Pokemonz!!!
From Mod Mania
THE CONSUMER COMMUNITY OF POKEMON Jay Shackleton Images at the bottom
The franchise Pokemon (short for Pocket Monsters) was created in 1996 by Satoshi Tajiri and has since sold over 200 million copies of Pokemon related products. Pokemon began as a role playing video game for Nintendo, in which the consumer plays as a ‘Pokemon trainer’ whose goal is to either train powerful Pokemon and complete a fictional quest or campaign to beat the ‘Final Four’, a series of end game bosses, or to “Collect them all” (also the products catch-phrase) by catching every type of wild Pokemon in the game. The Pokemon franchise started with 150 Pokemon to catch, however it has now grown to over 640 different types, which the used can catch and collect. Today, Pokemon is the second most successful video game based franchise in the world, second only to Nintendo’s Mario series.
The Pokemon franchise was officially released as a game for Nintendo’s Game-Boy platform, enabling consumers to take their game with them wherever they went. This soon developed, and the system-link capability was invented, further strengthening the society around Pokemon, as now players could interact with each other by, battling each other or trading Pokemon between game boys. To keep the already hugely successful Pokemon franchise interesting for its users, Nintendo developed new and exiting Pokemon to be released with every new version of the game, utilizing the consumers desire to collect every Pokemon to increase profit. Soon after a TV show was released and played globally on cartoon shows, attracting another target audience of young viewers, who would get up early to watch Pokemon before going to school. This also had a profound affect, as soon children could be seen discussing and playing Pokemon games in the school yard and, like any trend, it became un-cool not to have a game boy with Pokemon, Pokemon cards (discussed later) or to be watching the Pokemon TV shows. There is no doubt Nintendo had their target audience exposed to Pokemon wherever they turned. This was further emphasized when Pokemon movies were released.
To coincide with the release of the ‘Pokemon game-boy revolution’ Nintendo, in conjunction with Wizards of the Coast (a major trading card game company) released a Pokemon card game in 1996 which allowed players to collect the cards of their favourite Pokemon, adding a new aspect of the “gotta catch ‘em all!” catch-phrase employed by Nintendo. This took school yards by storm, groups of kids battling their Pokemon cards against one another, and soon a hierarchy eventuated, with the best Pokemon ‘trainer’ becoming the most popular kid in the school. Nintendo also begun releasing ‘Tazos’ (Tazos are round circular disks, which are found in packets of chips made by Frito-Lay and its subsidiaries around the world. ), further expanding Nintendo’s reach on its target market. This saturation of all things Pokemon everywhere created an extremely large support group of all ages and extremely welcoming of all new-comers. This was emphasized in the online forums such as www.pokecommunity.com/ and http://bmgf.bulbagarden.net/forumdisplay.php?f=248 , in which members from all across the globe can discuss all things Pokemon and various tactics and such in the game. Local trading card game stores are also a great place in which many Pokemon players converge to battle and discuss the latest trends and tips, often one night a week is dedicated to specific events and tournaments are often held, including a world championship which is held annually at various locations. Like any other community group, hierarchy is dictated by knowledge and how good a person is at their respective fields (game boy,
Tazos, trading cards, etc). Also to a minimal (but not to be overlooked) extent, age also influences hierarchy as varying maturity levels can clash.
As well as the various collectables which Nintendo released for Pokemon, a massive TV show franchise was released in 1998 and is still current today with over 680 episodes. This show was played in early morning cartoon shows and created a new community group based around only the anime and movies, as school children and devoted fans alike now had a completely new outlet of discussion, the journeys of ‘Ash’ a young Pokemon trainer, much like the character which fans control in Pokemon game-boy games. The release of the anime also massively helped boost the overall Pokemon franchise by increasing exposure; however became a very successful enterprise in itself. A series of movies were also released to coincide with the anime’s plot line and now they too number over 15 feature-length movies.
Personally, I believe that Nintendo’s marketing campaign was based around the encouragement of community and social groups to be created about all aspects of the Pokemon franchise, and this was achieved brilliantly. We have observed how Pokemon began targeting a young audience through their game boy games; however this soon spread to trading cards, movies, Tazos and other food packet collectables as well as movies. We have also observed how the sheer number of Pokemon lovers worldwide has created an accepting and inviting community in which any newcomer off the street will be happily welcomed to the group. Finally, we have seen how hierarchy in the Pokemon groups is defined by not only skill in their particular field but also through experience and knowledge.
A Pokemon card tournament, note how all ages are seen.
Pokemon cards
A collection of game boy games.
A snippet of a Pokemon TV episode.
