Should SA Brands Get Ready To Pokemon Go?

In Trends

Pokémon Go is the latest viral sensation to hit youth around the world by storm! This augmented reality mobile game became the most popular mobile app in less than a week of its release breaking records and topping download charts, even surpassing Twitter and Tinder’s daily active users! The mobile app is the first online game to achieve this level of mainstream success, with almost two-thirds of Pokémon Go players in the 18 to 24 millennial market. The question is, should your brand be getting ready to leverage this phenomenon?

What is Pokemon Go?

It’s like we have travelled back in time and everyone has 90’s Pokémon fever again, except it’s real! People are using Pokemon Go with Google Maps integration to locate Pokemon in their neighbourhoods and beyond. They’re also out finding PokeStops, which are places in Pokémon Go that allow you to collect items such as eggs and PokeBalls to capture more Pokémon! These are located at select places close to users like historical markers, monuments, pubs and restaurants, etc. Now millennials are going to ridiculous extremes to find, train and use Pokemon to battle their peers, and brands want in!

What’s Your Pokemon Go Brand Strategy?

Brands are jumping onto the craze to lure foot traffic to their stores through PokeStops, in return for in-game rewards, but experts suggest they’re missing the mark with their consumers and it may not be the best sales generating platform. Players aren’t going into the store to purchase your products, but to catch their next Pokemon. The user has probably been buried in their smartphone for hours on end, looking to catch their next Squirtle, and not at all interested in what brands are selling. So if brands have been doing it wrong, what can we learn from Pokemon Go? We found five simple marketing principles that Pokemon Go is harnessing that can be applied to any marketing strategy.

1. Don’t Be Here Today & Gone Tomorrow

Trends come and go and it is hard to tell how long the Pokémon Go craze will last because the youth’s five year plan is not to collect as many Pokemon as they can by the time they turn 25. Humans are nostalgic by nature though and Pokemon, as a brand, has adapted to every generation and found ways to remain relevant in its 20 years of existence (yes, it’s that old). The brand has lived with its young consumers and fit into their lives for a long time, making adoption of the Pokemon Go phenomenon so much easier with very little need to convince the youth.

2. Social Proof Is Everything

Almost overnight people were playing the game everywhere you turned and if they weren’t playing it, they were talking about it or buzzing about it on their social media platforms. The game trended for days on end and although not officially launched in South Africa yet, the Pokémon Go South African Facebook group has over 8500 users and this in less than a month!

The chaos the game was causing, from injuries, to extremities people had to go to in order to play the game, made global headlines. SA enthusiasts are playing the game on 3^rd party platforms and are even gathering at events, such as one that was hosted in Cape Town recently with over 400 people in attendance to engage and play with other fans alike. Whether students were Pokémon fans or not, they absolutely couldn’t ignore the hype.

3. Ditch Weighty Ad Campaigns

So often marketers tend to think the bigger the budget, the more chances their content will go viral. Pokémon Go is a great example showing that money doesn’t buy brand adoption with the youth. Did you spot any adverts at all? Probably not. Very little advertising went into the launch of Pokemon Go and the brand didn’t even have to invest in shoving the app down its fandome’s throats, because they already loved the concept. Not only do Afrillennials know what Pokemon is, they are entrenched in the hype of virtual reality. The most important trait of an effective campaign isn’t necessarily how deep your brand’s pockets go, but rather how well your brand connects with the youth at the different touch points of their life.

4. Reward Users For Loyalty

Pokemon Go worked because it lived within the memories of the youth, featured at different occasions in their life and kept the youth’s expectations going in the anticipation that they would make a comeback. With this in mind, brands need to remember that it’s important to reward the consumer for being loyal to them. Pokemon Go’s launch was way more than its fans expected, hands down. What’s more is that in Pokémon Go itself, users get incentives for leveling up, walking and catching new Pokémon. The excitement of the rewards they keep getting throughout the game keep them coming back for more!

5. Keep It User Friendly

Afrillennials are tiring of the pace of life and are suffering a phase of tech burnout being faced with too many apps and inventions. To an extent they’re looking to make reality of their online lives so they can feel a little more human and live a more streamlined life. One device, one reality and more time to do what they love would be ideal. The fact that Pokemon are now a little more real puts youth in the augmented reality they will be seeing more of in the future.

Practically anybody with a smartphone can play this game. It’s easily accessible and easy to play. There are no extra costs or equipment you need. You also don’t need to be a gaming expert to head outside and hunt for your Pokémons. Its rapid success proves that simplicity and accessibility is extremely important to the youth.

Catch’em If You Can!

For now we recommend not chucking everything you know about youth marketing after this new craze. Let’s face facts, no marketing glazed PokeBall is powerful enough to capture today’s youth and it’s going to take a bit more than Pokemon Go participation to get them to accept your brand as part of their world. Brands shouldn’t be too quick to jump onto every trend either, because every platform might not be the right fit for your brand.

Though we advise not pulling out all the PokeStops just yet, Pokémon Go does teach us some great lessons about how we market and is a teaser as to how creative brands should be getting in the virtually augmented lifestyle the youth are heading into. No doubt, we will see an increase in brand participation once it officially hits SA.