Most mobile games rely on advertisements to make a profit, and Pokemon GO is no exception. Although Niantic generates plenty of revenue through microtransactions, its AR Pokemon game also features a variety of brand deals with convenience stores, Starbucks, and so on. Once in a while, Niantic even arranges a major Pokemon GO event build around an advertisement, like its recent collaboration with musician Ed Sheeran. Pokemon GO players in Japan just learned about another new promotion, but this one is far from ordinary. Rather than advertising products to Pokemon GO players, the game is going to advertise a humanitarian service: blood donation.
Niantic just announced that Pokemon GO is teaming up with the Red Cross to promote blood donation centers throughout the Kanto Koshinetsu region of Japan. Players in this region will notice specially designed PokeStops at each donation center in that region, and players will reportedly receive specialized items for visiting these PokeStops and presumably donating blood in the process. This team-up is an unusual move from Pokemon GO, but it's rather clever. Pokemon GO is particularly well-suited for advertising good causes like blood donation because of its massive audience, as well as its ability to encourage players to explore the real world.
Pokemon GO's Humanitarian Potential
Pokemon GO is a fantastic advertising platform, partially thanks to its sheer scale. Pokemon GO broke mobile game records when it first released, and even now, it continues to be a massive hit among mobile gamers. Tens of millions of players play Pokemon GO regularly, and Pokemon GO's growing revenue suggests that players are only getting more dedicated to the game. With such a huge audience, Niantic has the power to promote good causes to an extraordinarily high number of people at once through its game. The Red Cross' message about blood donation is bound to reach a lot of people through the mobile game.
Beyond simply advertising to a lot of people, though, Pokemon GO has a unique power to actually get players to visit unique places. Pokemon GO is designed to be played on the go, giving players bonuses for walking certain distances and visiting new places in their area. The blood donation center PokeStops create the perfect win-win situation: the Red Cross can get the help of blood donors, and Pokemon GO fans can get in-game rewards while helping out people in need. Pokemon GO's promotion of physical activity has always given it a noteworthy relationship with health, but collaborating with the Red Cross takes that goal to an entirely different level.
Making the Most of Pokemon GO
Even if Niantic doesn't want to collaborate with several human welfare organizations at once, it should at least consider expanding Pokemon GO's Red Cross collaboration to more parts of the world. Medical groups can always use more blood donations, and the Red Cross is so universal that a broader Pokemon GO project would hardly be out of the question. Pokemon GO doesn't need to add new Pokemon to run events either; instead, Niantic could organize some Pokemon GO celebrations that promote the work of organizations like the Red Cross while delivering bonus items and Pokemon.
The Red Cross collaboration is certainly a surprise, but it's not a particularly strange move for a video game these days. On the contrary, the video game industry has provided support for people in need during all kinds of humanitarian crises in recent years, such as Humble Bundle's "Stand With Ukraine" bundle, which raises funds for Ukrainians displaced by their nation's war with Russia. Now that Pokemon GO has arranged a new collaboration with the Red Cross, it'll be interesting to see what charity or health organization Niantic decides to team up with next. More collaborations like this one would be a great use of Pokemon GO.
Pokemon GO is available now on Android and iOS devices.