KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 13 — The Pokémon franchise turned 30 this year and for the first time Malaysia got to kick off a series of events in the region, namely the PokéXciting! Celebrations.
I spoke to Go Nagano, who is a director at The Pokémon Company, specialising in events, about PokeXciting!, its aims and what they thought of the response
A heartfelt thanks
Nagano said that as far as the event’s branding was concerned, ”We want to show our gratitude and appreciation to all the fans.”
He said that PokéXciting was planned to make it an enjoyable version for everyone—whether it was locals, tourists and of course, long-time Pokémon trainers.
That, Nagano, said, included people who only recently knew about Pokémon.
“How we planned this event, is like we wanted to make sure to embody our company’s mission statement, which is to enrich both the real world and the virtual world with the Pokémon characters.
“So we put together a lot of content for this event,” he said.
That included a stage show, parade and the in-game Pokémon Go experience.
First big Malaysian event
Nagano said that PokéXciting was the first time an event of such a scale was held in Malaysia.
He said it wouldn’t have been possible without local partners, especially the Petronas Group and KLCC.
“Thank you so much to our local partners,” he said, adding that they had been very supportive throughout the process.
Nagano said a lot of discussion went into specific content activation, figuring out what would appeal to local fans.
As to what he found most challenging and also what was most enjoyable about the whole endeavour, he said that the planning itself didn’t feel particularly hard.
“When we saw a lot of fans enjoying our event, we felt like it was a great reward for us.
“So to be honest, it didn’t feel really hard to get it prepared,” he said.
He said it was gratifying to see everyone really enjoying the prepared events such as the parade and stage show.
While they anticipated the good reception after the enthusiasm shown, it was still good to actually witness the numbers of people filling the park for PokéXciting.
Nagano said,”This is our first time bringing this scale of event to Malaysian fans so we really want everyone to enjoy it, and we believe this kind of event is very unique to Pokémon.”
One example of that was the very unique experience provided to Pokémon Go players, one he said that only the game could truly deliver.
As to whether Malaysians can look forward to more, Nagano laughed and would only say, “Keep enjoying the Pokémon.”
The second day of the PokéXciting! 30th anniversary of Pokémon celebrations will conclude today with a final drone show happening at 9pm.
The PokéXciting! celebrations will have one final drone show tonight at 9pm. — Picture by Raymond Manuel
