Heikki Kovalainen flies into Formula 1 with Angry Birds

Rovio Entertainment announced recently their merchandising and webgame partnership with Finnish Formula 1 star Heikki Kovalainen. Kovalainen will also be sporting a brand new co-branded Angry Birds helmet, which will debut at the inaugural Formula 1 race in Melbourne, Australia.

"This is a great partnership on many levels," said Heikki Kovalainen. "It's the first time that I've partnered with a gaming company, and it fits with my larger focus on partnering with unique brands. As a Finn, I'm also happy to be backing a Finnish company on a global platform. Most importantly, I'm a big Angry Birds fan!"

"We're so excited to be working with Heikki on this, the first partnership of its kind in F1," said Harri Koponen, EVP Consumer Products at Rovio Entertainment. "The helmet looks amazing, and we think people are really going to enjoy the webgame and merchandise."

Martin Anayi of IMG Worldwide worked closely with Mikael Hästbacka of Numea Consulting to bring Heikki and Rovio Entertainment together, based on Heikki's enthusiasm for supporting Finnish companies looking for an international platform.

The co-branded merchandise line will be released later this spring with the webgame, which will feature fun Angry Birds game levels with a racing theme in addition to other bespoke content, launching later in the summer.