19 days is all it took for 50 million downloads of Pokémon Go, Nelson reported.
Now, the global phenomenon game has 75 million downloads, and it’s only a few weeks in. Apple said that the Pokémon app tops for the highest first-week downloads than any other app, ever.
If this isn’t impressive, consider that this game has already surpassed the daily usage of Facebook and Snapchat, according to USA Today.
Most new technology comes and goes, but some catches on quick and stays around for an extended time. It’s hard to know just how long users will stay on the Pokémon Go bandwagon, but one thing is for sure: it’s hot now!
As marketers and owners of brands we need to always be thinking how to reach our target market, and what better way is there than to use what everyone is already using?
We owe it to our brand to learn more about Pokémon Go, why it’s caught on so quickly and become so popular, and how we might capitalize on it.
Four quick Marketing and Pokémon Go lessons:
1.Virtual Reality: Make live connections
We live in a world that has gone digital. To compete, to communicate, and to learn we go online. That’s not going away anytime soon. However, there’s still a need within us to relate on a deeper level than what’s often possible when online.
With Pokémon Go, they have brought real places (landmarks, museums, churches, schools, restaurants, statues & sculptures) onto the game’s map as a meeting point (otherwise known as a pokestop) and can pinpoint where a user is through GPS.
Because of these pokestops, the game allows users to meet that wouldn’t normally speak to one another.
After my neighborhood water aerobics class, a fellow swimmer and I chatted about which pokemon were located where, and then shook hands and chatted about our families and real life.
We are made for community so let’s explore creative ways to draw people together and specifically to our brand. How can you incorporate a social element that unites people into your service, product, cause, or campaign?
2. Location, Location, Location: Create Lures to Draw People
Which houses are typically the highest priced? Those in the convenient, centrally-located neighborhoods, even despite being small or old and outdated. The same is true for Pokémon Go. Location is everything.
First, find out if you brand is a pokestop.
Pokestops are blue and show up as you walk/drive near it (left picture, blue cube pictured in middle right of screen).
The pokestop will become two circles like a target when you are close enough to retrieve items from it to fill your bag (left picture, right pokestop).
Click on the pokestop and you’ll get the photo of the location so your finger spin it. After you’ve collected items for your bag, it will turn purple.
If your organization’s location is a pokestop, great! Maximize the proximity of where people gather to your location to fuel up on pokeballs (those are used for catching pokemon and claiming other items like raspberries, eggs, lures, potions, and other items). Consider doing a giveaway or a discount of some type.
To attract additional Pokémon Go users, you’ll want to set a lure module at your location (this happens for 30 minutes and benefits other people nearby!). Your pokestop with a lure module stands out on the screen because it has pink hearts moving around the pokestop.
Lure modules are like pokemon magnets, so users know they’ll have higher chances of catching more pokemon by going to you than a normal pokestop. Plus, they get supplies to fill up their bags with; it’s one-stop shopping!
Remember lesson #1 about virtual reality and the human need for real-live connection. So, consider stationing a few staff or interns with signs welcoming Pokémon Go players to your pokestop/place of business and announce your giveaway or discount.
Perhaps during a time of slow business a restaurant like Kerbey Lane Cafe could offer half-priced pancakes to Pokémon Go users and station unused wait staff outside to attract more business (and increase their tips!).
If your location is already bringing people to your front door, why not invite them in with an incredible offer? Consider what your offer could be.
3. “I resolve to…”: Incorporate Personal Goals
Pokémon Go was brilliant to incorporate exercise — a common personal goal for most people!
Instead of being like traditional video or smart phone games where you sit on the couch and play, this game incentivizes you to get outside and walk around. One item users collect at pokestops is eggs. In order to hatch your egg into a pokemon, the incubator requires you to walk a certain distance. I’ve seen 2, 5, and 10 kilometer distances, and I’m currently on level 11. Since the game is built on a GPS system, it can decipher how quickly you are going to determine if you are walking or driving. Only walking gets you closer to hatching your pokemon egg(s).
On a personal note, I have loved this! One of my husband and my summer goals was to walk together 20-30 minutes a couple times a week in the neighborhood. Of course, other things came up and we haven’t been too consistent. But now with Pokémon Go, he and I both have regularly been walking to our mailbox and around the neighborhood together. This has been a great way to leisurely walk together, catch some pokemon, talk about our day, and get some much-needed exercise in. Plus, we’ve met up with more neighbors (lesson #1)!
These game creators found a way to make personal goals like burning calories and building live relationships a fun adventure and a key ingredient to playing the game.
Think about ways your brand can incorporate helping your customer/user/member progress toward their personal goals. How can you build in multiple rewards for using your product, service, or cause?
4. Here, There & Everywhere: Explore your surroundings
These game creators have built in interesting, public places near users (called pokestops) to congregate at to retrieve items to continue playing the game. There’s been many benefits to this strategy — creating/building live relationships, increasing profits through giveaways and discounts, and in helping your constituency meet other personal goals. But, there’s another benefit: we can learn and become more aware of our surroundings.
Pokestops and gyms (where users battle out one another using their talented pokemon with high combat power) are primarily public places like landmarks, churches, sculptures, schools, and restaurants — tourist locations! This article does a nice job detailing out some of the hotspots in Austin, which happen to also be good places to visit if you haven’t already!
It was bound to happen, and it has: now you can get a tour of Austin complete with Pokémon Go aboard an air-conditioned bus with fellow poke-players. It’s known as PokeTourism, and it’s a sweeping trend nationwide. What better way to see a city’s sites than to be apart of a virtual reality, community-building, goal-meeting game in real life? Just yesterday, Austin news reported on this new venture capitalizing on the Pokémon Go craze.
No marketing channel is truly evergreen. And those that have stuck it out for some time continually update and tack on new features and services. It is important to test often, fail fast, and capitalize on what’s working for your brand. Pokémon Go may be a fad and gone in a year, but for now, it is THE tool to try. Give it a whirl. You might surprise yourself with how enjoyable it can be.
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