Angry Birds and Droga5 Aim to Turn Your Rage Into Something Good

Are you angry? Really angry? ALL-CAPS-THREE-EXCLAMATION-POINTS ANGRY!!!? Rovio Entertainment’s Angry Birds suggests you channel that rage into something constructive. 

For example, full-throated fury actually propels a line of custom voice-powered scooters that the video-game franchise is rolling out with ad agency Droga5 as part of the mobile game’s #BringTheAnger 10th anniversary celebration.

The louder you vent, the faster these “Rage Riders” go (up to 15 miles per hour). Here’s a scream-y video of the thing in action:

Theoretically, you could whoop for joy and power the scooter. But really, where’s the fun in that?

“We wanted to use anger to fuel something useful, but we also wanted as many people to use it as possible, so it had to be relatively small and easy to replicate,” Droga5 group creative director Andrew Fergusson tells Muse. “Electric scooters are very popular with our target audience at the moment, and they also look kinda ridiculous flying down the street with a big red microphone sticking out of them, so it started to make sense.” 

Only 100 vehicles were produced, and they’re not being offered to the public. (Grrrr … doesn’t that make you angry!?) Engineered by Ford subsidiary Spin, they will appear in adventures streamed by the campaign’s “Squawk Squad” of YouTube creators (including Tanner Fox, Team Edge and Deestroying) and show up at Angry Birds birthday activations, too. 

Rovio also created an Angry Birds 2 in-game competition that will generate $100,000 for UNICEF’s Education in Emergencies Fund supporting kids in war zones and other rough regions across the globe. Fans needn’t donate money to participate—they just have to play.

Finally, a “public event” slated for New York’s Times Square on Nov. 21—the date Angry Birds sprang forth from the egg—will feature, according to press materials, “an innovative device specially designed to give locals and tourists a chance to convert their anger into something good.” (That shebang will probably attract crowds and tie up traffic, making New Yorkers more incensed than ever. Which should, when you think about it, make the activation a rousing success. Angry Birds wins again! Grrrr.)

“Everyone certainly is angry at the moment, and there are a whole bunch of good reasons why,” Fergusson says. “We simply want to remind people that anger as an emotion isn’t in itself a bad thing. In fact, if anger is released in the right way, it can lead to something positive, or at the very least, cathartic.”

What’s more, “playing games has been shown to lower stress levels, so in many ways, the Rage Rider mirrors the catharsis the game already provides,” he says. “Angry Birds may not be able to solve the world’s anger issues, but if this campaign can facilitate a few laughs and a little healthy rage release, it certainly can’t hurt.” 

CREDITS

Client Rovio Entertainment / Angry Birds
Ville Heijari Chief Marketing Officer
Stephen Porter Marketing Director
Kai Torstilla Marketing Director
Jon Howard Head of Communications & PR
Juan Gaona Leon Marketing Manager, Social Media
Aino Greis Marketing Manager

Agency Droga5 NY
Creative Chairman David Droga
Global Chief Creative Officer Neil Heymann
Group Creative Director Andrew Fergusson
Creative Director Oriel Davis-Lyons
Creative Director Gustavo Dorrieto
Associate Creative Director Michael Kleinman
Associate Creative Director Leilanni Todd
Senior Copywriter Daniel Litzow
Senior Art Director Vignesh Seshadri
Creative Technology Director Brian Moore
Associate Design Director Dan Pulito
Designer Justin Au
Junior Designer Kenisha Rullan
UX Director Craig Wong
Chief Creation Officer Sally-Ann Dale
Co-Director of Interactive Production Justin Durazzo
Director of Film Production Jesse Brihn
Executive Producer, Experiential Bo Djogo
Producer, Interactive Aaron Matys
Producer, Film Mateus DeFaria
Producer, Film Carlos Valdivia
Associate Producer, Interactive Michelle Levitch
Producer, Print Abraham Nowels
Director of Business Affairs Dan Simonetti
Senior Business Affairs Manager Shaunda Slade
Global Chief Strategy Officer Jonny Bauer
Head of Strategy Harry Román-Torres
Group Strategy Director Deepa Sen
Head of Communications Strategy Dean Challis
Group Communications Strategy Director Ben Nilsen
Communications Strategy Director Kathryn Ruocco
Junior Communications Strategist Soheyla Escher
Senior Data Strategist Daria Koren
Account Director Cris Scardino
Associate Account Manager Sydney Golden
Senior Project Manager Lara Yegenoglu

Production Company Second Child
Director Jake Honig
DOP Conor Murphy
Managing Director Scott Chinn
Producer Chelsea Greenwood
Photographer Paul Mcgeiver

Post Production Second Child
Senior Editor Matt Badger
Senior Post Producer Sara Mills
Design Director Pravin Chottera
Sound Designer & Audio Engineer Jesse Peterson

Music APM Music
Marmoset

Interactive Production Company 10x Beta
Creative Technologist Owen Trueblood
Director of Design Colin Kelly
Mechanical Engineer Liad Yamin
Director of Engineering Michael Circosta
Industrial Designer Geoff LaCorte
CEO Marcel Botha
People Operations Manager Ashley Hofkens

Activation Production Company Hunters Points
Exec Producer Kelly Markus (KCM)
Acct Supervisor Sherry Riad
Sr Producer Josh Tjaden
Sr Prod Coordinator Randa Eid
Sr Environmental Designer DJ Corney
Tech Supervisor Jon Bingham