Piracy First Brand Single "Angry Birds" Domestic Shop Was Cold Shoulder

One day in early 2009, three young people in Finland painted a group of small bird Sketches: round bodies, exaggerated eyebrows and angry expressions. They later developed it into a clever mobile phone game, and then it was red. This is the story of angry birds. Now, the three founders hope to replicate the success of the game to other more commercial areas, including the choice of the front end of its market expansion in China, which has many fans. However, in the face of the complex Chinese market, are they ready?

Recently, "angry birds" have been increasingly linked to the Chinese market. Following the establishment of its first overseas office in Shanghai last year, angry birds recently opened the first exclusive store in Shanghai and plans to build more theme parks in China.

"Disney 2" has the industry to evaluate its production company Rovio's market vision. However, contrary to the heat of the media, the "bird" is not going smoothly from "eyeball" to "terminal", and its first store has been flat since its opening. Some analysts believe that the excessive pricing of their products has blocked many fans' enthusiasm, and excessive piracy is also eating away its limited market share. In addition, when the heat of the game is dispersed, whether the production company can produce new products and keep the brand fever will be the risk problem that angry birds need to deal with on their growth path.

　　 Cold store

The first store in China has been operating since mid July, with a single category, high price and unequal business status.

On the afternoon of July 24th, in the Hong Kong Hui square in Xujiahui Business District of Shanghai, the angry bird shop clerk carefully sorted the clothes on the shelf. About 40 square meters of shops, there are various kinds of shops. clothing I-Phone and iPad shell and toy dolls, everything has the game "bird" and "pig head" figure. But about half an hour after the reporter stayed, not even a customer walked into the store to pick up the merchandise.

This is the first franchised store authorized by Finland game creation company Rovio after the Finland local market. Compared with the heat of the media coverage, the store's slightly cheerless business situation is even more impressive. The store clerk also said that the store has been operating since mid July, and its business is in an even state.

In this regard, "angry birds" store agent Wei said that the above situation is expected to be improved in the near future. "In the future, we will open several stores at the same time, and the brand association will conduct a series of brand promotion activities, including some interaction with consumers, and a large number of advertising inputs." Ms. Wei said.

It is reported that after the Hong Kong Plaza Heng square, "angry birds" stores will also open in Beijing Joy City, Shanghai Raffles square. Peter Vesterabacka, founder of Finland game company Rovio, has revealed that in the next 2~3 years, nearly 600 stores will be opened in the Chinese market with over 100 million fans.

Ms. Wei also revealed that in the next few months, they will open 5 stores of "angry birds", and according to the location requirements of brands, these shops are located in the first tier business circles in Shanghai, namely, the most important shopping arcade in Shanghai's Xujiahui, Lujiazui, Wujiaochang, Huaihailu Road business circle and other five or six first tier business circles.

However, an industry insider who went to "angry birds" in China's first store has found that there are short boards in product category, interaction and so on. From the operational level, most of the goods displayed in this store are clothing, and the products are relatively single, and the price is high. The price of the doll is 100 yuan, while the short sleeved T-shirt printed with the bird's head is priced over 200 yuan. In addition, it may be restricted by the store area and lack of interaction with consumers, so that the core culture of games and entertainment can not be fully displayed.

Yang Dayun, President of UTA Fashion Management Group, told reporters that he was not optimistic about the "angry bird" store mode. He also said that Bobbi had tried the flagship store in Huaihailu Road, Shanghai before, but when it was "two years old", it was closed because of poor management. "From the eyeball to the terminal, there are few successful cases." Yang said that even though Disney, a diversified industry Empire, has performed poorly in the field of domestic clothing, "at least 20 away."

　 Indulgence in piracy

Rovio chief marketing officer Peter West Barca had visited China before. When he saw all kinds of Shanzhai "angry birds" products, he was not only angry but excited.

Rovio's determination to develop the Chinese market is beyond doubt. Reporters learned that, following the establishment of its first overseas office in Shanghai last year, the store was launched in full swing, and the angry birds and the corresponding theme parks in Shanghai, Zhejiang and Haining were also ready to come out.

According to the analysis of the industry, the idea of Rovio is very clear. The first step is to transform user groups from free pirated users to legitimate paid users, then focus on developing peripheral products and even theme parks, and finally develop partners, including cooperation with Tencent, Baidu and other Internet representative enterprises to create an all-round industrial system.

However, before the "angry bird" officially entered the Chinese market, this idea has been applied to many industrial fields. For example, there are clothing and toy brands in unauthorized use of bird patterns, unauthorized publishers publish books, and even more mainland theme parks in the use of bird LOGO and the introduction of games similar to the line of the game, and even willing to take some initiative to seek intellectual property infringer market cooperation.

According to public reports, Peter, chief marketing officer of Rovio, once came to China to investigate before he came to see China. When he saw the products of all kinds of Shanzhai "angry birds", he was not only angry but excited. He said: "this shows that China's market demand is strong." it is believed that piracy has helped them enter China and has completed the market foreshadowing of its brand. "Peter"

Ms. Wei also believes that the emergence of piracy has helped brands to promote marketing to some extent, so that the application of "angry birds" has become more popular.

But in the view of Gao Jianfeng, general manager of Boge consulting, these piracy is hurting the market share of Rovio company. He said that angry birds are still in the pioneering stage of China's market, and the market share is not large, to a certain extent, it is still a niche product. Against this background, pirated goods with lower price will eat away their small market share. I believe that with the deepening of Rovio in China, its efforts to crack down on piracy will continue to strengthen.

Reporters had asked about the attitude of Rovio company's relevant person through e-mail, but no response was received before the press release. {page_break}

　　 Hard to become the next Disney.

There is still a big gap between Rovio and the Disney Company, including its core game, the heat of angry birds, which is fading away.

Rovio's ambitious marketing plan in the Chinese market makes it easier for people to think of The Walt Disney Company as a diversified industry. But in the eyes of many people in the industry, this is not an easy goal to achieve.

Gao Jianfeng said that the success of Disney is not only the cartoon image of Mickey Mouse, but also its efforts in many fields such as theme parks, toys, clothing and so on. It is because it has been relying on its powerful content system for many years, constantly exporting its culture and connotation through films, books and music, so that the brand can be kept fresh for a long time. Judging from the current situation, Rovio company still has a big gap behind Disney, but the heat of its core game, angry birds, is fading away.

In this regard, Ms. Wei believes that since Rovio has expressed its determination to expand the Chinese market before, its future will certainly increase its investment in marketing. For agents, at least in the next 5~10 years, they can have a good brand foundation. And the market performance after that still needs to see the specific actions of Rovio company.

Yang Da Jun asserts that in the clothing or toy industry, foreign animation brands are hard to succeed. One of the most important factors is that most brands believe that the Chinese market can simply copy the successful experience of foreign countries. Including the reason why Bobbi doled down in China, the key factor is that there is a strong "Prince and princess dream" in the hearts of foreign children. However, there is a lack of such a cultural foundation in China, but brands are reluctant to make any changes in the Chinese market.

He believes that for Rovio, the success of the game has a certain chance. Whether or not it can win the overall business success in China will be whether it has enough patience to study Chinese consumers and launch products and applications that are suitable for China's national conditions. When these decisive factors have not yet attracted the attention of Rovio, its business path in China may not go too far.