Pakistani brands are using Pokemon Go for some sneaky marketing

Pokemon Go had everyone’s attention since its first preview. Now, after the game has rolled out, it has quite literally become a worldwide phenomenon, generating an estimated $14.04 million in revenue so far. People who don’t have access to it are, nonetheless, downloading it from third party sources. People are spending more time using Pokemon Go than WhatsApp, Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram. Needless to say that it has gripped everyone’s attention and Pakistani brands seem to be banking on the situation by doing some valuable growth hacking!

Also Read: This is how you can play Pokemon Go anywhere in the world (including Pakistan)

We recently came across local brands that have designed some very creative marketing strategies circling around Pokemon Go.


Anyone who has played Pokemon Go will know that the game constantly keeps you on your feet, searching for characters at possible locations. While these brands may not actually be Pokestops (check out our entire list!) it, in fact, serves as a good growth hack. And they aren’t the only ones! Brands throughout the world are using the success of Pokemon Go to help increase their own sales and revenue. A pizza place in New York increased its sales by 75% by investing in a similar Pokemon Go marketing strategy.

While it may annoy some people, such marketing strategies or growth hacks are very effective means of increasing your user base. Since Pokemon Go is viral these days, and bless Facebook’s newsfeed algorithm that shows you content curated according to your interest, these tactics from Travly, Cheetay, and Pizza Hut will silently bring their brands to the forefront.

Before social media made everything easily accessible to us, marketing strategies used to be centered on big budget TV ads or flashy billboards. But times have changed drastically and brands have learnt how to thrive in face of limited resources. Brands very commonly bank on upcoming movies by offering their customers free tickets. Lays Chips are currently in the process of their Pass A Smile campaign that is poking people to buy that version with a goofy smile on it. We recently featured CarButlers, a new car wash service, that gave away free car washes at a PITB Conference. The result? Industry influentials wrote about them on social media and their sales went up by 60%! Such marketing strategies don’t require large sums of money to put together.

At the end of the day, they are very effective and I would suggest young startups in favor of such growth hacks!