Daniel Benkwitt, director of PR and corporate communications at The Pokémon Co, talks about the brand’s 25th anniversary in the Toy Book’s annual State of the Industry Q&A.
The Toy Book: What strategies go into building an anniversary celebration that makes it fresh and exciting for fans?
Daniel Benkwitt: It’s been 25 years since Pokémon first took the world by storm. In that time, it has remained at the forefront of popular culture, evolving into a generational brand appealing to a wide demographic of fans of all ages. With this in mind, The Pokémon Co. International approached the brand’s 25th anniversary in 2021 with a multilayered approach. We wanted it to be big and special for longtime enthusiasts by celebrating the intense nostalgia it elicits with fan-focused activations, but as equally important, we wanted to push the brand forward, continuing to be contemporary and trendsetting. The latter was an amazing opportunity to welcome new fans into the brand.
The P25 Music campaign did just that by engaging some of the world’s most recognizable and contemporary stars, such as Katy Perry, Post Malone, and J Balvin, as well as artists who are on their way to similar levels of success, including Vince Staples, Tierra Whack, Mabel, and more. It was a massive party that put Pokémon front and center with attention-grabbing headlines driven by activations and content directly engaging pop music fans around the world. Separately, there were also surprise mainstream moments for the brand throughout the year with premier partners including Oreo, McDonald’s, General Mills, The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and many more.
For longtime fans, The Pokémon Co. International engaged the brand’s massive community by indulging their nostalgia with a yearlong online retrospective and delivering new introductions across its entertainment and merchandise portfolio. This included faithful remakes of classic video games, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Pokémon Shining Pearl, and anniversary-specific collections of the Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG). While the Pokémon TCG has been very popular and an integral pillar of the brand for 25 years, there has been a significant increase in interest for the game and cards recently. We knew we had to meet the moment in both product and volume. To achieve this, the team delivered the “Celebrations” expansion created specifically for the 25th anniversary. This line was one of the biggest expansions ever shipped by volume in the brand’s history and one of the most popular products at retail for the industry throughout the back half of the year.
This article was originally published in the February 2022 edition of the Toy Book. Click here to read the full issue!
