Article submitted by Bob Kirby, Associate Broker for Saurage Rotenberg Commercial Real Estate
Mark Heschmeyer | July 27, 2016
With more than 75 million downloads since being introduced a month ago, Pokémon Go is a hot topic on traditional and social media news outlets and is seemingly in everybody’s hands. The rapid adoption of the augmented reality app by popular culture means the technology behind it is likely to go mainstream as well. And that has important implications for the real estate business as a whole.
“Pokémon Go, a game that has millions of people roaming around the physical world to capture virtual characters, has taken augmented reality (AR) from a niche technology to mainstream, while highlighting a potentially lucrative new marketing platform,” Kartik Hosanagar, a professor of operations, information and decisions at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. “It’s one of the first games to merge the digital and physical world.”
AR technology appears to offer the real estate industry the potential for pioneering immersive experieinces on two fronts: the most obvious being its potential for marketing under construction property but also play a major role in bringing operational efficiencies to facility management.
On the simplest level, multifamily landlords and housing real estate agents are already tying the game into their property listings touting their proximity to ‘PokéStops,’ where players collect ‘things.’
Already, real estate agents and brokers are including how many PokéStops or Pokémon Go gyms are within walking distance of their listing as a feature; while some agents are using Pokémon characters in their ads, noted Kent Redding, principal of Kent Redding Group, a Realtor of luxury properties in Austin.
Bob Kirby, a commercial leasing and sales consultant with Saurage Rotenberg Commercial Real Estate, has over 37 years of sales and management experience. Licensed in Louisiana and Mississippi, Bob is a member of the Mississippi Commercial Association of REALTORS® (MCAR); the Greater Baton Rouge Association of REALTORS® Commercial Investment Division (CID); a candidate member of the Certified Commercial Investment Member Institute (CCIM); and an affiliate member of the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) and NAR Commercial.
Saurage Rotenberg Commercial Real Estate is a member of the Baton Rouge Area Chamber of Commerce (BRAC); the West Baton Rouge Chamber of Commerce; the Baton Rouge Better Business Bureau; the Louisiana Commercial Data Base (LACDB); and the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC). Several agents, on an individual basis, are members of the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors® (SIOR), the Certified Commercial Investment Member Institute (CCIM); the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR); and the Greater Baton Rouge Association of REALTORS® Commercial Investment Division (CID).
