How shops and restaurants are creatively cashing in on 'Pokémon Go'

It was a typically hot and humid July day near Orlando, Florida, when employees of Cocina 214, a Tex-Mex diner, noticed an unusual crowd of people engrossed in their smartphones next to a nearby fountain.

"I was like 'Why are all these people out here looking at the patio?'" restaurant manager Lambrine Macejewski said.

Turns out, that patio -- like plenty of random spots sprinkled throughout the U.S. -- is now a Pokéstop for Pokémon Go, the location-based mobile game that has skyrocketed to become one of the most popular gaming apps ever.

"It's over 100 degrees. It's high humidity. To see people out doing this during the day is just awesome."

The restaurant decided to capitalize by dropping lures during its happy hour Wednesday night. Macejewski says the business doesn't do much digital advertising, but she's now a bit more intrigued by the potential.

"Maybe we should try it," she said.

As Pokémon Godraws droves of people out of their homes in search of virtual quarry, stores and restaurants like Cocina 214 are looking to "catch 'em all" -- all of the players, that is.

Many enterprising restaurants, shops and bars across the country that have found themselves home to one of the game's hubs are using features available for purchase within the app to coax the digital creatures onto their premises, thus luring the smartphone-absorbed trappers in pursuit of them.

Those lucky enough to have a training gym or "PokéStop" -- a waypoint where players can stock up on much-needed items -- serendipitously placed nearby are also putting out advertisements and promotions aimed at drawing players to it. Those that aren't lucky enough could soon pay for the opportunity.

SEE ALSO:A non-gamer's best guesses as to what Pokémon Go actually is

These businesses are hoping, of course, that one or two of the game's players might be distracted for a mid-hunt snack or a shopping break.

The augmented reality app is the rare viral phenomenon to spill from people's screens into the real world, and brick-and-mortar stores that don't often benefit from such digital trends are reaping rewards in the form of increased foot traffic.

In fact, as online advertising giants like Google and Facebook race to findnew waysto lure people into stores through their phones, Niantic may have, inadvertently or not, engineered a highly effective mobile advertising product -- something that still eludes many of the companies actually trying at it.

Eventually, the company behind the app, Niantic Labs, plans to offer "sponsored locations" for sale, as it did with an earlier game called Ingress. A few internet sleuths have even found evidence in the game's code that indicates the company may be pursuing a partnership with McDonald's.

Until that happens, businesses are finding makeshift ways to cash in on the action. An in-app item called a "lure module," for instance, allows its holder to better attract the creatures to a specific location. At a cost of just 99 cents, they are a steal as far as advertising rates go.

One New York pizzeria told the New York Post that $10 worth of lure modules was enough to drive a 75% boost in foot traffic.

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It's no surprise then that the game has been a hot topic among marketing pundits this week, making for an amusing collision of buzzword-y influencer jargon with the finer points of finding and training a Charizard or a Squirtle. It even found its way into the Hillary Clinton campaign.

In the midst of peak Pokémon fever, it's perhaps the most cost-effective way for businesses to advertise to a younger audience at the moment -- especially when paired with real-time advertising and special offers, said Beth Mock Le Blanc, chief creative officer at ad agency MLB Creative.

Mock Le Blanc admitted that she probably couldn't have imagined last week that she would ever discuss advertising budgets in terms of "lure modules" and "PokéStops."

"This is something that's just bringing people to you with very little effort on your part," she said. "It's exciting, and stores should capture this audience."

Jim Rogers, chief marketing officer at steakhouse chain Tony Roma's, said he went searching for any type of Poké-landmark near one of the company's restaurants after hearing about the game in the news. He was pleased to stumble across an in-house virtual gym, where players battle each other for supremacy.

The company quickly erected a billboard touting the gym's existence, rolled out happy hour deals for specific teams and offered limited-time free appetizers to all trainers.

Rogers says he's even an avid player himself now.

Sometimes the crowds brought by the game may even approach mob level. A Facebook event for a Pokémon-themed bar crawl Wednesday night in San Francisco has more than 23,000 people marked as attending.

It's not just restaurants benefitting either. America's shopping malls, stuck in a years-long decline as anchoring department stores flee smaller markets, are also getting a much-needed pick-me-up in customer traffic. Whether or not Pokémon trainers are actually interested in pausing to buy clothes or electronics remains to be seen, but retailers seem to be eagerly embracing them.

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Of course, eventually all of those non-paying customers might become a headache:

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The app's popularity comes at an opportune time in terms of business environment.

Even as e-commerce grows, physical shopping still accounts for more than 90 percent of all retail sales in the United States, according to the Census Bureau. Those who do shop online tend to prefer to do so on a desktop computer rather than a smartphone.

Mobile advertisers are finding that the most meaningful way to connect with phone users is to take advantage of location tracking to offer in-the-moment deals and alerts specific to wherever they happen to be.

Pokémon Go achieves all that while giving people an addicting game to play along the way -- at least until players tire of their Pokémon and move onto something else.

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