Angry Birds CEO At Peace With Chinese Counterfeit Merchandise
from the don't-get-mad-get-glad dept
Recently, Rovio CEO, Peter Vesterbacka attended the Disrupt conference in Beijing. At that conference he walked on stage clutching a bunch of counterfeit Angry Birds balloons. However, he was not angry. He was actually happy. Why is this? Because it showed him that his game is hugely popular in China.Vesterbacka said that the increase in counterfeit merchandise has influenced Rovio's retail strategy:
There are a lot of Angry Birds products out there, but most of them aren't officially licensed. Angry Birds is now the most copied brand in China, and we get a lot of inspiration from local producers.This line of thinking really flies in the face of most content producers. While other companies are ranting, raving and trying to legislate counterfeiting out of existence, Rovio is working to compete against counterfeiters on their home turf. It recognizes that those who buy counterfeits do so because of an unavailability of the real thing. By bringing authentic merchandise to China, Rovio is hoping to increase its revenue and capture a market that is based around its properties. Not only that, but he even admits that Rovio is learning from those counterfeits, and getting "inspiration." It's a form of free market research, so that Rovio can understand ahead of time what consumers want... for free.
Right now, we've proven that there's demand, and we're going for 100 million downloads this year for Angry Birds, and again the same demand for the physical products.
The way we look at it is, of course we want to sell the officially licensed, good quality products, but at the same time we have to be happy about the fact that the brand is so loved that it is the most copied brand in China.
It's great for us to see the demand, and that's why we're building our own stores here. And actually we're building our first stores here, and not in Helsinki... We hope to have quite a few over the next 12 months.
There's no reason why this will not work. The Chinese people want Angry Birds merchandise. Rovio is providing said merchandise. That is pure supply and demand at work. It's crazy that many other companies do not get that pure and simple lesson. Perhaps it's time for the CEOs and boards of directors of other companies to take a note from the Rovio playbook and put it into action. They might find a world that doesn't need poorly written legislation like PROTECT-IP/E-PARASITE or secret treaties like ACTA, but rather companies who listen to fans and provide them the goods and services they desire.
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Filed Under: angry birds, china, counterfeits, peter vesterbacka
Companies: rovio
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The fact is that all the ranting, raving, and draconian legislation isn't going to do a thing to put a dent in counterfeiting. And most important, even if it did have an effect on counterfeiting it would not help sales of authorized merchandise.
This isn't to say that counterfeiting is OK or should be permitted. It is saying that ranting, raving, and spending a great deal of political capital doesn't do a thing to help companies build profits. Counterfeiting does give failed executives an excuse for why their company is not making the expected profit, but the truth is that if a company is profitable then counterfeiting doesn't matter, and if it is unprofitable then stopping counterfeiting probably won't help.
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Got it, comrade.
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Go it, comrade?
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We should stop a US law because it is completely useless to stop piracy and counterfeiting by design.
We should stop a US law because it will cause far more economic harm to the US and world economies than will be saved for content industries.
We should stop a US law because it is not the least restrictive means of achieving the goals of the content industry.
We should stop a US law because the content industries need to adapt.
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Unproven. Citation needed.
"We should stop a US law because it will cause far more economic harm to the US and world economies than will be saved for content industries. "
Unproven. Citation needed.
"We should stop a US law because it is not the least restrictive means of achieving the goals of the content industry."
Unproven. Citation neeeed.
"We should stop a US law because the content industries need to adapt."
Yup, adapt to everyone screwing you over.
Sorry Zack, but this is where you learn the difference between your OPINION and fact. You are incredibly thin on facts here, and strong on opinion. Repeating them doesn't make them facts, even if that is Mike has taught you to do.
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In the game of proving the impact of piracy, only one side has provided peer reviewed and accepted studies on the topic. The other one has been shown to deceitfully inflate losses, and ignore the benefits of the current market.
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His opinion is fact, in the sense that it's a fact that it is his opinion.
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Response to: Anonymous Coward on Nov 2nd, 2011 @ 10:09am
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Interesting IP question
Could a counterfeiter then sue Rovio for copying the copies? Obviously the counterfeiters would have to admit to the original copying, but it might make for a really interesting legal ruling.
