In 2013, Vietnamese game developer Dong Nguyen quietly released a mobile game called Flappy Bird.

2013年，越南游戏开发商Dong Nguyen悄悄发布了一款名为Flappy Bird的手机游戏。

It was a simple but extremely addictive app that involved navigating a cartoon bird through a series of neverending obstacles. The objective was to keep the bird afloat as long as possible.

这是一个简单但非常容易上瘾的应用程序，其中涉及通过一系列永无止境的障碍导航卡通鸟。 目的是使鸟类尽可能长时间地漂浮。

According to Rolling Stone, Nguyen built it over the course of a holiday weekend. It wasn’t his first game, but rather another project in a long line of flops. He didn’t expect this one to be any different, and for a long time, it wasn’t.

据Rolling Stone称 ，阮是在假期周末期间建造的。 这不是他的第一场比赛，而是一连串的失败。 他没想到这个会有所不同，而且很长一段时间都没有。

Then, one day, fortune struck. For months, Flappy Bird’s small collection of players had been rage-posting their high scores on social media. The game was designed so that all the progress you’ve made can be wiped out with just one wrong move, which made making mistakes especially painful. And when players lost, they turned to Facebook and Twitter to vent, or on rare occasions, celebrate.

然后，有一天，财富来了。 几个月来，Flappy Bird的一小部分玩家一直在社交媒体上疯狂发布自己的高分。 该游戏的设计旨在使您只需一步错误就可以消除您所取得的所有进步，这使犯错特别痛苦。 当玩家迷路时，他们转向Facebook和Twitter发泄，或在极少数情况下进行庆祝。

Eight months into Flappy Bird’s launch, these passionate social media posts reached critical mass, catapulting the game to viral status. Not “viral” in the casual sense, but viral, as in 50 million-plus downloads and worldwide, chart-topping prestige.

在《飞扬的小鸟》推出八个月后，这些热情洋溢的社交媒体帖子达到了临界质量，使游戏Swift流行。 并非随意意义上的“病毒”，而是病毒式的 ，例如超过5000万的下载量和全球排名第一的声望。

Its success earned Nguyen a jaw-dropping payday. Monetized via in-app ads, Flappy Birds brought in a staggering $50,000 in revenue per day. The most amazing part? Aside from a single social media post announcing its launch, he had spent zero effort on marketing.

它的成功为阮赢得了令人jaw目结舌的发薪日。 通过应用内广告获利，Flappy Birds 每天的收入达到惊人的50,000美元 。 最神奇的部分？ 除了宣布发布该社交媒体的单个社交媒体帖子外，他在营销上花费了零的精力。

This is a true underdog story, especially for someone who came from a poor family, like Nguyen. But if you’re tempted to chalk his success up to luck, you’d only be half right.

这是一个真实的失败者故事，特别是对于像Nguyen这样来自贫困家庭的人而言。 但是，如果您很想将他的成功归功于运气，那么您只会做对了一半。

The truth is, whether it was conscious or not, Nguyen built Flappy Bird on a foundation that stacked the odds of virality in his favor. Let’s take a look at how.

事实是，无论有意识还是无意识，阮都在自己的基础上建立起了飞扬的小鸟，并积累了病毒式传播的可能性。 让我们看看如何。

什么使蓬松鸟特别？ (What Made Flappy Bird Special?)

Here are four key takeaways.

这是四个要点。

1.简单会使人上瘾 (1. Simplicity is addictive)

In his interview with Rolling Stone, Nguyen traced Flappy Bird’s inspiration to the Nintendo games he played growing up — specifically, their simplicity.

在接受《 滚石杂志》采访时，阮源将《飞扬的小鸟》的灵感追溯到他成长的任天堂游戏-特别是它们的简单性。

Struck by how complicated modern games were, he set out to build a game that could be played with one hand. The result? To play Flappy Bird, you only needed to do one thing: tap the screen.

对于现代游戏的复杂性感到震惊，他着手开发一款可以一只手玩的游戏。 结果？ 要播放Flappy Bird，您只需要做一件事：点击屏幕。

This is a lesson that appears over and over again in business. Whether it’s a video game, online store, or consulting service, the key to attracting customers is to make their experience frictionless.

这是一遍又一遍的商业课。 无论是视频游戏，在线商店还是咨询服务，吸引客户的关键是使他们的体验顺畅无阻。

The easier your product is to use, the more customers will want to return to use it again.

您的产品越容易使用，更多的顾客就会希望再次使用它。

2.自由具有传染性 (2. Free is contagious)

Free breeds virality.

免费品种病毒传播。

The easier it is for users to access your product, the more likely they are to share it with their friends and get them on board. This, in turn, raises your chances of going viral.

