• 0

Marketoonist | Tom Fishburne

Marketoonist is the thought bubble of Tom Fishburne. Marketing cartoons, content marketing with a sense of humor, keynote speaking.

  • Campaigns
  • Speaking
  • About
  • Cartoons
  • Contact
  • Book
  • 0

pokemon go, AR, and location-based marketing

August 28, 2016 Leave a Comment

  • Paid licensing options include high resolution download.
  • Presentation $35.00 Add to Cart
  • Newsletter or Website $100.00 Add to Cart
  • Corporate Blog/Sponsored Post $50.00 Add to Cart
  • Looking for other licensing options? click here
  • View Cart
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

The Pokemon Go phenomenon may have peaked, but it sure lit a fuse for marketers to think about augmented reality, location-based marketing, and how their brands might fit in.

As with adopting any other technology for marketing, many marketers will treat it as a gimmicky bandwagon.

I stumbled across an AdAge article with an interesting insight on why Pokemon Go finally managed to capture the world’s imagination when so many AR and location-based technologies have tried since the first Foursquare checkin 7 years ago:

“Users are driving the adoption, not marketers. Gary Vaynerchuk famously said that “marketers ruin everything.” As marketers, we are biased toward solving our own business problems first, and our consumers’ problems second. Despite what we tell ourselves, no one wants to see our ads magically come to life in their newspaper, nor have they ever asked themselves why they can’t scan a cereal box for more detailed information.

“People want to be entertained and inspired. Pokémon Go is entertainment on overdrive, turning the regular world into one filled with animated characters, battles and surprises. Pokémon Go has content at its core, coming from a long lineage of video games, TV shows and playing cards. Its only business challenge is finding new ways to entertain its audience, and a gaming app was a logical extension.

“Eventually we, as marketers, may ruin Pokémon Go, too. You can bet that in board rooms across the world executives are meeting to plan brand takeovers of popular Pokestops and somewhere, someone is pitching a catfood sponsorship for Meowth.”

In the wake of Pokemon Go, there will likely be a surge of hastily created AR apps and location-based marketing campaigns. Marketers see the hordes of Pokemon Go players and wonder about how to redirect them to their brands and businesses. I think the better approach is to question how these technologies can be genuinely entertaining and useful to their consumers. It’s ultimately not about the technologies as much as it’s about making our brands or businesses more compelling.

We’re in an awkward adolescent stage of digital marketing. I’d love to hear your thoughts on how brands can adopt these technologies.

Here’s a related cartoon I drew four years ago on location-based marketing.

Location Marketing cartoon

Filed Under: ad tech, technology

Get a new marketoon each week:

Previous Post Next Post

purpose-driven advertising

marketing targeting

Browse similar cartoons in: ad tech, technology

Browse By Category See All Marketoons

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • Paid licensing options include high resolution download.
  • Presentation $35.00 Add to Cart
  • Newsletter or Website $100.00 Add to Cart
  • Corporate Blog/Sponsored Post $50.00 Add to Cart
  • Looking for other licensing options? click here
  • View Cart
Your Ad Ignored Here Book Image

15 years of Marketoonist compiled for your marketing pleasure.

Order Now

About Marketoonist

tom_image

Marketoonist is the thought bubble of Tom Fishburne a career marketer and cartoonist. Learn More...

Subscribe

Get a new marketoon delivered to your inbox each week.

 

Browse Blog Posts

Most Popular Cartoons Browse Categories

Marketoon Campaigns

contentmarketing

Content marketing with a sense of humor.

Learn More

Keynote Speaking

speakingworkshops

Insightful, funny, and visual keynote talks and workshops.

Book Tom to Speak

Search Blog Posts

Interested? Let’s Talk!

Marketoons

Browse Categories

Get New Cartoons Weekly

About Marketoonist

Tom Fishburne is the Founder and CEO of Marketoonist, a content marketing studio that helps businesses reach their audiences with cartoons.

© 2023 Marketoonist