A guest post by some blokes from down under. They have links to their business or somebodies business but that doesn't preclude their post from being interesting. I checked out the links and they seem harmless. I'm not recommending them because I haven't used them. They do write some nice posts though.
Online marketing has so many avenues to the way it can make revenue. In some cases,
we are even seeing ideas that have turned into revenue generating machines in
their own right. LaunchRock is a website that is
gaining traction and interest that grew out of the idea of launching a website
without really having to do it. The pre-marketing made easy before you even
invest in the time and money to launch your start-up, if you will. Other simple
online apps, have turned into making money from more traditional means. Angry
Birds is an excellent example, of how a simple and free app (with supported
advertising), has turned into a huge business. Most of the new revenue comes
from more traditional means. Here is a look at how and what it has grown into.
·
Initial Release. In 2009, the free iPhone app was released. It has been free (with
supported advertising) ever since. The app has recently reached over 250
million downloads over all platforms. That is a lot of advertising revenue.
Sales of the full paid version are past 10 million copies.
·
Web. Angry Birds will be available as
an app on Google’s Chrome in the very near future. Another extension that will
take the application to more users than just all of those smartphone users.
·
TV. We all know TV is big money. An
animation on TV that is popular with kids is even bigger amounts of money.
Angry Birds has signed up for a TV deal, which is already under production, and
you can expect to see it somewhere on TV sometime before this summer ends.
·
Facebook. While probably not generating any direct cash revenue except from data
collection and advertising (did I really just write that?), the Angry Birds
Facebook page has around 3.7 million likes. That is a lot of data, and a lot of
information potentially collected by their app. Who even knows what other
revenue they are generating from social
media marketing.
·
PSP. The release of the PSP version of Angry Birds was released in the early
part of 2011. PSP and game software is a very serious business. The amount of
money that Angry Birds has generated from this is probably staggering
considering a copy of the game retails at US$3.99.
·
Board Game. Angry Birds partnered
with Mattel to release the Angry Birds board game. The board game came out in
May 2011 and retails for around US$15.
·
Fluffy Toys. Fluffy toys are a big
business when they are popular. Angry Birds is extremely popular. Their online
shop sells the toys for prices starting at US$8 and US$12. While exact sales
numbers are not known, it is rumoured that over 3 million units have been shipped.
It must be the simplest online shop in existence. It could be built with an
online web-builder site, it is that simple.
·
Cook Book. Yes. One is on the
way. It will be in stores any day. Apparently, all meals only include eggs.
·
Sports Sponsorship and Movie Deals. In this year’s
Superbowl, the biggest single sporting event in the world each year, Angry
Birds appeared in the animated movie, Rio, which gave secret a secret clue a
hidden level in the game.
There is more, but you get the point. It is more
than interesting that a simple game, that took little to produce by Peter
Vesterbacka and his company Rovio, has blown into a money machine. They had
been working on many games for companies like EA, GameHouse and Nokia, to name
a few. One of Rovio’s game designers invented the characters out of personal
interest, and everyone in the company liked them. From that the game was born.
It wasn’t paid project. It was released free. Now it is generating
stratospheric revenues, mainly from other sources. Now, there is something to
think about. It is an example of pure technology and marketing, essentially
marketing nothing, making money from traditional sources.
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