Get, set, go

Gaurav Agarwal, 32, says that it was a Sunday well spent. After a late Saturday night, he overslept and missed a morning event organised by the fitness technology start-up, Goqii. The event called Pokewalk was inspired by the Pokemon Go craze around the world. It got people on a Sunday morning to walk around the spacious Mumbai suburb Powai and capture Pokemons and network.

Agarwal missed the event, but when he woke up, Pokemon was still on his mind. The game is not officially launched in India, but an APK (Android application package) version was available on the Nintendo site. He downloaded the game in no time. Being relatively new in Mumbai, Agarwal feels this game is a “great way to explore your own city”, although he agrees that it’s sometimes dangerous to keep looking at the phone while crossing the road.

It’s this undivided attention towards the game that has marketers sitting up and taking notice. Over the last two weeks, people who only watched their kids glued to Pokemon characters on television are themselves glued to their mobile phones trying to hunt down these characters in their own neighbourhood.

As the game encourages players to explore their cities, it has been simultaneously driving real-world traffic for local businesses. “A mass audience is falling in love with augmented reality (AR), opening the door for brands to leverage AR technologies to reach consumers,” says Anjali Hegde, CEO, Ansible, the mobile marketing arm of IPG Mediabrands.

The new mobile game leverages GPS and cameras on smartphones to simulate the Pokémon catching experience from the older games in the real world. Pokemon Go players must leave their homes and explore their neighbourhoods and cities, following a digital map that leads them to various characters and locations driving footfalls to certain locations. Already, there are several reports of stores and cafes seeing a spike in foot traffic because their locations are hotspots in the game. The New York Times reported that one bar in Harrisonburg, Virginia, has started offering discounts to Pokémon Go players on a specific team, while a tea shop in San Francisco offered a “buy one get one” deal to Pokémon Go players. If a retail location is lucky enough to be at, or near, an in-game hotspot, known as the PokéStop, and the retailer is willing do a little work and make a few in-app purchases, they can drive even more traffic and sales. L’inizio Pizza Bar in Queens, New York, is believed to have used that strategy and boosted sales by an incredible 30 per cent, says the Ansible study on what brands could do to leverage the Pokemon Go craze.

Marketing opportunities For now, the game is monetised by in-app purchases by users. However, as the game gets users out into the world, there are marketing opportunities surrounding the game. The camera-enabled AR experience built around location services creates the game’s most share-worthy moments as social feeds. That was apparent last week when Facebook and Twitter included almost non-stop screenshots from the game in the last week. Niantic, the makers of the game, recently announced that they are willing to create in-game sponsorship opportunities soon.

The study by Ansible says that brands without physical locations will have a tougher time capitalising directly on the latest Pokémon craze. While brands could get more opportunities to get in front of Pokémon Go players through in-game ads or sponsorships, this is a good time to think about ways for augmented reality to drive new opportunities for one’s brand.

Hegde says that the real gain behind the rise of Pokemon Go is that it has given ample evidence of how a mass of consumers rally behind AR and has got marketers interested in the power of AR. The Ansible report says, “AR can be a great way for customers to envision your products in their lives and to launch digital experiences from signage or product packaging. What we can do now through a smartphone is just the beginning.”

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Getting brand into game

Can a brand buy (insert game feature) for sponsorship?

No, not yet. But the CEO of Niantic says they are working on it.

Can I use guerilla marketing techniques to get my brand into the game?

Not really but see below for a way to use guerilla marketing to get foot traffic in the real world.

What are lures and what is crowd-luring?

“Lure modules” are an item in the game that attract Pokémon to a PokéStop location for 30 minutes. Anyone in the area can take advantage of the lure and they usually attract crowds of players. The lures last for 30 minutes and, if bought in increments of $100, cost $1.17 per hour.

How do I turn my retail location into a PokéStop or Gym?

Gyms are destinations for players to battle with other players’ Pokémons, whereas a PokéStop is a checkpoint that players pass by for a few seconds to get free loot. So far, Niantic has full control over the creation of PokéStops and Gyms.

How does incense work?

Incense works similarly to lures, in that it attracts Pokémon, but these should not be used by brands as they only create extra Pokémon for the user deploying them, not for other users in the game. They are not tied to a location the way lures can only be used at PokéStops.

Can I buy lures to add them to my store?

Lures are purchased in the in-game store with Pokecoins, which are purchased with real money.

(Source: Ansible)

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