If you haven’t heard, the game Pokémon GO is taking the world by storm. It was released in Canada on Sunday, so I downloaded it and played it all week. I’m writing this blog post to report my findings with you. My wife made fun of me all week because I would make excuses to take walks just to hunt for Pokémon. But I told her this is serious work, I’m doing market research. Coracle Marketing is a cutting edge company and we need to stay on top of all the latest trends.
Why am I doing market research on Pokémon GO?
The game was first released in the US on July 7th. Within 5 days it became the most played game in US history (topping Candy Crush). Here are a few stunning facts:
- In 7 days, Pokémon GO has more daily users than Twitter
- People’s engagement of Pokémon GO is higher than Facebook, meaning they play the game more than they use Facebook
- In 7 days, estimates are that 15-21 million people in the US have downloaded Pokémon GO
- Stocks of Nintendo (makers of Pokémon GO) doubled in the 10 days after the game was released, adding $21 billion of market value
- In 2 weeks, the game has made $30 million of revenue
Never in history has something like this been adopted this quickly by so many people. The game is part scavenger hunt, part tamagotchi, part Street Fighter. Players go to real-world locations in search for digital creatures that pop up on smartphone screens. They feed the Pokémon they catch and send their Pokémon to virtual battles.
What do you think about Pokémon GO?
Great question. I’m glad you asked! Let me tell you my day-to-day play-by-play experience (i.e. the results of my market research).
Day 1 (Sunday): After hearing about the hype in other countries, Pokémon GO is finally released in Canada! I downloaded it late in the evening and promptly tell my 4-year old daughter Allie that we’ll try out the game when we hang out the next day. She asks me where we are going to put the Pokémon after we catch it. I try to explain to her what augmented reality is.
Day 2 (Monday): Allie and I discuss whether we should look up instructions on how to play Pokémon GO or just play it. We decide to do the latter. We walk outside and catch our first Pokémon – very exciting! Then we walk down the street, not really sure what we are looking for. We see another Pokémon and catch it. To catch a Pokémon, you have to throw a Pokéball and hit it.
After 10 minutes of wandering around in the hot sun with nothing else happening and not really having a clue of what was going on we go back home and watch a video tutorial. After the video (really helpful), we go out again to find a Pokéstop to get supplies. We drive this time (it is a really hot day). We reach Level 2 today and now have 3 Pokémon.
Day 3 (Tuesday): I take my girls to the library. It’s a Pokéstop! The librarian whispers to me that people have found Pokémon inside the library. We find a Pokémon outside the library.
After dinner I casually announce that I want to take a walk. My wife looks at me suspiciously. I never take walks after dinner. She knows that I want to find more Pokémon. Plus, I need to walk 5 kilometers before I can hatch my Pokémon egg (the stupid game is making me exercise!!) In the evening I have a Skype call with my customer and excitedly tell them about Pokémon GO. I think they think that I’m pretty cutting edge. Which is good for my personal brand.
I wonder whether Pokémon GO is using up all of my phone’s data. My research is surprising. If I played 8 hours I would only use 25 MB. The bigger concern is that the game sucks up your battery.
Day 4 (Wednesday): I decide to use one of my incenses. It attracts Pokémon to me. In 30 minutes we catch 6 Pokémon! That was fun. I have one more left. After that, it will cost me roughly $1 to buy another incense. So that’s how they make money… clever…
The game is pretty glitchy. It’s regularly freezing on me. I couldn’t open it at lunchtime. I read that this is because too many people are playing the game and Nintendo’s servers are getting overloaded.
I made it to Level 3 today. I need to be at Level 5 before I can battle my Pokémon, which sounds very very exciting. I can’t wait!
Day 5 (Thursday): I’m excited that I have 2 meetings today. That means I can go search for Pokémon and Pokéstops in other places. YES! In my meeting with 8 other people, only one of them has played Pokémon GO. That makes me feel like an early adopter. But then again, the average age of that group was 38. I think it’s younger people that are mostly playing Pokémon GO.
When I get home, Allie asked me if I caught any Pokémon, and if so, which ones. She knows the names of 5 Pokémon. Her favourite so far is Krabby. I reach Level 4 today and catch 9 Pokémon. I also use my last incense in the back yard, which Allie is very excited about. She’s getting pretty good at catching Pokémon.
Day 6 (Friday): Time to blog about my Pokémon GO findings. I can’t believe I can use the excuse of market research to play the game all week. While I joke about this, it is legitimate R&D work for someone like me in marketing.
How is Pokémon GO going to impact businesses and marketing in the future?
The Pokémon GO trend over the last 2 weeks has proven to me that the world is changing faster and faster. Pokémon GO has and will change how business is done because of 2 reasons:
1. The game has people’s attention.
Whenever you create someone that catches people’s attention you have an opportunity to share messages with them (read: advertising). That’s what radio, TV, and the internet have done in the past. Create content that attracts people’s attention then sell advertising to make money.
2. The game is changing people’s behaviour.
Parents are excitedly reporting that the game is causing their kids to go out and walk around in the summer. Instead of staying indoors and playing video games all day, the kids are going outside and playing video games all day… which some parents are considering a win. Businesses (and churches) are cashing in on this trend by offering promotions and discounts to Pokémon GO players. One parent writes about how the game has positively impacted her autistic child while others say the game is helping youth cope with depression and social anxiety.
Of course there are critics of the game. I’ve noticed a repeated pattern when it comes to trends. First, something gets popular (i.e. Ice Bucket Challenge, viral blog posts, Snapchat). People rave about it. Then other people complain and criticize it. Critics are complaining that Pokémon GO is causing accidents (people walking into traffic and falling off cliffs). One Vancouver man posted this funny note to players not to trespass on his property.
Pokémon GO can help businesses attract new customers.
The main marketing opportunity is for local businesses to purchase incentives which will attract Pokémon GO players to their store. In Japan, where the game became the most downloaded app in 4 hours, McDonald’s will be the first business to partner with the game. McDonald’s said that about 400 of its 2,900 restaurants in Japan will be gyms, which will attract players. The other restaurants will be Pokéstops.
I’m staying tuned to see what the impact on McDonald’s revenues will be as a result.
Got more questions or have more insights into Pokémon GO? Leave a comment below.