Tech Check: 'Angry Birds' Marketing Guru Peter Vesterbacka to Speak at Tech Junction in Sanlitun, Sep 8
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The Mighty Eagle behind the stratospherically popular Angry Birds brand will soon descend on Beijing. Peter Vesterbacka, the marketing guru who served as brand ambassador at Rovio, the game's developer, until he struck out on his own earlier this summer, will partake in a Q&A at the latest Tech Junction event at Day Day Up (on the 22nd floor of Building C in Sanlitun Soho) this Thursday, September 8.
During his stint at Rovio, Vesterbacka's aim was to make Angry Birds "as well known as Mickey Mouse" (according to a Time magazine article). The Finnish brand ambassador promoted Angry Birds passionately throughout the peak of its popularity, as the addictive mobile game attracted enough fans to prompt development of related theme parks, a plethora of merchandise, and even a feature film. Angry Birds mania reached a whole new strata, however, in 2011, when Giridhari Dasa of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness of Brazil wrote a five part essay titled "Angry Birds Yoga – How to Eliminate the Green Pigs in Your Life" that drew parallels between that ancient discipline of mind body and spirit and the trendy new video game craze. Vesterbacka's response to the essays? "Very cool! I can see Angry Birds Yoga becoming a worldwide craze;-)," via Twitter.
In June Vesterbacka left Rovio to "pursue startup dreams," according to a statement from the company that added. At the time, Vesterbacka went on to explain that he hopes to devote more time to education and tech, adding "I will continue working on bringing Finnish quality learning everywhere. I think it's also fantastic to be able to continue to work closely with (Rovio Chairman) Kaj Hed on making these new startup ideas even bigger. I wish everyone at Rovio all the best, and thank the whole team for their passionate support. Impossible really is nothing, especially when you love what you do."
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