They’re roaming around the town. They’re walking in the streets – mindless of their surroundings with only one thing on their minds. No, it’s not the zombie apocalypse and their not hungry for brains. It’s pokémon go and these people are on the hunt for pokémon.
The mobile app has only been available in the u.S. Since thursday, july 7th, but it has officially become a viral phenomenon.
What is pokémon go?
Besides being everything you’ve ever dreamed of, it’s an app on your mobile device that uses augmented reality and your gps location to catch pokémon. When you open the app, an animated map of your physical location shows up with your avatar in the middle. In order to find the pokémon, you have to get out of your chair and walk around.
Clues throughout the map help you find where the pokémon are
Visiting poke stops (pronounced “pokey”) and poke gyms, which are typically churches or landmarks around the city, become a necessity so you can gain more items like pokeballs and potions to use to catch and heal your pokémon.
These poke stops and gyms are pre-determined locations that were based on another app from the niantic company. The main goal is to catch powerful pokémon and to take control of poke gyms by fighting other trainers with your pokémon. You get rewards and more items for your pokémon if you’re a gym leader.
Why has this app all of a sudden blown cell phone number list up and literally changed people’s day-to-day behavior? A big reason is nostalgia. People, especially millennials, grew up playing the card game and playing pokémon on their gameboys. Now they get the chance to play on their mobile devices, and the amount of people playing is incredible. It’s no doubt that soon pokémon go will surpass twitter in daily active users.
In an article by similarweb, the app was being used for an average of just over 43 minutes a day, which is higher than whatsapp, instagram, snapchat, and messenger for facebook; even nintendo’s stock skyrocketed. Nintendo’s share price rose 24.52% to $193, its highest one-day surge since 1983. Search activity for the term “pokémon” is at an all-time high, and by a considerable amount.
It has become difficult to scroll through any social media platform
The app is also considering additional upgrades like a chat feature and being able to battle and trade pokémon with friends. These are ideas that the app can use to grow and keep it’s high level of engagement. Who knows how long this pokémon phenomenon will last, but with frequent updates and the addition of pokémon, I can see pokémon go being an app staying on a lot of people’s phones.
Why should you care about pokémon go?
So maybe you’ve never played or IS Lists even heard of pokémon in your life before a few days ago, but now you’re reading a blog about it and how it’s driving people crazy. But let’s take a serious look about what this app can teach us about reaching an audience.
Just like I talked about above, the game features poke stops and gyms that are anchored around physical locations. If you’re a business owner with a store location, you may have noticed an increase in foot traffic around your store because of the game. But how are you using this increased traffic to your advantage?
You can offer free or discounted beverages to the pokémon trainers since they probably have been walking all day. You can offer a charging station for their mobile devices (the game drains the device’s battery) or offer deals on portable battery chargers. Businesses are adapting quickly to take advantage of the influx of customers to their stores.
