Pokémon Company seeks media, creative agencies in India as it gears up for major expansion

The Pokémon Company, which manages the Pokémon franchise, is exploring media and creative agencies in India to be their agency on record. Currently, the company is working with multiple agencies. Additionally, the company is looking to collaborate with several licensing agencies in India to enhance its reach and diversify in multiple merchandising categories.

Pokémon Go developed by Niantic has announced Riteish Deshmukh and Genelia Deshmukh as their brand ambassadors in India. The Pokémon Company (TPC), which established its marketing division in India in March of last year, has finalized its media budget.

With aggressive expansion plans in the country, the Pokémon Unite team recently met with various esports team owners in the country and has onboarded top teams for the global league.

On the sidelines of launching Pokémon Festivities with Pikachu's traditional Indian attire, Susumu Fukunaga, Corporate Officer and one of the founding members of The Pokémon Company, spoke about their media and creative agencies and said, “Until last year, the Asian team managed the media and creative agency appointments and approvals in India, but given that India is an important market, we decided to open our Marketing Division here. We have finalized the budget, but we have yet to appoint an agency, as we are currently working with multiple media and creative agencies from both India and Japan.”

Fukunaga added, “TPC has allocated INR 125 crore to support its expansion plans over five years. We are exploring a few agencies. We allocate ad spending for our games and animation series, as we don’t operate in the retail space but our partners do. Advertisement spends are done by partners.”

TPC has launched a limited edition Pokémon Festivities Gift Box in collaboration with Yakult Danone India. Similarly, the brand has partnered with Bluestone, Jack & Jones, among others. Dream Theatre, the licensing agency for TPC, has helped the brand establish a presence in the FMCG, apparel, and stationery segments.

When asked if TPC is looking to collaborate with any other licensing agencies in the country to further diversify, Fukunaga stated, “It is very important to understand that to gain partners, we want the agency to understand Pokémon and its culture and work together with us. If we find such partners, we are open to working with them in India.”

Fukunaga further commented, “We believe that as we continue to grow the brand by launching new initiatives, we would be happy to work with new partners. It is an ongoing process for us.”

Interestingly, Pokémon GO, which launched in 2016 in India, has shown significant growth in India compared to the Southeast Asian region. The game has experienced growth in both users and in-app purchases compared to the SEA region. The game will have Pikachu wearing traditional Indian outfits which will be available for a limited period.