What Do Pokéman Go & Mary Poppins Have To Do With Game-Changing Content Marketing?

Imagine what you can do with augmented reality and your next marketing asset? Some lessons can be learned from Pokémon GO.

Pokémon GO is all over the place. In less than a week the app has tallied up some remarkable stats. It has more daily users than Whatsapp, more app downloads than Tinder, and more active users than Twitter. As a result, Nintendo's stock has surged 20% since the day the game debuted, adding $7.5B to the company’s value. Nothing short of spectacular.

For those not yet in the GO, Pokémon GO is a mobile game that encourages you to use your smartphone’s GPS to catch virtual Pokémon in real-world locations. It uses your phone’s GPS and camera together to turn the real world into a hunting ground for the Nintendo creatures. It also transforms local landmarks and businesses into ‘Pokémon Gyms’ (where ‘trainers,’ i.e. players, go to train their Pokémon and battle other teams) and ‘PokéStops,’ real world places to where players go to stock up on accessories and Pokémon items like PokéBalls.

With people going into different stores, restaurants, and other places of business to look for Pokémon, the number of requests Nintendo is receiving from merchants to become Pokémon Gyms and PokéStops is overwhelming. Needless to say, the monetization opportunity in this game is, well . . . game-changing.

So what’s behind the madness? I believe that it’s about a special magic we’ve all touched upon, at least during childhood (if not still today). It’s the magic of bridging the world of fantasy and reality. For those of us old enough to remember – it’s like in Mary Poppins, when Julie Andrews and Gene Kelly stepped into the wondrous cartoon world of Walt Disney.

For the adult in us – it’s the magic we feel when we put on VR gear and step into a parallel world. Even if the parallel world looks just like ours – the fact that it’s virtual – makes it magic.

What does this mean for content marketers?

With VR gear proliferation growing, with the availability of HoloLens, Google Cardboard, and of course the Facebook Oculus, the potential for augmenting the marketing value offering will also grow.

What Pokémon GO shows us, though, is that you don’t need gear. All you need is your phone. Imagine your next eBook or infographic embedded with a search and discover adventure á la Pokémon GO?

You could even add a layer of gamification – encouraging your readers to compete. Whoever brings back from their content exploration the most insights/answers/clues – can win a cool VR gear, or free subscription, or additional features and user licenses, or the like.

You could also offer an AR fantasy world during your next user conference. The potential for engagement (and co-marketing with partners) is tremendous.

Want to come up with a totally cool and augmented way to bring users to engage with your content and products? Get in touch, and let’s do great marketing together >>