Over the summer you may have been forgiven for thinking you’ve stepped back in time to 2001, what with Blink 182 back in the charts, Tarzan being in the cinemas and of course everyone talking about Pokémon. Unfortunately however we haven’t become 15 years younger and we are still in 2016; you can’t deny that trends really do come back in fashion.
Earlier this year Nintendo released an app for smartphones called Pokémon Go. The idea behind the free app is that gamers can hunt and catch Pokémon in the real world through the lens of their devices. Since the release of the app it has gained wide spread coverage globally, claimed the title of being the biggest mobile game in U.S. history, along with Nintendo’s shares seeing a rise of over 50% and of course it’s won millions of daily active users. But what makes it so popular?
The app was perfectly timed for summer, meaning younger players have something to keep them occupied during the holidays. And because the game is a location based product it means everyone can get out and about, and if the weather improves you might be able to catch yourself a nice tan as well as a few Pokémon. However the biggest draw has to be the brand Pokémon itself, whether you’re 10 years old or 25. It has the ability to appeal to both the nostalgia and the big kid inside almost anyone.
As a B2B PR agency, it’s intriguing to see how a game that used to consist of swapping cards and stickers is being brought to life and into the real world, but also the effects a simple brand can have on us all, especially one that everyone seems to have grown up with. We wonder what game could be next, personally I’m holding out for Crash Bandicoot. Fingers crossed!
Katherine Wilding is a PR apprentice and a regular contributor to the Skout blog
