History Of Pokemon Go And How It Became A Global Phenomenon

Satoshi Tajiri’s was developing a game, but he ended up creating an entire universe. His creation embodied something as simple as his childhood hobby and it resulted in being one of the most popular games worldwide (Klara, R., 2016). Tajiri’s creation led to the cultural phenomenon in 2016, where just a week after the official release, more than 7.5 million users were involved and it became the “biggest mobile fame in U.S history” (Sheldon, A., 2016 pp 9). This, of course, had a great impact on the Nintendo brand, with focus on customers’ perceptions and brand image.

Based on scholarly concepts and theories, this essay will identify the main reasons for success of Pokémon Go and the impact it had on the Nintendo brand. Furthermore, this essay will give insights on what brand managers outside of the videogames industry can learn from this global phenomenon.

Firstly, with focus on what made Pokemon Go become a global phenomenon, it can be suggested that there are several factors influencing the results. The reasons for the success of Pokémon Go can be split into three categories – the social environment in 2015 and 2016, the emotional impact on the consumer and physical and technological characteristics of the product.

Regarding the “physical” characteristics of the product, Pokemon Go intrigued the audience by implementing the AR (Augmented Reality) technology into everyday life (Hobbs, 2016). Although some people argue that AR is “not big from a return-on-investment standpoint for clients” (Stein, L., 2016 p. n/a), it can also be suggested that it has a great potential for increasing consumer engagement and therefore making the brand even more successful. Furthermore, augmented reality is a great opportunity for users to escape reality. Kuo, A. et. al, (2016 p.1) suggest that actively looking for an escape from reality can be said to be a “coping mechanism when consumers are confronted with external stressors that threaten either their sense of identity or control” and the political and social environment in 2016 was a precondition for consumers to want to find a new, more likable reality.

Freund, J. and Jacobi, E.S., (2016 p.420) suggest that “people develop a psychological antipathy towards the concept of death, and an unconscious (and sometimes conscious) desire for immortality”, and in late 2015 and early 2016 death and uncertainty were all over the news. With multiple terrorist attacks across Europe (Jenkins, 2016), the fear of the inevitable was growing. Moreover, Brexit and Trump were causing tension within the society. Hence, 2015 and 2016 were years filled with controversy and scandals and consumers could not resist the opportunity to escape the real world, while still being present. This social environment can be said to be precondition for the 2016 Pokémon Go Phenomenon.

Another reason for the success of Pokemon Go comes from the Consumer Behaviour’s perspective with focus on the emotional connection to brands and products and nostalgia. Some consumer behaviour theories suggest that customers identify themselves with the product or brands they use (Tuan, 1980) and this allows them to fulfil humans’ greatest desire – to belong. Belk (2013), on the other hand, suggests that this identification with products creates the extended self and identifies 4 levels, one of which is the communal level.

Hence, since its original launch in the 1990s, Pokémon has been attracting millions of fans, and based on the common love for the brand and the basic desire to belong, the Pokémon community was created, which later on would result in a great advantage for the brand in terms of having an identified and well-known target segment. For instance, statistics from France and Italy suggest that on average 65% of the consumers aged 18 to 24 in 2016 have already been aware of the franchise (IFOP, Metro. 2016), (Pokémon Millennium (Italy). 2016). Additionally, nostalgia also played a great role in the Pokemon Go success. Merlo and Perugini suggest that “there is a strong link between nostalgia and “retro branding“ ” (2015, p.94) and in 2016 the generations that grew up the Pokemon anime series and games - Millennials and generation Z, had the opportunity to go back in time and relive their childhood anywhere in the world.

However, Pokemon Go had more than just good timing and advantage in terms of their already existing awareness among potential customers. The app allowed the consumer to fully experience what it is like to be a Pokemon trainer. It is undoubtedly the case that the 21st century consumer has the privilege to be living in the experience economy. Having experienced the brands and products consumed, engagement and satisfaction come easily, resulting from the focus on customer experience and sensory satisfaction that experiential marketing has on consumers (Schmitt, 1999). Moreover, Pokemon Go can be said to be gamifying mundane tasks. For instance, fitness. Not only did Pokemon Go swift the perception of the average ‘gamer’ from what one of South Park best episodes described as pale and obese man with ‘no life’ (Stone and Parker, 2015), but also managed to “bring a whole generation out into the real world” and made walking for miles on a daily basis a normal thing (Agrawal, 2016).

