You’ve probably seen people walking randomly around the streets of Central Florida while looking at their cell phones and suddenly stopping with excitement, doing some weird movements with their cell phones followed by an expression of satisfaction and power. No worries, they are just Pokemon GO players. Released about a week ago, Pokemon GO has been able to not only offer a healthy alternative to vegging on the couch and playing video games, but it has also opened up possibilities for business owners to create amazing marketing strategies to catch their customers.
Pokemon Go has over 10 million downloads in the first week, exceeding Twitter in daily active users, and it also has a higher average user time than Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, and WhatsApp. The potential of the Pokemon GO app is something that some businesses in Orlando are taking advantage of. They have a new marketing tool, and this is called “lures”. You may be familiar with the way this game works, but lures increase the chances for Pokemons to gather around to be caught. This offers a great chance for businesses to either earn or buy lures to drive people to the door of their facilities to catch more Pokemons, which could translate into more sales for the business. Pretty cool, right?
The power of lures is something that businesses are not ignoring. According to the Financial Times, Pokemon Go developer, Niantic Labs, is planning to allow businesses to sponsor their locations for certain in-game activities. Furthermore, rumors say that McDonald’s could have, in fact, forged such a partnership already. Can you imagine the impact of such a thing? But for now, let’s focus on five Central Florida businesses that are already trying to catch ’em all:
The Orlando Eye is offering discounts on their tickets to the first 100 people that show them their Pokemon GO app.
Whole Foods Market is encouraging their clients to upload their Pokemon GO pictures while shopping around.
In fact, Whole Foods Market has taken this a step further and has already created a very creative and engaging poll using the trending hashtag #PokemonGO to ask their customers how they recharge their energy from hunting Pokemons. What a great way to level up your engagement game with your customers!
Sea Life Orlando is offering 25% off admission until this Sunday for those who show them their Pokemon app.
FunSpot was probably one of the first ones to start taking advantage of the marketing opportunities that the Pokemon GO app offer by seducing all the players with the Gym and the Pokestops that they have on site.
The radio station XL1067 is also using this trending topic to ignite the conversation among their audience on Twitter:
Whether you want to increase the engagement with your audience online or bring more customers to your door, the Pokemon GO app has proven to work as long as you have a creative marketing strategy in place. While this is only the beginning, this app is a great example of how mobile is bridging the gap between the user’s offline behavior and online interaction. The sooner marketers start to realize the importance of creating unique mobile marketing experiences for their target audience, the faster they’ll start seeing results with their marketing campaigns.
Marketers should also start looking into the potential for augmented reality (AR) applications. According to Gartner, a leading technology company, by 2018, around 25 million virtual and augmented reality headsets will be sold to consumers. Oh, and if you are one of those worried about the security of your data while playing this game, be sure to check out this video where our very own Tom gives you the latest and greatest about the security concerns that you need to be aware of with Pokemon GO.
Depending on your industry, Pokemon GO can be an opportunity that your business can take advantage of. While we don’t expect for any of the players to stop by our location and in the meantime get a new website, the entertainment and hospitality industry can benefit from this app using a unique and creative strategy to draw more people to their locations. Is your business planning on using this as a marketing tool at all? Why has LA Fitness not taken advantage of all this craziness and start offering special rates to those who want to battle with other players at their gym already? So many questions… Feel free to go to our Facebook page to tell us what your company planning on doing! In the meantime, here is a guide where you can find the perfect spots in Central Florida to go hunting Pokemons so your team can start improving their lures.
By the way, not that we want to brag about it, but our office is located right above, not one, but two POKESTOPS; so feel free to hang out in our gazebo to get some extra free pokeballs and eggs, and don’t forget to go upstairs and say “Hi” to our digital marketing team! They are always on the look for more opportunities to catch ‘em all!
Good luck!
Lydia
