Pokemon doughnuts, exercise classes tap game’s popularity

NEW YORK — Weeks into the “Pokemon Go” craze, demand remains strong for “Poke Ball”-shaped treats made by a high-end doughnut company, one of many businesses and organizations coming up with creative ways to lure players in their search for the elusive “pocket monsters.”

Even on sweltering summer days, the popular smartphone game has gotten throngs of players out of their homes to real-world locations designated as “PokeStops” and “Gyms.” Theme parks, bars and even a county animal shelter are among those trying to capitalize on that surge in foot traffic.

In New York, Doughnut Plant created an edible version of the Poke Ball — dubbing it the Pokeseed — after a Pokemon-obsessed employee realized that all four of the company’s shops are either PokeStops or very close to one, owner Mark Isreal said. And one location is an in-game Gym, making it a gathering place to both consume and virtually burn off calories.

The team at Doughnut Plant designed the fruity treat in less than a day, using cranberry-raspberry and white chocolate icings to recreate the red-and-white Poke Balls, the objects used in the game to capture monsters. The Pokeseed is stuffed with a peach-strawberry cream filling, an imagining of Pokemon’s mythical pecha berry.

Pictures went out on social media the next morning, “and before they were delivered, people were already coming to the stores,” Isreal said.

Doughnut Plant has already sold thousands of Pokeseeds, and customers frequently post pictures of them on Instagram. They’re still selling strong, so Doughnut Plant has no plan to take them off the menu any time soon.

Meanwhile, a trendy food court near New York’s Penn Station put up a sign urging passersby to catch a Pokemon instead of a train, while the city’s parks department created “PokeFit” classes for kids to play while exercising.

Earlier, the Busch Gardens theme park in Florida hosted a Pokemon “lure-a-thon,” with some PokeStops accessible only by season-pass members for one hour. The Pawtucket Red Sox baseball team in Rhode Island invited fans onto the field to chase the virtual monsters.

Police in Manchester, New Hampshire, even tried to lure fugitives by claiming to have detected a rare Charizard in the booking area. A Facebook post invited those on a list of “lucky ones” to capture the monster — the list happens to be filled with the city’s most wanted.

Andy Wong of Kurt Salmon Digital, which helps retailers connect digitally with consumers, said the game has worked well for small businesses, though there hasn’t been a good way for larger companies with hundreds of stores to automate the “lures” they buy to attract digital monsters — and with them, players and potential customers.

And even for small businesses, he said, the ability to draw customers may have diminished as the game loses its novelty.

But those that caught the bug early saw tangible benefits.

The Phoenix Zoo was a hotbed of Pokemon activity right after the game’s release last month, even when temperatures climbed as high as 112 degrees. It helped that a Pokemon Gym was housed in the zoo’s conveniently air conditioned orangutan house.

After noticing that some visitors were on the hunt for more than just traditional zoo creatures, the zoo opened an hour early at 6 a.m. for a week during what’s usually a slow time of year. The zoo also converted its train into a “PokeShuttle” that pointed out PokeStops along with its animal exhibits. On the first day of the promotion, attendance more than doubled from a week earlier, and sign-ups for new memberships spiked, said zoo spokeswoman Kerri Baumann.

“It has snowballed in the most exciting and fun way,” she said.

Given the popularity, zoo officials are considering having additional Pokemon-themed activities, she said.

Other furry creatures have benefited, too. The Wake County Animal Center in Raleigh, North Carolina, said its Pokemon-themed social media posts prompted about 25 applications for volunteer dog walkers, about four times what it usually gets.

“If people are getting out and walking, why not come out here and walk the dogs and catch some Pokemon?” said Jennifer Federico, Wake County’s animal services director. “It’s fun and it gets people out.”

The shelter also named dogs and cats after Pokemon characters in hopes of giving animals that may get overlooked a second chance at adoption, she said.

Bars and restaurants are getting in on the action as well, both through numerous Pokemon-themed bar crawls around the country and by taking advantage of nearby stops and gyms on their own.

Because street art accounts for a substantial number of PokeStops, especially in big cities, the Tyron Public House bar and restaurant in New York has seen a slight bump in business, thanks to a large mural outside. Some patrons have paid for lures to attract more Pokemon; others return the favor by buying them drinks.

“It’s kind of fun to see people playing and say, ‘Here you go. Enjoy,'” Tyron manager Errol Flynn said. “For us, it’s not so much about organized events as much as it is about keeping up with social and what’s going on in the neighborhood.”

source: technology.inquirer.net

How companies are cashing in on Pokemon Go

Pokemon Go has sent millions of people onto the streets in a worldwide hunt for virtual monsters — and from neighborhood restaurants to multi-national corporations, businesses smell a profit.

“It’s going really well — this is the fourth time we’ve had to restock our Pokemon cuddly toys in two weeks,” said salesman Corentin Flamand, surveying a row of mini Pikachus at the Micromania store in Paris’ bustling Bastille area.

