The Creator of Angry Birds Talks About How You Can Create a Viral Brand Peter Vesterbacka is bullish about the growth of the Indian gaming market
By Vanita D'souza •
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.
It wasn't too long ago when the world was hit by the craze of the gaming application Angry Birds. Catapulting angry birds to kill the monstrous pigs (who can forget their evil laughter when they are not killed?), helped people relieve stress. From students to professionals, everyone seemed hooked on to the game. Since its launch in 2009, Rovio Entertainment has sold over 12 million copies of the game.
Peter Vesterbacka's recent visit to India was just the right opportunity to get some useful insights to learn about the gaming market. Entrepreneur India caught up with Vesterbacka as he spoke about India as a hot gaming market and how games can be created for them to go viral.
Gamers out there, time to take notes!
Branding Your Game
According to Vesterbacka, every brand should start with the founder's story. He believes that there's a lot more to the brand that one usually thinks of.
Talking about the gaming market, Vesterbacka pointed out the presence of millions of games in the Google or the Apple app stores. "There are about 700 games hitting the app store every day. So, in order to do something different, one has to ensure that their brand stands out in the crowd," he said.
Vesterbacka believes the brand has to look inward and find what makes it different from the millions of other games in the market. "You need to think why people would pick your product or service over the thousands of products present out there," he said.
His word of advice to all entrepreneurs is to never believe that their product has no competition. "You are probably doing something wrong then," he said.
The urge to stand out shouldn't just be for your brand but for yourself too, believes Vesterbacka.
Personalizing the brand for it to stand out in the crowd works well according to Vesterbacka who himself always manages to be the differentiator in the crowd thanks to his signature red hoodie.
"Always start with differentiation and then think about the overall story of your brand and then it just follows naturally from there," Vesterbacka added.
Delhi or Mumbai or Bengaluru are not the Real India
Vesterbacka is bullish about the growth of the Indian gaming market. As a Finnish mobile-gaming developer, he believes India is right next door. "Six hours from Helsinki and I'm in Delhi which is one of the biggest markets on this planet," he joked.
Talking about the Indian market, he said the country promises fantastic opportunities as there are a lot of things going on in the country. "I think India is about to take off big time. It is the right time to be in India and it doesn't matter if you are working on education or games or any product/service," he said.
According to him, the talent pool in India is another reason why many are attracted to the country. But Vesterbacka believes that to be successful in India, one has to be in the present.
"Being present on the ground and really understand what is going on is important and I want to be more Indian than Indians, be more local than the locals," he said.
For Vesterbacka, Delhi or Mumbai or Bengaluru are not the real India. He believes that there is more to the country than you see in the big cities. "Take your time, understand what's going on, talk to the young people as they are the future and then you will be successful with your game or any other product in India," he said.
