The Pokémon Company is introducing an aggressive five-year plan to enhance its presence in India. As the first step, it is looking for new partners to help it with advertising and marketing of its brands in the country.
The Japanese gaming and animation company is known for its augmented reality (AR) titles such as Pokémon Go, Pokémon Unite, and trading cards, along with Pokémon TV anime series, movie series, events, and merchandise.
The company has taken a media mix approach for its advertising and marketing strategy, aiming to engage with the target audience through diverse media platforms including television, digital, print, and offline events while providing them with an inter-related content experience. While the agency hunt is on, the company has already undertaken strong localisation and brand penetration efforts in the Indian market.
Although the company has not finalised any advertising and marketing partnerships, it intends to work with the Japanese firms like Dentsu and various Indian companies. Its teams from the India marketing office have been exploring partnerships that can provide the brand with a wider reach in the Indian market.
At a ‘Festivities celebration’ event hosted in Mumbai, the company announced a series of initiatives and collaborations targeted at Indian consumers. In an effort to establish cultural affinity with consumers, Pokémon has come up with two Indian dress designs for its brand mascot, Pikachu—a sari and a kurta. The mascot dressed in Indian attire will be used in various product campaigns of Pokémon, providing an Indian touch to its brand, starting with the ongoing festive season.
The company has earmarked a budget of INR 25 crores per year for the next five years for India to be spent on its advertising and marketing activities in the country. As part of its marketing efforts the company collaborated with Mumbai Indians cricket team and the right-arm leg break specialist Yuzvendra Chahal in the recent past. These partnerships, mention the company officers, to be particularly successful, indicating the tremendous popularity that cricket enjoys in India.
Going forward the company is exploring more such opportunities of collaboration in India, including with Bollywood stars. Pokémon has now roped in the famous Bollywood couple Riteish and Genelia Deshmukh as its brand ambassadors for India.
Cultural connections
The appointment of the Bollywood couple is in line with the company’s broader strategy to achieve localisation and establish an emotional bonding with the Indian consumer. Through this tie-up, the company hopes to create a deeper connection with Indian culture, influencing a wider target consumer base for its products.
Participating in the Mumbai event, actor Genelia Deshmukh expressed her excitement about the collaboration, stating, “Pikachu draped in pink Indian sari has been the cutest mascot around. As a mother and a proud Indian, it is heartening to see Pokémon Go celebrate Indian culture in such a fun and engaging way.”
Cashing in on the festive season
Pokémon is scheduled to hold in-game events for Pokémon Go, wherein players will witness the mascot wearing a sari and a kurta at various events to be held in India. The company will organise a celebratory event packed with games, activities, and giveaways, in Phoenix Market City, Bengaluru on November 3, 2024, a three-day Pokémon Mela between December 6 and 8, 2024 at Phoenix Market City, Pune, and a three-day Pokémon Carnival and Run in Mumbai between February 27 and March 1, 2025. The Mumbai event will feature, besides dances and parades, participants wearing Pokémon T-shirts running in the city.
All these events will also offer an opportunity to players to catch Pikachu wearing a sari and a kurta during these events. Susumu Fukunaga, Corporate Officer at The Pokémon Company, said, “We are thinking about what to do to help people enjoy with Pokémon in India—both digitally and in real life.”
In addition to these mega-events, the company has planned a few other promotions. One such initiative has been a limited-edition Pokémon Festivities gift box developed by Yakult Danone India. These gift boxes, featuring Pikachu in a saree and kurta, will be offered to customers upon purchase of four sets of five Yakult bottles.
The pack will be priced between INR 336 and INR 400 depending on the selected flavour combinations. This offer will be available in retail outlets in Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru until October 31, 2024. In addition, more than 250 Yakult ladies have been tasked to deliver the gift boxes directly to customers’ doorsteps across India.
The company has also introduced a pack of 10 Pikachu digital stickers that will be available on social media platforms till January 15, 2025. While some stickers will carry the common greetings like Thank You, Hi, etc, some of them also have messages in Hindi. These stickers will allow fans to share Pokémon-themed greetings during the festive season.
A game of growth?
Continuing with the localisation strategy, Pokémon is also trying to broaden its base beyond the urban centres by creating content in regional languages. In addition to English, the company currently offers its content in Bengali, Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu. By including more languages, the company hopes to reach target customers from tier-2 and tier-3 cities over the next few years.
With its strong marketing focus on India and a corresponding investment the company seems to be aiming for a rapid growth in the Indian market. The next few months will show the impact the brand has been making on the Indian consumer that the company is trying to woo during the happy moments of the festivals.
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