用户越容易访问您的产品，就越有可能与朋友分享产品并加入他们的行列。 反过来，这会增加您传播病毒的机会。

In simple terms, Flappy Bird’s free-plus-ads model made it easy to acquire users. Who’s going to say no to downloading that app all your friends are talking about when it costs nothing to check it out?

简单来说，Flappy Bird的免费加广告模式使获取用户变得容易。 谁会拒绝所有您的朋友都在谈论的应用程序，当您无需花费任何费用就可以下载该应用程序时呢？

This is the same model email newsletters use to build massive subscriber bases. Most newsletters gladly send out their editions for free. Once they’ve built an audience, they can monetize through multiple streams, including ads, sponsorships, and premium tiers.

这与电子邮件新闻通讯用于建立大量订户基础的模型相同。 大多数新闻通讯很乐意免费发送其版本。 建立受众群体后，他们可以通过多种渠道获利，包括广告，赞助和高级阶层。

3.怀旧卖 (3. Nostalgia sells)

Nguyen isn’t shy about the fact that Flappy Bird’s visual design was influenced by the early Nintendo era. But take a step back and you’ll realize it’s much more than just the Super Mario pipes and pixelated graphics.

Nguyen并不惧怕Flappy Bird的视觉设计受到任天堂时代早期影响的事实。 但是退后一步，您会发现它不仅限于Super Mario管道和像素化图形。

Really, everything about the game is reminiscent of Nintendo, from its ridiculously simple playing style to its catchy sound effects. These were critical components to its success: in an era where games are built on futuristic graphics and complex gameplay, Flappy Bird succeeded because it fulfilled a desire for the good ol’ days.

确实，从荒谬的简单演奏风格到动听的音效，有关游戏的所有内容都让人联想到任天堂。 这些都是其成功的关键因素：在一个以未来派图形和复杂游戏为基础的游戏时代，《飞鸟》之所以成功，是因为它满足了对美好时光的渴望。

According to marketing genius Gary Vaynerchuk, this is the same reason throwbacks like sports cards and Pokemon are making a comeback. Nostalgia is a powerful motivator for consumers and must be taken seriously as a brand strategy.

根据营销天才加里·韦纳彻克(Gary Vaynerchuk)的说法，这与体育卡和神奇宝贝(Pokemon)之类的回扣正在卷土重来的原因相同。 怀旧是刺激消费者的强大动力，必须认真对待，作为品牌战略。

4.好的产品自己上市 (4. Good products market themselves)

Finally, the common thread that ties all of these elements together is that quality is the best form of marketing.

最后，将所有这些元素联系在一起的共同点是质量是营销的最佳形式。

Without a good product, all the marketing tricks in the world won’t help you sell. But make your product the best in the industry and your customers will do your marketing for you.

没有好的产品，世界上所有的营销技巧都不会帮助您销售。 但是，使您的产品成为行业中最好的产品，您的客户将为您进行营销。

The fact that Nguyen spent $0 on marketing is exhibit A on why this works. He simply created a superior game, then gave it away. Because it was so sensationally addictive, the product marketed itself.

Nguyen在市场营销上花费$ 0的事实是其有效运作的证据A。 他只是创造了一款出色的游戏，然后将其赠送。 因为它是如此令人着迷，所以该产品自行上市。

结语 (Epilogue)

You may have noticed everything in the first section is worded in the past tense. That’s because Nguyen deleted Flappy Bird several months after it went viral, citing concerns about his family’s privacy, as well as ethical concerns that the game had become too addictive.

您可能已经注意到第一部分中的所有内容均以过去时表示。 这是因为Nguyen在病毒传播数月后就删除了Flappy Bird，理由是对家人的隐私以及对游戏过于上瘾的道德担忧。

(Don’t worry, he’s still making money thanks to those who downloaded it before its demise.)

(不用担心，由于它在消亡之前就下载了，所以他仍然在赚钱 。)

While some view this as tragic, I think it’s a net win for Nguyen, who no doubt made enough money during the game’s apex to be financially set for life.

尽管有些人认为这是悲惨的，但我认为这对Nguyen来说是一次净胜利，他无疑在游戏的巅峰时期赚了足够的钱来维持生命。

Regardless, the real value here is the nuggets of marketing wisdom. One man showed everyone the power of simplicity. In a world filled with increasingly complex technology, that might be exactly the marketing angle your business needs to stand out.

无论如何，这里的真正价值在于营销智慧。 一个人向所有人展示了简单的力量。 在充满日益复杂的技术的世界中，这可能正是您的企业需要脱颖而出的营销角度。