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Pokémon Debuts Its First-Ever Super Bowl TV Commercial

Pokémon fans encouraged to discover hidden Pokémon references and Train On. The Pokémon Company International today unveiled a new TV commercial that will air during Super Bowl 50 on Sunday, February 7. The ad, shot in Rio de Janeiro, celebrates the millions of Pokémon fans around the world, encourages them to enjoy the Pokémon references hidden in the ad and Train On. A 30-second version of the ad will be aired at the beginning of the third quarter of Super Bowl 50. An extended version can be viewed at http://bit.ly/1KzQloU.

“For 20 years, the Pokémon world has inspired fans to train hard and have fun,” said J.C. Smith, senior director of Consumer Marketing at The Pokémon Company International. “This ad is reflective of that passion, and I can’t think of a bigger stage to share this story than the Super Bowl.”

The ad is part of a yearlong campaign celebrating 20 years of Pokémon. First introduced in Japan in 1996 with the video games Pokémon Red and Pokémon Green for the Nintendo Game Boy system, Pokémon has delighted fans of all ages around the world for two decades. With more than 275 million video games sold worldwide, 21.5 billion TCG cards shipped to 74 countries, and an animated series spanning 18 seasons, Pokémon is one of the most successful entertainment brands in the world.

This is a terrible ad, possibly the worst ad for Pokemon ever released. I was not impressed at all with it. It seems more like a Nike or Adidas commercial than an ad or promotion for Pokemon. The first 40secs was pointless, it had nothing to do with Pokemon or actually trying to get people to be Pokemon trainers. The last 20 second, while it would be very cool for a live action Pokemon TV show, it wasn't actually very indicative of what Pokemon currently is as a game or a franchise. The CGI, especially on Pikachu was pretty poor quality as well. For most of the commercial, brand recognition was extremely low.

If they changed the final splash screen to "Just do it. Nike", the ad would have made more sense. I'm waiting for someone to edit it with Shia LaBeouf everywhere in the clip!

They also didn't say or promote anything about Pokemon GO, but even if they did, it would be kinda like what Microsoft is doing with their Hololens promotions, sure it looks cool, but its a dishonest representation of the AR technology.

I understand what it tries to say, but.. I dunno...
Guess that ad is there to wake memories which is nice? Not really sure what to think. But I like the details it has.

Yeah, that was . . . kind of bizarre to say the least. I never would have guessed it was a Pokemon ad till the end, and even then it was just like "Um, what does this have to do with everything else they just showed?"