First Angry Birds Product Integration To Tout Bing

Are digital porkers continually outwitting your Angry Birds? Try Bing for the answer to vanquishing the porcine menace. In a first for Rovio, the developers of the hit mobile app, the company has struck a deal whereby Microsoft’s Bing search will be integrated into the Angry Birds game.

Angry Birds, which boasts versions for the iPhone, iPad and Android OS devices, has a US audience of 25 million players currently. It’s also coming to Xbox LIVE on Windows Phone 7 later this spring, in another partnership between Rovio and Microsoft.

“Angry Birds is a phenomenon that is growing rapidly and our marketing team saw a great opportunity to work with Rovio to develop an integrated campaign that would engage Angry Birds fans with Bing and help them get to new levels,” said Lisa Gurry, director of Bing.

The deal has Bing appearing in the Angry Birds and Angry Birds Seasons applications, with contextual Bing searches integrated to help players find solutions for difficult levels and find the Golden Eggs. Bing says the integration will provide players with “over a hundred clues” to speeding through levels. It will last for “several months.”

“Bing helps people make informed decisions and now millions of Angry Birds fans can experience Bing to help them excel at the game,” wrote Wibe Wagemans of Bing Mobile, in a blog post about the deal.

Additionally, Bing is distributing a four video series featuring the Angry Birds characters. In the videos, the pigs use Bing to plot ways to steal eggs from the hapless birds.

The videos will be distributed via the YouTube channels of Bing and Rovio.

Though Bing has been praised for providing a quality search experience, it’s still working to gain a foothold in the popular imagination. Bing saw a 13% surge in searches in January, according to Comscore, but Google still dominates with 66% of overall search share.

About The Author

Pamela Parker

Pamela Parker is Research Director at Third Door Media's Content Studio, where she produces Martech Intelligence Reports and other in-depth content for digital marketers in conjunction with Search Engine Land, Marketing Land, MarTech Today and Digital Marketing Depot. Prior to taking on this role at TDM, she served as Content Manager, Senior Editor and Executive Features Editor. Parker is a well-respected authority on digital marketing, having reported and written on the subject since its beginning. She's a former managing editor of ClickZ and has also worked on the business side helping independent publishers monetize their sites at Federated Media Publishing. Parker earned a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University.