Those millions of consumers, who spend their entire afternoons collecting virtual Pokemons, need to walk the actual streets, parks, stores and restaurants to do so… Local businesses are just waiting for such a chance.

Naturally, those customers do not go to those places just like that – it is the game that attracts them. Which is why you need to know how to connect your real-life business with the virtual world of Pokemon Go. The situation is perfect e.g. for cafes located in the area, which is transferred into one of the Pokestops (where players can stock up on free accessories), gyms (where trainers battle other Pokemon teams) or simply those that have a virtual Pokemon nearby. It is a huge chance to attract non-virtual customers.

How do brands use the popularity of Pokemon Go?

1) They’re active in social media

Brands use hashtags such as #pokemon or #pokemongo, they upload pictures showing the business as part of the virtual world as a place attractive for players.

Examples:

• The Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art put on its blog photos of Pokémons standing next to chosen art pieces and displays making up the museum resources. All that to make young visitors stop associating museums with boredom.
• pl promotes budget flights using the craze for traveling with Pokemons: “Collect Pokemons around the world, go to Paris for only 78 PLN.” Their post on Facebook went like this: We got crazy about this new game #pokemongo and feel like traveling in search for Pokemons, how about visiting Paris for PLN 78? Wanna join us?

2) They buy Lure Module and register as Pokestops

Lure Module costs less than PLN 4 (or precisely – 100 Pokecoins, which you can win or purchase for euro 0.79). It attracts new Pokemons to your place for 30 minutes. Players see lures as purple dust on the map and start hunting right away.

Examples:

• Hard to choose from, so many companies have used that. In addition to cafes and stores, even Mercedes decided to buy a lure module. What’s more, chosen Mercedes salons were registered in the app as Pokestops.
• The rumor has it all McDonald’s restaurants are about to turn into Pokestops.

3) They prepare special offers for players

For instance, they introduce happy hours, offer discounts for beverages. Businesses which double as gyms can have winners charts and award the best team with a badge.

Example:

• This strategy is particularly popular among restaurants and pubs, but not only. House clothing brand offers a 20% discount for clothes on sale for those who manage to catch a Pokemon in their store and can show a screenshot as a proof.

4) They show up where players are

They place their promotional materials, mobile sale points or handouts in places where players gather. Or – they create such places…

Example:

• Miami organized a huge event for Pokemon players: Free Pokemon Go South! Foodtruck and music night. There was music, lights, foodtrucks, lots of advertising and plenty of Pokemon lures. The visitors were asked to add photos of all found creatures to the event FanPage with the event hashtag.

5) They create alternative game versions

The mechanism remains similar, but after all you can catch many other things around. This is a chance to attract those who have never been into catching Pokemons.

Example:

• Parenting blogger Denna Blizzard evoked something reminding mass histeria when she published a video showing how instead of Pokemon she catches champagne glasses in her game “Chardonnay Go”. Of course, the game only exists in the video, but companies with big budgets must have thought about putting similar ideas into life…

6) They offer free data transfer

Catching Pokemon takes much time, kilometers and… gigabytes. This is a great opportunity for telecoms to sneak into the favor of consumers-players.

Examples:

• T-Mobile USA offered its customers free Internet transfer while playing the game.
• Orange offers 1 GB of Internet for Pokemon trainers.

The list could be expanded by other ideas, such as the graphic variation of Pokemon images prepared by CarWow, but so far they are just for fun. As you can see, there are so many marketing opportunities associated with Pokemon Go. You just gotta catch’em all!;-)