When Pokemon characters began appearing near the cooler doors in a couple of Rutter’s Farm Stores, Derek Gaskins was pretty happy. Sure, he’d prefer they popped up near the soda fountain or the coffee bar to boost traffic for those high-margin categories, but he was satisfied.
Gaskins, chief customer officer for the York, Pa.-based chain, did nothing to initiate the appearance of Pokemon characters in his stores, but he’s more than willing to ride the wave of the popular gaming app.
In case you somehow missed this overnight success story, Pokemon Go is the brainchild of “real-world gaming” company Niantic, which has succeeded in getting scores of gamers, couch potatoes and curious citizens out into the world. Via an iPhone or Android app, users catch Pokemon characters by literally exploring the world around them. Parks, museums, landmarks—you name it, there’s a Pokemon to catch.
“They figured out how to marry having a phone in someone’s hand with the impetus to go somewhere to play the game in the real world,” Gaskins says. “Virtual and augmented reality is right on the cusp of being big. I say by 2019, it’ll be as big as Facebook or Instagram.”
In charge of social media and marketing for the 62-store chain, Gaskins says the company has started to investigate what it would take to “lure” players in—capitalizing on the birth of a new cultural phenomenon.
Rutter’s is not the only one. The marketing team for North Salt Lake, Utah-based Maverik is going to test its participation, according to Tom Welch, the 278-store chain’s president and CEO.
While it’s early in the game (no pun intended) for Welch’s team to elaborate on their plans, other c-stores, such as Swiss Farms, Broomall, Pa., have used Facebook to notify customers that their stores are hot spots for the Pokemon “balls” used to capture characters.
In one quick promotion, Gaskins of Rutter’s gave concert tickets to the first person to post a photo of a character in one of their stores. Other retailers are online offering discounts to gamers or even sponsoring Pokemon-themed evenings to draw traffic.
“The concern I have is whether it drives sales and by how much,” Welch says. “We don’t want it to impact the service level or shopping experience of our regular Maverik customers.”
Gaskins has concerns too, but as long as he can organically drive foot traffic in a way that’s safe and where “people aren’t doing anything crazy,” he’s in. “Augmented and virtual reality have been talked about forever,” he says. “We had high hopes for [location-based] social media like Foursquare to morph into something like Pokemon.”
Gaskins’ enthusiasm appears well founded; many marketing experts have chimed in about the success of the interactive mobile app. Pokemon Go is probably the biggest app to entice people to engage with augmented reality, according to Margie Kupfer, vice president of marketing for 3Cinteractive (3C), Boca Raton, Fla. More than 60% of U.S. users who downloaded the app are using it daily, surpassing leading apps such as WhatsApp, Instagram and Snapchat.
The gamification of apps is another big theme of Pokemon’s success, Gaskins says. The Rutter’s app has a virtual slot machine and a scratch-off game involving cows (a nod to Rutter’s dairy heritage). “I’m surprised how people relish them when they win coupons,” he says. “It’s not to be taken lightly.”
The next step in Gaskins’ mind is evolving the gaming capabilities of Rutter’s mobile app, perhaps developing a scavenger or treasure hunt with incentives or coupons provided when people reach their store destinations.
Whether the Pokemon craze lasts or fizzles down to a fad, Kupfer of 3C says it has done a number of things to spur the use of mobile apps as marketing tools:
Merging the digital with the physical: It shows how mobile can close the gap between digital and the real world. Brands can transform shopping for consumers by adding a digital interactive layer to their physical shopping experience.
Driving traffic: The game is driving traffic to locations users otherwise might not visit. Brands can become location sponsors by paying a fee to turn their locations into “portals,” drawing extra foot traffic.
Starting a dialogue: Whether it’s through personalized offers and rewards, location-based notifications or a simple chat with a store associate, mobile facilitates a one-to-one dialogue with consumers while they’re in the store—providing the digital tools in the physical space.
Increasing spend: Pokemon Go users are willingly spending money on in-app purchases to enhance their experience. This teaches brands that consumers are willing to pay extra for goods and services if they receive content or experiences that meet their standards.
Offering new virtual experiences: Brands can also engage their customers online by letting them virtually sample and “experience” products before they buy.
While very few could have predicted the success of Pokemon Go, there’s no doubt it hit all the right notes.
“When things are planned or when [promotions] are not authentic or organic, it doesn’t work,” Gaskins says, recalling a Foursquare promotion Rutter’s did called “Black Friday” involving a free cup of coffee when people checked in. “I’m not saying it wasn’t successful, but it was nowhere near Pokemon.”
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