Everyone has been talking about it recently. Videos showing the craze – sometimes dangerous – of some players are popping up everywhere. But Pokemon GO is very impressive in many other aspects.
An article written by Nicolas Boisseleau, Digital Evangelist at Tapptic France.
An undeniable success
Despite some failures caused by servers’ saturation, the app’s instability or its huge energy consumption, its success is real. However, it is hard to measure its extent yet, though if you still had doubts, we invite you to have a look on this website, which measures live the craze for Pokemon GO with the number of downloads per minute, the time of use, and in-app purchases. This new game buries the competition without even being officially released worldwide (in France, for example, where the launch has been delayed by Nice’s attacks).
A lot of articles have already been analysing the reasons of the game’s success, so we will not expand on this topic. Yet we will simply remind that we are talking about one of the rare trans-generational brand, which meets with a strong popular support. What interests us the most is the breaking point that it represents. For sure, there will be a before and an after Pokemon GO.
For the beginners, let’s remind the basic rules of the game; associated to Google Maps, players are evolving in the real world, just like on a regular GPS and the purpose is to move towards points of interests present of the map. It is by moving in real life that you can interfere with those points of interests like the “Pokestop” or the well-known “pokemons”. Once facing them, you add to that a bit of augmented reality to visualize the Pokemon in a real set (thoughout camera lens) and you’re ready to go.
A golden opportunity for local shops and brands?
It is crucial to realize that we are now playing on the first version of Pokemon GO. Who remember now Facebook’s V1.0? Today, the spots of interests are placed randomly, but they can easily and quickly be negotiated. If MacDonald’s or Starbucks succeed in getting the set of point of interests within their locations, their traffic will blow. Some locations understood that the population drained by this game could represent a considerable financial windfall and some of them quickly stepped ahead as, for instance, the Touquet beach wishing welcome to the players.
Here is another example, on the 18th of July, Paris’ Botanic garden had to close because the evacuation of players coming to collect some « Bulbizarre » had considerably complicated the operation. On the picture under, we can see three close points of interests, which allows the players to hunt efficiently.
How long will brands and local shops have to wait until approaching Pokemon GO to benefit from it? It is just a matter of days. John Hanke, CEO of Niantic explained to the Financial Times that this possibility will soon be given to brands to sponsor the Pokemon GO virtual space.
Here after partnerships, a revolution, a real one.
We heard a lot recently on virtual reality, particularly from Mark Zuckerberg, but the equipment rate is still pretty low, which can easily explained by its price. Indeed, recent smartphones will be able to use its camera to add some information to the world around us.
Augmented reality is not new; a lot of apps were already using it in the past, but in most of cases, it was only temporary experiences with a low adoption rate. For having tested a lot of those, there is a significant break on the fact that watching our smartphones in public yet scanning what is around us can be akward. The looks of people around us are disturbing, or at least, were.
Do you remember, 10 years ago, when the hands-free kits and Bluetooth headset were launched? How many of us made fun of it, thinking that they met a fool talking to himself? How many of us are now used to it?
Thanks to its huge success, Pokemon GO will open the way for other businesses. This starts a revolution.
Even if for now, it seems difficult for us to imagine a tinder “match” by throwing a “pokeball” on a potential conquest, yet other lines of business can transform themselves very quickly such as the museums, theme parks or vestiges offering reconstructions in augmented reality. It is hard for now to have a precise idea of all the upcoming changes. The most interesting lines of business are the ones who haven’t completed their digital transformation yet, like the real estate sector for example. Apps through a map presenting all the exclusive mandates for renting or selling goods with live information when we are facing the good (price, surface, contact to reach) already exists but their use is still shy. However, we are expecting a real jump in this sector.
Forward, we can simply get our smart phones out to add to the world facing us valuable information such as itineraries, promotions in a store close to us or even ongoing recruitment for the company on our right. Many businesses are going to want their own “Pokemon GO” very quickly and the first on the market will have a lot to win from it. That is why it is crucial for all the professionals to think as of now about the opportunities linked to their activities that can ensue from this technology.
Pokemon GO is much more than a simple game, it is the official democratization of a new practice, which can change the world, and this will not happen in 10 years but in the upcoming months.
