In the early morning hours yesterday Angry Birds invaded Seattle. As people began their workdays a 50 foot bright red bird was seen sitting half-way up one the Space Needle’s legs. By midday it was apparent that the bird intended to use the Space Needle, along with a giant slingshot, to launch itself into space. Crowds formed to watch the huge display as it unfolded and inflated.
Finnish electronic game-maker Rovio made good use of Seattle’s iconic Space Needle to create a buzz around the launch of their newest game Angry Birds in Space! It worked too! The day of the launch, buzz and photos of the giant bird on the Space Needle reached around the world becoming one of the top trending stories on Twitter worldwide.
In fact the PR stunt was one of the most effective we, and our partner The Workshop, had ever produced. People around the world actually thought the bird was going to launch up into the sky. The tech culture site GeekWire even had set up a live feed to cover the “launch” and had 1000 viewers tuned in to watch at any given time. This even become a news story on its own, covered by Forbes and complete with updates!
Watch Bloomberg’s nice story about the game, its launch, and the phenomenon of Angry Birds.