Angry Birds developer Rovio Entertainment has set up Brand Partnership Ad Teams in the North America and EMEA & APAC regions as it looks to expand its offering to become “a direct media partner to the largest brands in the world”.

To support this, Rovio has made four senior hires, from companies including Apple, InMobi, and Millennial Media. 

In North America, Betsy Flounders Novak has joined as director of West and Midwest, and Matt Pfeffer as director of the East Coast. Pfeffer comes from Millennial Media; Novak has worked at MTV, ESPN and Time, as well as a three year stint at Millennial Media.

The EMEA and APAC team, which is based in London, will be led by Todd Tran, who comes from his position as EMEA general manager of Apple’s mobile advertising business, where he oversaw the European launch of iAd. Joining the team in February from a position at InMobi is Raphaelle Tripet.

“Brands and agencies in Europe and Asia want to work directly with scalable, next generation media companies, in unique ways,” said Todd Tran, Head of EMEA and APAC Brand Advertising Partnership Team. “As a media platform, we have now achieved tier-one global reach and we have an opportunity to really pioneer true integrated cross platform brand experiences.”