Pokémon Go and the Power of Branding

Pokémon are back and they have taken over the entire world, literally. Nintendo and Niantic Labs have released Pokémon Go, an augmented reality (AR) game where players explore the real world to find and catch Pokémon through an app on their phones. The huge success of the game has shocked everyone by jumping to the top of the app charts, bringing in millions of dollars from in app purchases, and passing Tinder and Twitter in number of users. It has taken over social media threads and headlined the national news in less than a week. What made Pokémon Go such a huge overnight success? What can be learned about branding and marketing from the game? And who to choose as a starting Pokémon? Bulbasaur, Squirtle, or Charmander? (Charmander, duh)

The biggest key to the game’s success has been millennials who grew up in the 1990’s playing the original Game Boy games, collecting the trading cards, and watching the cartoon before school every morning. Pokémon was a huge franchise in the late 90’s and early 2000’s and now everyone who grew up during Poké-mania is jumping at the chance to catch Pokémon in real life. The game is also very popular among kids today since the franchise has expanded since the late 90’s giving it a huge cross-generational audience.

The success of Pokémon Go is rooted in the branding and popularity Nintendo built in the late 90’s. Thanks to their success back then, they’ve been able to recapture that audience, build on their already gigantic brand, and effectively create Poké-mania 2.0. Not that everyone has the benefit of capitalizing on the kind of prior success that Pokémon had, but Pokémon Go shows what building such a strong brand can do presently and the benefits it can have even over a decade later.

Pokémon Go is a two-fold example of marketing success. In addition to the strong brand presence that has been cultivated over the past 20 years, the game is a potential marketing gold mine for small local businesses and large box stores alike. Because the game centers around places, there is a lot of opportunity to use tools within the app to draw Pokémon and Players to your business.

Reference: http://www.slate.com/blogs/business_insider/2016/07/11/some_restaurants_are_using_pok_mon_go_to_catch_customers.html

Companies are offering everything from discounted food prices to free wifi and charging stations to encourage future Pokémasters to stop in. Potential consumers are choosing how they spend their time, where they are eating, working out, buying clothes, etc, in order to be closer to locations that have Pokémon. ‘Lures’ which are used to attract Pokémon (thus potential consumers!) to certain locations are available for purchase. Sponsorships are not yet available, but rumor has it that it’s only a matter of time. For a price, companies will most likely be able to make their business’ Pokéstops or Gyms. In the near future, it’s not unreasonable to think that entire marketing campaigns will be developed centered around Pokémon Go sponsorships.

Companies are also taking to social media to take advantage of the new craze. Whether it’s passing along tips about what types of Pokémon are nearby, offering discounts to Pokémon hunters, or creating Pokémon-themed fare, many businesses have very quickly recognized the opportunities this new craze offers. Click here to see a few of the businesses that have taken this approach.

It’s incredible how successful Pokémon Go has been and there is a lot to take away to apply to one’s own branding and marketing strategies. How long will the craze last? Only time will tell, which is all the more reason to use this tool to its fullest as quickly as possible.