Advertising in Location-Based Games: An Exploration in Pokémon GO

Abstract

Location-based advertising (LBA), such as billboards and signage, has long been a direct-to-consumer advertising staple. As locative media such as Location-Based Games (LBG) begins to rise in prominence, digital LDA becomes increasingly appealing. In this paper, we explore the impacts of LBA on small businesses in the LBG Pokémon GO, a lacuna in the literature. We gather participant experience through a collection of 35 semi-structured interviews with businesses leveraging Niantic's sponsored location LBA. These testimonies indicate (1) participant businesses found LBG advertising to be satisfactory, (2) LBG advertising improves brand recognizability for local commerce, and (3) local community is an important factor for success in LBG advertising. These findings indicate future patterns for integrating local businesses into LBG like Pokémon GO, suggesting potential for LBG advertising to assist local businesses.