POKEMON GO AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR MARKETERS

Augmented reality brings together the physical and the digital spaces, and Pokémon Go might be its most successful implementation yet. But what does this success mean for brands and marketers, and how can it be emulated?

The accessibility of Pokémon Go seems to be one of the biggest factors behind its success. There’s the appeal of nostalgia for some users, and for others the characters and Pokémon brand make it recognisable and appealing. Despite the significance of the brand, no prior knowledge of Pokémon is required to understand the game, which suggests that simplicity in concept as well as good word of mouth can be key to reaching a wide range of people.

Apps that use similar technology to Pokémon Go have existed for some time. Blippar launched with some success recently, as did Wikitude; both working to create points of interest in your local area using augmented reality. Niantec, the company behind Pokémon Go, even created another game called Ingress back in 2012.

However it appears that technology alone isn’t enough to generate buzz – after all, it’s Pokémon Go that has become one of the biggest apps in the world, with more daily users than either Tinder or Twitter. It’s the entertainment and engagement that the app creates with the technology that is generating the biggest buzz of all.

It’s important to note that our relationship with technology has changed. Geo-tagging and location based services have become both more popular and more acceptable as concerns over security and privacy have decreased, and Pokémon Go taps into this new attitude.

But what does this mean for marketers? Specifically in the case of Pokémon Go, businesses looking to capitalise on this can purchase in game Lures, attracting users and thus more customers. Niantec have already announced a sponsorship with McDonald’s in Japan for the release of the game where McDonald’s may be able to offer rare items or Pokémon, enticing players to visit and spend with them. In a broader sense, more companies are investigating and investing in VR and AR, as seen at SXSW this year.

Pokémon Go and the place it has claimed in the popular conscious might represent the first big step in generating similar interest levels in consumers when it comes to branded experiences made using these technologies.

So while Pokémon Go might seem to some as a novelty, it could very well represent the first steps in not only making augmented reality increasingly mainstream but also making similar branded experiences and branded content created with and presented by AR and VR technology increasingly mainstream and appealing to consumers.