{"id":100317,"date":"2016-08-03T15:00:57","date_gmt":"2016-08-03T13:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/?p=100317"},"modified":"2016-08-03T07:35:33","modified_gmt":"2016-08-03T05:35:33","slug":"why-pokemon-go-didnt-need-any-advertising","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/business\/100317-why-pokemon-go-didnt-need-any-advertising","title":{"rendered":"Why Pokemon GO didn’t need any advertising"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s not hard to see why Pok\u00e9mon Go has become so popular. Its simple gameplay and social element<\/a><\/strong> have made the augmented reality game an instant hit, eclipsing the daily active user figures<\/a><\/strong> of giants such as Candy Crush Saga and Tinder.<\/p>\n

Yet the company behind Pok\u00e9mon Go, Niantic, has done very little to promote the game since it launched.<\/p>\n

Beyond a handful of release notifications from the official Pok\u00e9mon Go Twitter account<\/a><\/strong>, no TV commercials have been commissioned and in-app advertising is minimal.<\/p>\n

Niantic has instead relied on word-of-mouth to promote its take on Pok\u00e9mon, particularly in the form of unofficial viral pictures, videos and social media posts shared online (internet memes) that reference or parody the game.<\/p>\n

This user-generated content ensures the title is on the lips of the masses, even if many of them haven\u2019t even played it yet.<\/p>\n

The term \u201cmeme\u201d, coined by biologist Richard Dawkins in his book The Selfish Gene<\/a><\/strong>, refers to an idea, behaviour or style that propagates across culture, just as a successful gene spreads through a population.<\/p>\n

Internet memes<\/a><\/strong> pervade the web in a similar way. Carried via text, images or videos, the idea (often a quip or funny observation) is replicated by being shared and reposted, transforming over time to spawn hundreds of thematic variants.<\/p>\n

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Memes are a staple of social media, loved by some, but a nuisance to others.<\/p>\n

Log into Facebook, and you\u2019ll likely find people sharing images of \u201cDrake sitting on things\u201d<\/a><\/strong> or video remixes of \u201cSad\u201d Ben Affleck<\/a><\/strong> silently contemplating lukewarm reviews of Batman vs Superman. Occasionally, meme replication hits a critical mass. Borrowing again from biological terminology, they go \u201cviral\u201d.<\/p>\n

Internet memes can certainly be entertaining. Yet these snapshots of pop culture have a deeper use.<\/p>\n

They provide the kind of pervasive promotion that can catapult films, games, and literature into craze status. Today we see this phenomenon in play with Pok\u00e9mon Go, and not just with memes that celebrate the franchise. Social media sites are awash with comedic posts that poke fun at the game, and its players, from all angles.<\/p>\n