Rovio and Alibaba Group establish partnership ahead of The Angry Birds Movie
Agreement covers consumer product licensing with top international brands and exclusive online retail in China
Rovio today announced a partnership with Alibaba Group on Angry Birds consumer product licensing and e-commerce in China (excluding Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan). The partnership comes ahead of the global release of The Angry Birds Movie, which is opening in theaters across China, the United States and other territories on May 20.
As part of the agreement, Alibaba is the exclusive online retail partner in China for The Angry Birds Movie, providing Chinese fans and consumers a quick and convenient online retail platform for authorized, high-quality licensed Angry Birds merchandise.
Most of the products will be on sale or pre-order by May 20, when consumers can go see The Angry Birds Movie in theatres across China. At the same time, Alibaba will also integrate its other platforms including Tmall, Tmall Magic Box, Youku Tudou and UC Browser to launch a series of marketing activities from May 20 to June 19. What’s more, with The Angry Birds Movie coming to theaters at the same time as China’s traditional Dragon Boat Festival, Rovio is also preparing an Angry Birds customized rice dumpling gift package for Chinese fans and consumers. More activities will follow later as well.
“We are thrilled to partner with Alibaba Group on The Angry Birds Movie’s consumer products program. The movie is a major milestone for Rovio, and the cooperation with Alibaba is also a new opportunity for us to bring the Angry Birds brand to the world’s leading e-commerce platform. We believe our cooperation with Alibaba can only increase our brand value while also delighting hundreds of millions of fans in China,” says Alex Lambeek, Chief Commercial Officer of Rovio.
Tian Po, General Manager for Licensing Cooperation of Alibaba says, “By introducing a number of internationally renowned brands like Angry Birds to the Alibaba ecosystem, we will be able to recommend them to the existing brands already doing business on our retail platforms for creating new licensed products. In this way, we empower sellers and intellectual property rights owners alike with more licensing opportunities and help fuel their commercial growth.”
Further information:
Joseph Knowles, Rovio PR Manager
joseph.knowles@rovio.com
+358 50 392 6317
About Rovio
Rovio Entertainment Ltd. is a global entertainment media company. Headquartered in Finland and with studios across the world, Rovio is the creator of Angry Birds™, the casual mobile game that changed an industry and became an international phenomenon. Today Angry Birds is not only the most downloaded game of all time, it is a renowned entertainment brand that has branched out into animation, licensing and more. The Angry Birds Movie is slated for release in May 2016. www.rovio.com
