For many people today, the digital world and the real world are two separate things. Understandably so, given the sum of everything digital is reduced to nothing more than physical racks of air-conditioned servers humming with electricity. It appears that way of thinking is rapidly changing, and the lines between the two are beginning to blur. Niantic recently partnered with the UN’s Global Goals, a 17 point plan that attempts to resolve many of the issues our world is facing, from extreme poverty to climate change. Using Augmented Reality (AR), Niantic raised awareness of Global Goals through the popular cell phone app, Pokemon Go.
This is a good example to follow up last month’s blog, where I wrote about upcoming Virtual/Augmented Reality trends that businesses are jumping on to promote their objectives. For those unaware, Pokemon Go is a mobile app based on the Nintendo franchise, where players can visit physical locations and “catch” Pokemon that show up on their mobile phones.
Using the app, Pokemon Go players were able to visit 17 different Pokemon Go locations across Davos during the World Economic Forum, each tailored to a specific point of the Global Goals. It’s a creative way that combines real world messages with entertainment, and by all accounts was mutually beneficial for Global Goals and Pokemon Go. People spend countless hours glued to their screens. Instead of finding ways to divert eyes from those screens, perhaps a better strategy today is to create a message on those screens as seen at Davos.
