Google and Pokemon's April Fool's Quest

On the first of April, Google and Nintendo teamed up to launch one of the most creative April Fool's jokes I have seen so far - Google Maps: Pokemon Challenge. 

The idea is for people to use their smartphones to explore the world and find all of the pokemons scattered all over the globe. Users had a deadline of one day to finish their quest. In reality, if you collect all of the pokemons and win the title of Pokemon Master, you will not really be shortlisted for a job at Google, but the entire experience is fun and engaging. What this is mainly perceived as is a mobile game. I also see it as a clever and creative way of advertising.

You may be wondering why advertising would be relevant to a blog about creativity. The reason is because creativity is essential for marketers to ensure that their messages are received and memorized by their target audience. Companies have been struggling with successfully integrating digital media into their advertising strategies for some time. The best way to avoid annoying or disengaging the consumer is to incorporate creativity into their digital campaigns, which prove costly and challenging. Ideas can cost a significant amount of money and their implementation requires thorough knowledge of how the modern mobile user interacts with digital media. Otherwise, the message will not reach its target as effectively as desired.

If there is anyone who knows what people want best, it is definitely Google. Not only do they have all of the data, they also have the necessary platforms and assets to bring any of their ideas back to life. And partnering with Nintendo's giant success, Pokemon, was certainly a smart move.

Advertising through smartphones can be tricky, but it is a platform that has increasingly attracted the attention of corporations. Rowan Wilken and John Sinclair put it like this (Wilken, 2009):

With the arrival of 3G technology, the mobile phone – at least from a marketing perspective – works increasingly as a kind of mobile ‘portal’ to connect consumers with the mobile internet, and thus, by extension, advertisers and content providers more directly with consumers.

Considering that one in five people own a smartphone (Heggestuen, 2013), and the numbers are rising each day, this can be a lucrative means of advertising.

What I particularly like about this project is that the advertising intentions become insignificant to the user, because the mobile feature was so creative and fun. Pixel pokemons were sprinkled over the entire Google Maps interface, challenging users to 'catch 'em all'.

Original image from here

Instead of bombarding users with messages, Google and Nintendo decided to be more engaging by providing them with a challenging game. They also relied on the fun and easy-going theme of April Fools, which has always been a useful occasion for lighthearted campaigns from both big and small organizations.

Sources: 
HEGGESTUEN, J., 2013, One In Every 5 People In The World Own A Smartphone, One In Every 17 Own A Tablet [online], Available at: here. [Accessed 9 April 2014]

WILKEN, R., SINCLAIR, J., 2009, 'Waiting for the Kiss of Life': Mobile Media and Advertising, [online] Available at: here. [Accessed 9 April 2014]