Have Little Pokémon’s Taken Over Your World?
If you’ve been out and about this last week here in the U.S., you may have noticed an abnormally large (more than usual) number of people walking around staring and swiping at their phones. Why? Because they (millions) are collecting and battling virtual monsters in the real world. Pokémon Go, created by Niantic Inc. and The Pokemon Co., was the top free app Monday in both the Google Play store for Android phones and iTunes store for iPhones. The app was introduced on July 6th in the United States, Australia and New Zealand, and by last Thursday, according to Similar Web, it had already been installed on more U.S. Android phones than Tinder and was rivaling Twitter in the number of daily users.
As of July 8, “the app was being used for an average of 43 minutes, 23 seconds a day, higher than Whatsapp, Instagram, Snapchat and [Facebook] Messenger,” wrote Joseph Schwartz, digital insights and content manager at SimilarWeb.
Before we take a look at potential marketing applications, let’s learn a little about the game for those not familiar with it. What is a Pokémon? A Pokémon (short for pocket monster) is a little animalian creature and there are many types. When someone is catching Pokémon in Pokémon GO, the general aim is to get as many different kinds as possible. The most well-known Pokémon is Pikachu.
The app, which is free to download and play, uses GPS to make a cartoony map of your neighborhood and basically anywhere you go. The Pokémon (yes, that is the plural) are interspersed throughout and will show up on your phone when you approach them.
The game gives you a limited amount of Pokéballs. You can trap wild Pokémon by throwing balls at them using a flicking motion with your finger. Sadly I spent much of last night just trying to catch one.
To begin, you create an avatar which is you, a Pokémon trainer which gets experience points as you do stuff. The points make you a more powerful trainer allowing you to “level up.”
Since you have a limited number of Pokéballs to use, it is important to walk to different “Pokéstops.” Pokéstops are usually at interesting (geotagged) places around your city or community such as a popular store, landmark or other points of interest. The ideal gameplay strategy is to walk around, trying to cover a lot of ground to get to different Pokéstops and come across different Pokémon who might be hiding in your path.
Pokémon gyms are where you can battle your Pokémon with other Pokémon to earn control over different gyms, as well as other prizes. These are geotagged like Pokéstops and can lead to unexpected results.
What does the future hold for Pokémon? Not sure. Could be an app that comes on in a big splash, then fizzles out or could be a game-changer in terms of augmented reality, mobile and marketing. How could a business (and some restaurants/bars are already tapping into the phenomenon.) leverage Pokémon Go?
A business can attract Pokémon Go users by attracting them to the business offering discounts for catching certain Pokémon or free appetizers.
The secret to drawing foot traffic to a business is to set up a “Lure Module” at the location which attracts Pokémon to a PokeStop for 30 minutes, benefiting anyone in proximity to that location. Users are naturally drawn to those locations through a graphic that notifies them of the PokeStop and promise of catching new Pokémon.”
A Lure Module is an in-game item that can either be earned or purchased using real-world dollars. Once a user acquires a Module, they must visit a PokeStop to activate.
Pokémon Go has only been launched for less than a week, and I think it is hard as a marketing technologist to not been fascinated by not only the interest, but the technologies within this simple game. Gamification, augmented reality and mobile. Definitely we will see more of this in the near future, and for one, I’m fascinated to watch it evolve. And yes, despite my privacy concerns (which I’ll address in another post), I’ll be trying to catch some Pokémon tonight.
Let me know your thoughts. Would love to hear them.
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