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How Marketers Can Catch Em All With Pokmon Go

Jamie Allebach
Jamie Allebach Chief Executive & Creative Officer

It’s everywhere. On the streets, in our office, and in every retail and food store I’ve visited the past 2 weeks. Pokémon took over my life back when I was a kid and is doing so again now with the revolutionary virtual reality game, Pokémon Go.

I’VE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE IT.
HORDES OF PEOPLE ROAMING AROUND
AT ALL HOURS CATCHING POKÉMON

The question for marketers, as always, is how can we capitalize on this new trend? So I’ve gathered some basic ways you can catch customers and grow with the new sensation:

1. Join a “Team”
In the game, you can choose between 3 teams once you reach level 5 – valor, mystic, and instinct. Use this team aspect of Pokémon Go for you company to create fun client and local business rivalries (and camaraderie’s!)

You can even offer discounts to members of your team!

If you’d rather not be polarizing and stay neutral, it may be a better option to take advantage of some of the other aspects of the game.

2. Use “PokeStops” To Your Advantage
A Pokéstop is a landmark, church, monument, or work of art in any given area that players use to replenish their goods. If one of these is near your office, you can even add a Lure Module to it, which lures Pokémon to that spot and players from all over to catch them. NBC Los Angeles covered a huge one in the LA area.

No matter where you’re located, adding one of these to your business is sure to draw crowds – much like this micro-brewery. And even if one isn’t near your office, you can always scope out where they are to target your market for handouts or building relationships.

The game developer, Niantic has been quoted in saying it will allow marketers to pay to become locations in order to attract players, charging them per visit, the same way a search ad charges per click.

3. Stay Involved
Most of the biggest brands are jumping on this trend. Yelp added a feature to let consumers find stores that have nearby PokéStops, T-Mobile launched its T-Mobile Tuesday promotion to exempt the game from data charges for a year, JC Penney promoted its Pokémon merchandise through lures, Trulia, has built maps of the most likely places to find certain types of Pokémon, and so on.

Not every brand should be a PokéMarketer, but if you can make it fit, it’s clearly worth the jump. And while you’re walking around playing the game, do your part in promoting companies like Charity Miles that donate to charities of your choice per mile you walk!

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