The Finnish Business Council Shanghai (FBCS) presented a luncheon seminar on Wednesday 16 May featured a special speaker from the successful Finnish company, Rovio Entertainment – Mr. Paul Chen, General Manager. More than 30 attendees enjoyed the engaging speech by Mr. Paul Chen, writes Ms. Bo Qin, Secretary of the Board at FBCS.
Started as a mobile game development studio in 2003, Rovio has grown to a well-known entertainment media company. In 2009, Rovio released Angry Birds, a casual puzzle game that became a worldwide phenomenon from 2010 onwards. Fueled by the worldwide chart success of Angry Birds games, Rovio is rapidly expanding its activities in new business areas.
Mr. Chen told the participants that while Rovio’s core business is still gaming, licensing/merchandising has grown fast. In China, Rovio plans to build different sizes of Angry Birds theme parks across various cities including Beijing and Shanghai. The first parks will appear this year, but more will roll out over the next two years. At the same time, the company will also open Angry Birds stores to support its strategy of becoming an entertainment brand.
Subsequently, Mr. Chen highlighted the importance of a sustainable brand for Rovio. According to Mr. Chen, the key to success is keeping fans close and continuously develop the products and experience together with them.
Finally, Mr. Chen talked about how rapid expansion has brought along various online piracy and intellectual property infringement as well. Mr. Chen told the guests that Rovio’s way to wrestle with these issues is not punishing local copycats. Instead, Rovio aims at building partnerships and fostering the creative ideas of its imitators. In addition, Mr. Chen suggested to address IPR issues by being present when IP infringement happens and by reaching to the support groups and local government, writes Ms. Qin.