The chain has brought in mugs, baseball caps and a slew of other products to mark this year’s 20th anniversary of the cult Japanese franchise, and is now hoping to profit from the surge of new fans created by the smartphone game.

Beyond products, companies see huge potential in the app’s ability to attract crowds to places in a way that typical advertising does not, by tempting them with the prospect of adding new Pokemon to their collections.

Bars and restaurants from New York to Sydney are reportedly paying for “lures”, a feature of the game which draws Pokemon to a location, hoping this will draw in customers to linger and spend money.

“If you run a bar/restaurant and aren’t spending $10/day on lures and advertising the fact, what are you even thinking?” Eric Neustadter, former head of Microsoft’s Xbox Live gaming service, wrote in a widely-shared tweet.

Pokemon milkshakes

Philippe Bonnasse, a retail expert at French consultancy CA Com, said companies could profit from showing “that their brand is in sync with the times — that they’re ‘Pokemon Go compatible’.”

Some firms are offering Pokecoins — the game’s currency, which players can spend on accessories to help them hunt — as prizes for competitions.

And then there are the many businesses putting a Pokemon twist on their products.

Maxwell’s, a restaurant in London’s Covent Garden, says it has seen a 400 percent jump in sales of its elaborate “freakshake” milkshake since it started offering a new version inspired by the beloved turtle-shaped Pokemon, Squirtle.

Topped with a donut in the shape of one of the “Pokeballs” that hunters use to catch the critters, manager Lloyd Vaughey says the restaurant is shifting 200 of the violently coloured drinks a day.

“Now the sales have levelled but stay very good,” Vaughey told AFP.

In Edinburgh, a taxi firm is offering flat-price journeys that take punters past at least 50 “Pokestops” to load up on Pokeballs, while specialised hunting tours have sprung up everywhere from Barcelona to Mexico City.

At the extreme end of the industry, San Francisco start-up PokeWalk is even charging busy players to have their phones walked for them by full-time professionals.

Sponsorship deals?

Industry tracker Sensor Tower estimates that the game has already generated more than $200 million since its release in early July. Pokemon Go is free to download, but players can pay for extra add-ons that make them better hunters.

Commercial partnerships with other brands could offer another hugely lucrative source of income for its owners — but the Pokemon Company, which licenses the franchise, is currently concentrating on the game’s rollout.

McDonald’s is so far the only brand with a sponsorship deal, in Japan — hoping that having its restaurants designated as “PokeStops” and “Gyms”, where players can fight and pick up virtual supplies, will bring in customers in a country where it is badly struggling.

But the game’s developer Niantic has invited companies to express an interest in tie-ups on its website, signalling that similar deals could follow.

“The partnerships will be agreed in a second phase, but it will be selective,” a Pokemon Company representative told AFP.

In Japan, the game is seen as a potential boost for tourism — especially in the northeast, desperate for visitors after the massive 2011 earthquake, and in Kumamoto in the south, also hit by a series of deadly quakes in April.

Japanese authorities have signed a deal with Niantic to place Pokestops and Gyms in a way that guides tourists to neglected sites — steering clear of the exclusion zone around the devastated Fukushima nuclear plant.

In Japan and beyond, cafes may well profit from players looking for somewhere to hang out and hunt — but retailers may find that footfall from customers glued to their phones has limited benefits, say analysts.

There is also the burning question of whether Pokemon Go is here to stay — or whether it’s a fad we will soon forget about.

“Betting on a duration of three to six months, until Christmas, could allow companies to organise themed operations around the game,” said Yves Marin of the Wavestone consultancy — hopefully winning new customers whose loyalty could outlast the craze./rga

source: business.inquirer.net

Pokemon Go players flock to Jakarta stadium

Members of the Pokemon Go Indonesia community flocked Bung Karno Stadium in South Jakarta at 7 a.m. on Sunday to catch Pokemon species.

From the stadium, they marched to the fX Senayan shopping mall bus stop and headed to Semanggi city park, then returned to the stadium to catch the species, said to include Doduo, Bulbasaur, Horsea and Pikachu, among others.

The community spokesperson Sulhan told The Jakarta Post that the stadium hosted many PokeStops, as did gyms. The former is a spot where players can get free items such as a Pokeball (a ball to catch and restore the species), while the latter is where players can train their Pokemon species and put them in battle. The stadium got even more crowded when players used Lure Module to attract more Pokemon species. “And more PokeStops are available outside [the stadium],” he said.

Sulhan said that they intentionally chose spots where PokeStop and gyms were located somewhat far from one other so that the players would need to walk to reach them. “It is better to move than just stay at the same spot,” he added.

Aside from catching Pokemon species while burning calories, this very first gathering of Pokemon Go Indonesia aims to increase engagement between its members.

“I can meet new people and gain new friends,” said one member, Ibnu. “It proves that Pokemon Go players are cohesive, although we come from different teams.”

source: technology.inquirer.net