Pokémonis going to the Super Bowl. Nintendo is announcing plans to show a 30 second commercial celebrating #Pokemon20 at the start of the football game’s third quarter.
Aftera round of 2015 Super Bowl commercialslaunched several mobile games to new levels of success, it’s no surprise that publishers are starting to eye the opportunity as well. Yet few likely expected the first to throw their hat in the ring to be Nintendo. Today Nintendo announced that they’ll be running a 30 secondPokémoncommercial during Super Bowl 50, publishing an extended version of the commercial to Youtube.
ThePokémoncommercial will not be advertising a new game, or even a product in general. Rather, the commercial will be a brand awareness focused video celebrating the20th anniversary of the franchise. Touting the tagline, “Train On.” the 110 second full commercial offers an empowering message, albeit targeted towards younger audiences, about working towards your goals. The positive message offers a correlation betweenPokémonand real-life activities like football and chess, implying the meaningful ways even game likePokémoncan effect us all.
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Yet despite the commercialization surrounding #Pokemon20, and of course the commercialization that embodies the Super Bowl and its advertising, thePokémonSuper Bowl is almost touching, and definitely inspiring. It holds a very human message, despite being about a video game franchise of collecting and battling imaginary creatures. Compared to the mobile game Super Bowl commercials of 2015, which focused on advertising other assets, it’s exciting to see what Nintendo has done with this idea.
Nintendo’s 30 secondPokémoncommercial for the Super Bowl will air at the start of the game’s third quarter on February 7. The game start at 6:30 PM EST, so don’t expect the commercial to air until a good hour or two later. And keep in mind that the commercial will just be a shorter cut of the full video made available today, so don’t feel pressured into watching the big game just for aPokémoncommercial.
