Everyone Wants To Be The Very Best!

Within the past month, children and adults alike have come out of the shadows and stepped into the heat to accomplish one thing: capture Pokémon. As tired as many of us are of hearing about the mobile application “Pokémon Go” on every news station and online source, there is a lot to be learned from Niantic’s launch strategy. Pokémon is a strong brand that belonged to the childhood of many and was thought to be left behind with older generations until it made this extremely successful resurgence into the market. The App is leading to flourishing businesses wherever it touches, benefiting small businesses and larger ones like T-Mobile, as they allow free data usage on the app for all of their cellular customers. As marketing and public relations professionals what can we learn from the app’s success?

Pokemon’s Successful Marketing Strategy

• Mobility
  It is necessary for the app’s users to roam in order to find more Pokémon and achieve new goals. Engaging your audience in a mobile interaction with a product or brand is important and leads to the reuse of the brand in future instances due to the positive experience. It is a good idea to involve the senses such as movement or long-lasting visuals when creating an event or product for your market so that it creates a brand-on-customer experience that feels like both sides are working together.
• Target Market
  Pokémon has been known famously for their trading cards as well as video games, but this time they expanded their market intelligently. The fact that Pokémon Go is an app means that anyone with a smartphone can use it, which leads to a large increase in the brand’s use. Instead of just focusing on who would use your product or attend your event, consider which market is currently a popular market, such as the populace that owns a smart phone, and thinks of ways to reel them in as well. The re-creation of an already popular brand in another form can attract more people and lead to more success.
• Community Togetherness
  The main reason that Pokémon Go is being embraced in communities everywhere is because it is bringing people together for the same cause. Sometimes having kids running around with their heads down staring at their phones may be dangerous, but they are outside amongst other friends and community members working together to accomplish something. Even restaurants and stores are offering discounts and opening their doors to those using the app. In the PR world, creating something that leads to a social explosion and a great deal of free publicity for the businesses that jump on the bandwagon can lead to something great.

In the end, anything can be remade with the right tools and success can be derived simply by finding the right market, involving the community, and creating a brand experience. Now go out and catch them all!