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Re: Interesting IP question
> for copying the copies? Obviously the
> counterfeiters would have to admit to
> the original copying, but it might make
> for a really interesting legal ruling.
There's a principle of law called "unclean hands" which is an equitable defense in which the defendant argues that the plaintiff is not entitled to obtain a remedy on account of the fact that the plaintiff is acting unethically or has acted in bad faith with respect to the subject of the complaint� that is, with "unclean hands". The defendant has the burden of proof to show the plaintiff is not acting in good faith. The legal principle on which the doctrine is based is that "those seeking equity must do equity" or "equity must come with clean hands".
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Re: Re: Interesting IP question
Could the counterfeiters use it as leverage towards maybe a merchandising deal? If I understand you correctly, they still could counter-sue and COULD win, though it would be tough. There would be legal costs involved for Rovio, at least.
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It's easy...
/Sarc
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CMO, not CEO
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Angry Birds
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Re: Angry Birds
If you have a job, and you value that job, then for the love of FSM, do not download and play angry birds. I swear, eight hours just simply vanished into thin air when I opened that game...Otherwise, it is the best time waster since Microsoft added Freecell to Windows (and minesweeper before that.)
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let's go over this again
It's stupid and irrational, but by and large, that's how your species rolls. Capitalism isn't a zero sum game, but a large subset of humans play it as if it were.
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Re: let's go over this again
So what species do you belong to?
Take me to your leader, we come in peace, shoot to kill and other close encounter/star trek parody quotes.
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Special case, already a big hit, and GREED hasn't grabbed this guy yet.
We aren't arguing over existing BIG HITS, Mike. You claim that your notions suit all cases. Here you're attempting to put over the general assertion that this one big hit shows can ignore infringement. But in fact AB rose in the /existing/ milieu, proving that the milieu is just fine, only need a hot product and some ordinary luck.
So, yes, this guy should just be ECSTATIC that he's riding a mere game to incredible actual wealth. I'm sure he doesn't care beans about "losing" some theoretical few yuan. That'll wear off when he gets used to being rich. Even Bill Gates was a techno-geek until he passed a threshhold and got used to having BIG money. -- And no, I'm NOT jealous or envious, I'm just stating FACTS that I regard as central to keeping "capitalism" civilized. Money changes everything, power changes personality. Saint Steve Jobs was an authoritarian behind his public person, yelling at employees when crossed. ALWAYS HAPPENS. It's like letting dogs get whatever they want, will soon rule the house.
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Re: Special case, already a big hit, and GREED hasn't grabbed this guy yet.
Wait for it, the next article he'll be saying it only works for the little guys.
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But if he tries pricing it far above what the market can bear or is willing to pay, then he will fail.
For example, let's say the knock off stuffed bird sells for $5. He could theoretically sell his authentic stuffed bird for $10 and still get a large portion of the sales. However, if he tries selling it at $20, he will get far less.
I am sure he has done far more research into what prices the market will bear.
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Never underestimate the value of being authentic and real. On top of that, Rovio can do certain bundles and tie-ins that no counterfeiter could ever do.
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It means they need to keep improving, it means they need to keep sharp.
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Angry Birds CEO At War With Chinese Counterfeit Merchandise
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not just in china
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LOL reminds me of when
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Innovation
It seems to me that Rovio's CEO understands this, and that even if his company only gets 50% of sales now going to pirates its still money they didn't have before. I am not saying piracy is right, just that Rovio is going about it very wisely.
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Re: Eh?
Sentances
Reason
Hyphenation
Sence
Capitalisation
To list just a few...
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Not all sunshine
I've sold a few, and none through my Etsy shop (where I do have them posted).
Etsy has removed my listings as a result of an email from someone at Rovio.
We reference the official game and company, and the beads are not mass-produced. So I guess it's ok if people mass-produce unlicensed Angry Birds merchandise, but if I try to make small-scale art from them and sell it, well..
I think I'll email him this article...
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Peter will be most happy then!
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Hat's up to Mr Vesterbacka
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