Ok, first thing’s first: Pokémon Go has taken over the country (if you did not understand that sentence, click here).
The app already has more downloads than Tinder and more users than Twitter. Within two days of its U.S. launch, it was installed on more than 5% of all Android devices, and 60% of downloaders play the game on a daily basis for an average of 43 minutes.
But this isn’t just a boom that benefits its parent tech companies: consumers are boasting on social media that, lately, they’ve been choosing their restaurants with one specific criteria: where are the Pokémon? As gamers venture into the world and try to catch ‘em all, restaurants have been trying to catch the gamers.
Of Lures and Gyms
As it currently stands, there are two ways eateries can take advantage of the Poké-craze. The game designates certain publicly-accessible locations such as churches, parks, and, yes, restaurants, as hotspots and gyms—locations that, for reasons too complicated to get into, will draw many gamers. Businesses fortunate enough to be within a 15-meter radius of these locations will find foot traffic in their area exponentially increased. For them, it is merely a matter of drawing them in.
Less fortunate establishments need not worry, however. Through the app, restaurants can use real-world currency to purchase coins, which they spend in-game to “lure” Pokémon to their location for half-hour intervals. And where the Pokémon go, the gamers are sure to follow (a lesson, incidentally, that criminals also seem to have learned). Since there is no limit to how many lures can be placed each day, proprietors can repeatedly and strategically deploy them (retailers, according to early reports, are also learning these lessons).
Restaurants Leveling Up
Some locations have been ahead of the curve. Sean Bendetti spent $10 to lure about a dozen Pokémon, and their attendant gamers, to his New York pizzeria, L’inizio Pizza bar. His sales immediately jumped 75%.
Salem, Massachusetts’s Flying Saucer has taken things one step further, incentivizing players to not only drop by but spread the word: when customers catch Pokémon on-site, they are encouraged to post an image on social media, tag Flying Saucer, and be entered into a daily raffle for gift cards.
Chicago ramen house Yusho hosts nightly parties for gamers (it is already a gym), and adds a thematic approach: they offer discounted prices on poke, a raw fish dish.
Know Your Customer
There is even more that can be done.
Proprietors and staff should be familiarizing themselves with the game according to Ryan Goff of MGH, a marketing and communications agency. “The biggest thing you need to do today is to set up an account and start playing. If you’ve never experienced the game, you’re not going to understand how to speak to its users. Immerse yourself in the experience and start thinking of reasons why a Pokémon user would not only visit your location, but would then make a purchase.”
Such familiarity leads to a host of additional concepts to draw gamers and convert them into customers. For example, they could offer a free appetizer to any patron who catches a particularly rare Pokémon, like Snorlax. They could offer a 10% discount to gamers affiliated with a particular team (there are three: Instinct, Mystic, and Valor). And, as some have already done, they could host a Pokémon-themed cosplay party or bar crawl.
These ideas all require a passing familiarity with the game and its environment, and having a wait staff engaged in the game can prove a huge asset.
Get on Board!
While a host of gamers staring at their phones may not fit into every restaurant’s vibe, one should not hastily dismiss this game’s current or future drawing power. The game compels its players to move and physically interact with the world around them—once advertisers catch on and catch up, today’s strategies of luring customers will feel positively primitive.
According to Goff, “Once the developers start talking to advertisers, you’re going to see a world of marketing possibilities open up: in-game ads; specials for visiting locations; competitor targeting.” Already, rumors are floating that McDonalds will be embarking on an exclusive partnership with the app, though details have yet to emerge.
Pokémon Go, it appears, will be blasting off again.
