An Angry Birds' eye view

THEY FIRST HOGGED THE limelight, were catapulted to cult status, and are now flying off the shelves. They’ve got Angelina Jolie, Salman Rushdie, David Cameron, Prince Harry, and Justin Bieber all chirpy, along with countless fans across the globe.
Boasting 200 million downloads per month, Angry Birds, the smash hit from Finland’s Rovio Entertainment, has made a perfect landing into merchandising. In 2011, Rovio’s earnings from consumer products, including merchandising and licensing, was around 30% of its total revenue of €75.4 million (Rs 524 crore).

In India, sales of Angry Birds merchandise (soft toys, pencils, pencil boxes, crayons, lunchboxes, water bottles, schoolbags, speakers, phone and tablet cases, headphones, whew!) is hot across the 3,000-plus shops and online retailers. Bags, stationery, homeware, gifts, and novelties alone have a sales potential of around Rs 10 crore to Rs 12 crore, according to industry insiders. Even the grey market has been doing brisk business.

Saumya Nidhi, director, Swadesh Essfil, a licensee for Angry Birds merchandise in India, says her company ran out of stock for some products within 20 days of launch. “Later, the retailers had a similar experience,” she says.

Sales are driven by the fans’ passion for the game.“The app is hugely popular and since the products are reasonably priced [starting from around Rs 25 for a set of four bookmarks], they move fast,” adds Ruchi Gupta, brand manager, Babyoye.com, an online retailer.

“What appeals across various age groups and demographics is that these flightless birds aren’t all goody-goody, but neither are they bad. And you can’t miss the sense of humour. Just think, no 18-year-old boy will wear a T-shirt with Tweety on it but he will wear one with an Angry Bird,” says Chitresh Sinha, brand planner, chlorophyll, a brand and communications consultancy.

The popularity across age groups means a huge market is beckoning. Tom Dudderidge, founder and CEO, GEAR4, which sells accessories such as earphones and cases for smartphones and tablets (including an Angry Birds range) worldwide, says, “The demand for the Angry Birds brand has exploded in the past couple of years. In India that demand is particularly strong and growing.” Which is why Bata is also tying up with Rovio for an Angry Birds collection of footwear and accessories.

So how will the franchise keep the craze alive? Every brand has an unchanged part (the driving idea) and an evolving part (the presentation). “Angry Birds has got the first part right, but they now need to ensure that the brand stays fresh,” says Sinha.

So, which bird is the star among all the products? “The Red Bird is Rovio’s ‘Mickey Mouse’, the character which defines the game, so it is the bestseller. However, some people buy our pig character products to stand out and root for the bad guys,” says Dudderidge.