Challenge

Rovio (@Rovio) is the world’s best known mobile game brand and has innovated in mobile gaming while proving its staying power.

Rovio has traditionally had a strong relationship with Twitter and acknowledges its ability to spark a movement. Their game, Angry Birds: Space, was inspired by a simple tweet from NASA (@nasa) in 2011. Responding to the story circulating that smartphones today allegedly have more computing power than NASA computers back in the 1960s, NASA tweeted, “Hey, RovioMobile, our computers are a bit better than they were in ‘69. We might be able to help you launch birds if you can find a pig in space.” That tweet launched a partnership between NASA and Rovio, eventually leading to the creation of Angry Birds: Space.

This unique partnership yielded extraordinary results. Angry Birds: Space was downloaded 50 million times in 35 days. According to Rovio it made the game the fastest-growing mobile game ever.

Results

Rovio chose to partner with pop singer, Shakira, in order to reach people, ages 20 - 40. They created the puzzle game, Love Rocks, which features the brand new Drop-3 game mechanic that has been in development at Rovio for the last two years. Love Rocks engages Shakira fans in solving fun, sometimes very challenging puzzles, while listening to Shakira’s music.

Shakira was a natural partner for Rovio. It was important that Rovio collaborate with a celebrity that had a large fan base on social media, enabling them to get the word out about the game. Shakira has a large following of over 35 million fans on Twitter, most of which are women within the age demographic that Rovio is targeting. Her involvement with the game assures that Rovio will be able to reach its target demographic with Love Rocks. It also gives Shakira a new touchpoint with her fans.

Love Rocks has a number of Twitter features which encourage others to download the game and play. The game integrates both Shakira’s (@Shakira) and Love Rocks’ (@loverocks) Twitter feeds. It also has a ranking system which enables users to tweet out their score as they pass each level.

For Shakira fans, they’ll notice that the game is tightly integrated with her lifestyle. It has different worlds which users will advance through, and begins in Shakira’s hometown of Barcelona. “As Shakira travels, we’re able to update the game to reflect her location and style. It gives her fans a sneak peak into what Shakira likes,” notes Eerika Rosberg, Game Producer for Love Rocks.

In addition to the in-game features, Love Rocks is also promoting the game and encouraging its community to share tips and advice on Twitter with the hashtag #loverocks. The game plans to roll out new features every two weeks, giving its players plenty to talk about on Twitter.

Finally, Love Rocks is using Twitter Cards in the game that will act as a virtual postcard. These cards can be tweeted, sharing a graphic that shows which world they’re in and encouraging their friends to come play.

By partnering with Shakira, Rovio is able to leverage her brand to create awareness and encourage game downloads, directly interacting and targeting their desired demographic. Through the in-game Twitter feeds and #loverocks hashtag, Rovio looks forward to reaching a community of passionate female game players.

“Twitter is really important for us. Having the awareness and building the community is really key to building a game and Twitter is a go-to platform for us to do that,” Rosberg remarks.