#Asia This is how Pokémon Go might win the advertising game

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As the Pokémon Go craze continues to soar, it raises some intriguing business opportunities

Pikachu FINAL (1)

For better or worse, Pokémon Go has become an overnight craze, rocketing to the top of the App Store and surpassing social networks like Tinder without breaking a sweat.

While there is no denying that this has been one of the stranger trends to pop up overnight, it raises some very intriguing business opportunities.

Jason Evangelho’s article in Forbes lays out some good tips for how businesses should try to embrace the steady stream of potential customers out wandering the streets looking for those little monstrosities. He suggests integrating the Pokémon theme in with products sold at the store, and perhaps far more importantly, using the paid ‘Lure Modules’ that can entice players to a certain location for 30 minutes to attract foot traffic.

While using these Lure Modules is a nice trick for short bursts of potential business, there appears to be an untapped potential to make this even more attractive to businesses.

Also Read: 2 industries that can repeat Pokemon Go’s augmented reality success

For the time being, the Pokémon are showing up at random locations, whether they be restaurants, people’s houses, maternity wards or basically wherever the game’s creators at Niantic Labs decide.

A different take on ‘pay-to-play’

What if businesses could pay to become Pokémon gyms? What would be the rate for this if you are a small local business versus a large chain like McDonald’s? Are we going to see some corporate partnerships come out of this?

If the game makers are unwilling to let businesses become permanent hot spots, another potential revenue avenue is to turn to in-app advertising. Normally this kind of model is scoff worthy, but if there ever was a case for little location-based pop-up ads during gameplay, this would be it.

Since the game taps into private data on the user’s phone, tracking not only location but also accessing information from your Google account (which makes sense seeing the Alphabet connection), it seems like there is potential for more targeted advertising that would not only let stores attract players, but also hone in on those likely to become real paying customers.

This might be a step too far in the way of data mining and privacy, but I would not put it past Google to make that leap.

It is fair to say that not even the folks behind the game were prepared for the massive level of adoption that has enveloped the world. If they had been, then we probably would have seen a much more robust set of revenue streams set up before the launch. Not that Niantic or the Pokémon company are complaining with the reported US$14 million brought in from its first week just on in-app purchases.

Also Read: 5 Pokemon Go marketing strategies you can start from Day 1

That kind of cash is very impressive but the question will be like with all games whether they can keep it up for the next few weeks and months. Fear that they could lose their audience by throwing in ads is legitimate, but they will have to have a plan in place for once the numbers of users drops off. That said, now might be the time to cash in before the fad fades.

The original article This is how Pokémon Go might win the advertising game first appeared on Geektime.

Photo courtesy of Pixabay.

The post This is how Pokémon Go might win the advertising game appeared first on e27.

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