The challenge

Nintendo had two challenges. First they wanted to promote the arrival of two great new games, Pokemon Diamond and Pearl. Secondly they wanted to drive attendance at a series of events they had organised across the country in conjunction with Toys R Us. The Pokemon Summer Day Camp toured around 20 stores in the UK in August, just when parents were looking for activities for their kids during the summer holidays.

Each event was free and was based in the store car park where kids could be the first to play the Diamond and Pearl games, experience Wi-Fi and play Pokemon on the Wii for the first time.

This campaign was based around the insight that 94% of mums say their kids help decide where they are going for a day out.

In order to promote the two new games Cartoon Network was chosen as the ideal channel. Given that this was the original home of the Pokemon characters Pikachu, Jigglypuff and friends, it was the obvious channel to promote their latest adventures.

With day camp visitors getting the chance to play the games first, it made sense to integrate the messages.

The TV solution

Nintendo worked with Turner to create two separate but overlapping campaigns for these different promotions.

For the summer day camp they created an integrated campaign based around the theme of “Dress up as a Pokemon character,” a microsite hosted at cartoonnetwork.co.uk, included fashion tips, details of the tour dates as well as coverage of those participating at each event.

The TV series and movie promos could also be watched in a special Pokemon branded screening area.

The target audience of 4-10 year olds were encouraged to visit the website via a 30-second ad which aired from July 23rd to August 20th on Cartoon Network, Boomerang and CN Too. The ad highlighted the fact that Diamond and Pearl was about to arrive whilst also showcasing the great prizes that were on offer at the summer day camp.

Reinforcing the message that Diamond and Pearl were the must have games of the summer, they featured as the sponsors of all Pokemon shows running on Cartoon Network and CN Too for a month from 16th August.

Results

The TV ad designed to get consumers going online delivered more than 55 ratings among kids aged 4-15 via Cartoon Network, CN Too and Boomerang, while the Diamond and Pearl sponsorship on CN Too added a further 153 ratings.

Online activity over-delivered by more than 20% with over 700,000 impressions and a click-through rate of 2.7%.

Diamond and Pearl were the must have games of the summer taking the UK by storm as the fastest selling combo in Pokemon history with Diamond taking the number one spot and Pearl number three.