Disney.

      Here in Europe the brand is larger than it is back home. Even on the planes Angry Birds merchandise is not only being offered for sale, it is purchased in bulk. Angry Birds stores are already slated to open in Europe and China.

      As for the future, they were working on launching another game/brand while we were visting. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.