In response to the unprecedented economic hardship many local communities around the world are facing this year, Niantic announced a Local Business Recovery Initiative earlier this summer. Niantic received an incredible response from the Pokémon GO community, with more than 38,000 local businesses submitted by players for consideration for the program. The Initiative springs to life today, with 1,000 small businesses from five countries set to become part of the program.
After narrowing down the lengthy list of local businesses submitted by the passionate Pokémon GO player community, 1,000 local businesses in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, the U.K. and Japan will become sponsored in-game locations in Pokémon GO for one year, all at no cost to the businesses.
“Niantic’s Local Business Recovery Initiative is designed to spotlight many local businesses beloved by players and which have been negatively impacted by the global pandemic,” said Carla Li, Niantic’s senior product manager for sponsorships. “Becoming a sponsored location will drive awareness and aid in the recovery of both the businesses and the communities which they serve.”
As sponsored locations, businesses will become a PokéStop or Gym (an in-game location) in Pokémon GO (and coming soon to some of Niantic’s other location-based games), thereby becoming an attractive draw for the millions of Niantic Explorers globally. In the near future, they will also be empowered to run promotional campaigns that reach nearby players, and take part in other in-game events and new features.
For more information on the Niantic Local Business Recovery Initiative and Niantic’s Sponsored Locations for Business, please visit this page. You can read more about it in Niantic’s blog post here
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