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Rovio staffs up to become 'direct media partner' for the world's biggest brands

Building on network of 263 million MAUs

Rovio staffs up to become 'direct media partner' for the world's biggest brands
Angry Birds creator Rovio has hired a number of advertising executives in order to accelerate its transformation from game developer to 'global lifestyle brand.'

The Finnish studio says that its four senior hires will enable Rovio to act as "a direct media partner to the largest brands in the world."

"In a time when many companies delight in millions of app downloads, Angry Birds' cross-platform media continuously reaches hundreds of millions of fans in a fun and engaging way," explained Rovio's EVP of strategic partnerships Andrew Stalbow.

"With this incredible reach we are fast becoming one of the most important digital advertising destinations for global brands."

Stateside

To this end, Rovio has taken on Betsy Flounders Novak and Matt Pfeffer in the US, who boast experience at companies such as MTV, Millennial Media and Ziff Davis.

Novak will join Rovio's North American ad partnership team as director of west and midwest, while Pfeffer will act as director of the east coast.

"Our new Brand Advertising Partnership Team in the US will enable us to now partner directly with other lifestyle brands," said Rovio's head of North American brand advertising partnerships Michele Tobin.

"The model of simply placing standard display ads in online and mobile properties is not necessarily strategic for the majority of tier one brands, and that model was in need of disruption.

"Rovio's fan-first approach and engaged audience creates more native, integrated advertising experiences that more closely align to brands' overall marketing goals."

Tier one

In Europe and Asia, meanwhile, Rovio has added former Apple iAd man Todd Tran and inMobi European sales manager Raphaelle Tripet to its team.

"Brands and agencies in Europe and Asia want to work directly with scalable, next generation media companies, in unique ways," said Tran, who is now head of Rovio's EMEA & APAC brand advertising partnership team.

"As a media platform, we have now achieved tier-one global reach and we have an opportunity to really pioneer true integrated cross platform brand experiences."

[source: Rovio]

Staff Writer

PocketGamer.biz's news editor 2012-2013