????到目前為止，對于其大受追捧的《憤怒的小鳥》（Angry Birds）及其衍生產品，Rovio Entertainment公司還沒走錯過一步。這些被激怒的小鳥們可謂無處不在，日進斗金。最初的手機游戲仍然十分流行，而現在市場上還有了毛絨玩具，根據游戲改編的電影和電視劇也在進展中。這些小鳥甚至還獲得了廣告代言合約，比如在谷歌（Google）Chrome瀏覽器制作的一套滑稽電視節目中露臉。

????Rovio公司的營銷總監皮特?溫斯特巴克對彭博電視臺（Bloomberg Television）稱，這家“賺得盆滿缽滿”的公司正在考慮明年上市。但不論《憤怒的小鳥》及其衍生產品現在有多么流行，也不論這家芬蘭公司在營銷方面做得多么聰明，沒人能保證這種紅火能夠一直持續下去。人們可能會對這些小鳥心生厭倦。上市之前，Rovio可能還至少需要推出一款大熱的產品——一款與《憤怒的小鳥》沒什么關系的產品。永久的經銷權很少能夠僅僅建立在某一個角色的基礎上。

????溫斯特巴克向彭博表示：“迪士尼（Disney）以關于米老鼠的黑白動畫起家。任天堂（Nintendo）做馬里奧做了26年。而《憤怒的小鳥》誕生還不足兩年。”沒錯，但實際上這兩個例子都與Rovio的情況不大相同。迪士尼有米奇，但之后該公司還推出了白雪公主、皮諾曹、小飛象、小鹿斑比等等，不一而足。迪斯尼創造了米奇，但這個老鼠的形象不過是打開了一扇門。米奇領著迪士尼推出了首部全長動畫片《白雪公主和七個小矮人》 （Snow White and the Seven Dwarves）（這部長篇與米奇一點關系都沒有），隨后該公司又開始進軍電視、主題公園等領域。

????任天堂在推出馬里奧兄弟（Mario Bros）之前的幾十年，是一家做賀卡和玩具的公司。上世紀70年代，任天堂甚至是街機游戲和家庭游戲市場的主力之一，數年后馬里奧才問世。無論如何，任天堂曾經是，現在也依然是一個平臺，或者說是一系列平臺，玩家可以在這些平臺上玩很多游戲。同米奇一樣，馬里奧不過是打開了一扇門，它不是整個經銷權所在。人們可能會買任天堂游戲機來玩《馬里奧兄弟》這款游戲，但假如這款游戲機只能玩這一款游戲，估計沒什么人會掏腰包。

????不過，目前來看，Rovio形勢一片大好。溫斯特巴克向彭博表示，該公司的價值比彭博估計的10億美元“稍高一點”。除了之前提到的那些產品外，該公司還銷售《憤怒的小鳥》T恤衫，戲服甚至菜譜。據報道衍生產品收入占該公司總收入的10%到20%。這款游戲在已經覆蓋了所有主要的移動平臺、機頂盒以及游戲機。Rovio已經開始進軍社交媒體，其中包括Facebook應用。

????毫無疑問，《憤怒的小鳥》有望成為Rovio的米奇——該公司的核心標志。但假如Rovio想成為娛樂行業的常青樹，它還需要除了這些小鳥以外的產品作為支撐。曾經紅極一時的《點心寶寶》（Cabbage Patch Kids）可謂前車之鑒。

????譯者：項航

????FORTUNE -- Rovio Entertainment hasn't made a wrong move yet with its massively popular Angry Birds franchise. The enraged avian creatures are everywhere, picking up wads of cash in their beaks. The original mobile game is still wildly popular, and now there are plush toys on the market and movie and TV deals in the works. The birds are even getting endorsement deals, such as their appearance in a hilarious TV spot for Google's (GOOG) Chrome browser.

????The "insanely profitable" company is thinking about going public next year, Rovio's marketing chief, Peter Vesterbacka (a.k.a Mighty Eagle), told Bloomberg Television. But however popular the Angry Birds franchise is now, and however smartly the Finnish company is going about marketing it, there's no guarantee that the fame will last. People might get sick of the birds. Before it goes public, Rovio probably needs at least one more hit -- one that is at most only tangentially related to Angry Birds. Permanent franchises are rarely built on one character alone.

????"Disney started as a black and white cartoon about this little mouse," Vesterbacka told Bloomberg. "Nintendo has been working on Mario for 26 years. Angry Birds is less than two years old." True, but neither of those cases is really similar to Rovio's. Disney (DIS) had Mickey, but then it had Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi and on and on from there. It created a mouse, but that mouse simply opened the gates. He led Disney into the first full-length animated feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (which had nothing to do with Mickey) and on into television, theme parks and the rest.

????Nintendo was a greeting-card and toy company for decades before Mario Bros. It was even a big player in arcade games and home consoles the '70s, years before Mario picked up his first giant hammer. And anyway, Nintendo was and is a platform -- or rather, a set of platforms -- on which one can play many games. Like Mickey, Mario merely opened the door, he wasn't the whole franchise. People might buy a Nintendo console to play Mario Bros., but few would buy one of that was all they could do with it.

????For now, though, things are looking great for Rovio. Vesterbacka told Bloomberg that the company is worth "a bit north of" the $1 billion Bloomberg estimates. Besides the aforementioned do-dads, it sells Angry Birds t-shirts, costumes, and even a cookbook. Merchandise reportedly makes up 10% to 20% of revenues. The game is available on all the major mobile platforms, set-top boxes and game consoles. Rovio has begun making inroads to social media, including a Facebook app.

????There's no question that Angry Birds can be Rovio's Mickey Mouse -- the company's central symbol. But if it wants to entrench itself as a permanent entertainment fixture, Rovio will have to bet the company on something more than a single set of characters. Remember the Cabbage Patch Kids?