But how did the Pokemon Go phenomenon impacted the brand? In 2015 Nintendo was struggling to keep up with the latest trends, having in mind they had not yet entered the smartphone market (Kharpal, 2018). After launching the app, however, the brand was reincarnated. The consumer world did in fact “attribute all credit to them over the game’s success” (Barder, 2016 p. n/a) and despite Nintendo are thought to be making “poor marketing choices.” (Panter, J. 2016. pp.1), their brand was still seen as a very successful brand, at least in the consumers’ eyes. And of course thanks to that and the influence of the bitter-sweet feelings of nostalgia, consumers were even keener on downloading and using the app. In this context, Brown, S. (2004 pp.65) suggests that “nostalgia is a surreptitious way of slipping under consumers’ anti-marketing radar” and so in times when the “average consumer displays unpredictable behavior” (Anon, 2010 pp.191) and the anti-brand ideology is growing stronger (Holt, 2002), Nintendo shrewdly provided a ‘safe place’ for these consumers by taking them back to their childhood.

The 2016 Pokemon Go phenomenon can be taken as an example not only for brand managers from the video games industry, but also for marketing and branding specialists in any field. Regarding what can be learned from the phenomenon, the insights can once again be split into several categories. Firstly, it is essential for a marketing manager to be aware of the socio-economic and political environment. Be it local or a global campaign, certain changes in the social atmosphere can influence the outcomes for the brand. For instance, take what happened in summer 2018 in the UK with the World Cup, heatwave and CO2 shortage (Clarke, 2018) – all of these events, seemingly unrelated, resulted in spike in demand in unusual for the UK segments such as garden furniture, barbeques supplies etc. which later resulted in poor supply in these segments.

Likewise, the political and social environment in 2015 and 2016, affected the society in terms of lack of stability and made it the perfect time for Pokemon Go to appear (Ramos and An, 2016). The satisfaction of being reminded of the childhood, where life was simple, is times of vulnerability, is one of the main factors that pushed Pokemon Go to the top. In broader perspective, as the app tells its users – be aware of your surroundings, or in other words – be aware of the socio-economics and political environment and aim at satisfying the consumers on the emotional level they need. Secondly, marketing managers should know by now that the traditional marketing is dying and that we live in an age where instead on focusing on features and benefits of a tangible and short-lived product, marketing managers should focus on providing experiences, by which they’d create memories, emotions, stronger brand associations, trust, which would all then evolve later into engagement with the brand (Pansari, A. & Kumar, V., 2017).

From a marketers’ perspective, establishing a strong consumer engagement is not only more lucrative for the brand, but also increases the chances of being a longer-lasting friend in the eyes of the consumer. In this perspective, Kapferer (2013) suggests that there is a need for a new strategic thinking and it needs to be focused on discrepancies, how to overcome them and how to simply be more human. Lastly, brand managers should aim at implementing excitement in every product or campaign they launch. Simply luring customers by offering exciting ‘adventures’ for their customers, or simply offering personalisation to their products or services would give the brand a great advantage and the positive reinforcement would result in improving the brand image and gaining more awareness. (Agrawal, A. 2016)

In conclusion, the 2016 Pokemon Go phenomenon took over the world in less than a week and the reasons for its success were more than just good marketing. The Nintendo brand was believed to have made time travel possible, by allowing people to go back to their childhood so they can ‘Catch ‘em all’, and AR made it possible for users to fully experience what it is like to be a Pokemon trainer, while only holding just a third of the product. In summary, brand managers should set adapting and evolving rather than simply surviving as their main objective, so that they can not only have a longer lasting brand, but also be perceived as reliable and trustworthy.