As with any current trend that invades society with a storm, Pokémon Go is the next app to capture everyone’s attention regardless of age. So as with any other hyped phenomenon, various shops and brands have jumped on board the bandwagon to reap its rewards and attract more traffic to their business.
In this case, malls are no exception. Big names such as Sunway Pyramid and Pavillion have already made their move by activating lure modules at Pokéstops within their premises which is basically a guaranteed way to attract Pokétrainers to their establishment.
Atria Shopping Gallery followed suit of course, only they chose a different way to advertise. Instead of promoting Pokéstops with lures, they decided to upload a gallery showing off what kind of Pokémon you’d be able to encounter at their mall and I have to say, it is a lot.
A lot of what Pokétrainers probably already have just from their own backyards.
Although they compiled quite a number of screenshots of what Pokémon lurk around in their vicinity, the creatures shown also happen to be the most common ones that are easily found and people that have been playing the game for awhile are most likely sick of seeing them. Rattatas and Pidgeys are the worst Pokémon to show as an ‘attraction’ factor.
To be fair, Atria also did show a few that you could categorise as ‘less’ common such as Eevee and Bulbasaur but they aren’t rare enough to act as a pull factor for people to head on over to the shopping mall simply for the sake of catching these Pokémon.
Netizens had the same sentiments as they left a few comments on the post expressing their thoughts.
In the end, it’s always commendable when a brand or outlet tries to leverage on a current trend for their own benefit but it is advisable to thoroughly do research on the hype so that there is no misconceptions and the target market won’t be deterred away from errors such as this.
To the advertising team for Atria Shopping Gallery, perhaps investing in a few lure modules would be the safer option to take next time.
Feature Image Credit: Atria Shopping Gallery
