Lesson #5: It is all in How You Hook Them

Much of the international success behind Pokemon came from its marketing – and that came even before it ever hit the Nintendo executives’ desks. Tajiri was a natural born marketer and knew what it would take to hook children on to his game. Whether they were Japanese or American, Tajiri had tricks up his sleeve that would keep kids coming back for more.

The very idea behind the Pokemon game is its own best marketing strategy: the more Pokemon you have, the more power you have. That is why the game’s slogan was “Gotta Catch ‘Em All.” From the first moment they connected to the game, kids were in fact lured into a strategic marketing scheme; in order to be successful, they would have to keep trying to get more Pokemon.

Just how successful was this strategy? When Burger King began giving away Pokemon toys with some of its children’s meals, stores throughout both Texas and California ran out. Reports arose of children crying and throwing fits in Burger King franchises because they could not get their hands on those Pokemon giveaways. And, that is only when it came to the toys.

As a Pokemon trainer in the game, your goal is to collect one of every single Pokemon species across the world (or, actually, three versions of the game). You have to trade between those three versions to collect them all. It was not like the Mortal Combat games American children were used to playing, where players died and that was it – the game would have to be restarted. The magic of Pokemon was that it never had to be restarted because it never had to end.

Tajiri also had another trick up his sleeve, one that even the Nintendo executives were not aware of. As they were told, Pokemon was to have 150 characters that kids would have to find to complete the collection. But unbeknownst to them, Tajiri had introduced a twist. He had designed a 151st character called Mew. Kids could only collect Mew if they traded for it.

“It created a myth about the game, that there was an invisible character out there,” says Tajiri. “Someone gives me Mew, then I give Mew to you, then you pass it on. Introducing a new character like that created a lot of rumors and myths about the game. It kept the interest alive.”

Thanks to Mew, Tajiri was able to generate much word of mouth publicity and exposure for his game. All of a sudden, kids wanted to know who this Mew was and how they could collect the character. So, while according to official Nintendo reports, there were only 150 characters, kids the world over were intrigued by this secret character and sought to find it. Sales of the game skyrocketed.

Tajiri never thought of himself as a master marker. He was a simple game designer who liked to help kids pass the time. But in designing his games, Tajiri knew exactly what it was his customers wanted, and he gave it to them – one trade at a time.



Lesson #5: It is all in How You Hook Them

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