Pokémon first appeared as a video game in 1996 and became popular among elementary school children in Japan. An animated television series launched in 1997 further increased Pokémon's popularity in Asia, Europe, and the United States. There are now over 719 Pokémon characters. The Pokémon franchise has been highly successful financially, with over 230 million video games sold worldwide and over $30 billion in total merchandise sales, including the popular trading card game sold in 73 countries. Pokémon's appeal stems from its adorable yet unique characters, role-playing game concept, and successful media mix approach across games, television, and merchandise.

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2. Pocket Monsters
a.k.a. Pokémon

3. Pokémon
• First appeared in the “Game” industry (Gameboy) in 1996 and soon became
popular among elementary school kids.
• TV animation started in April 1997 in Japan. Soon became popular in Asia, US
as well as in Europe. TV with new episodes still running even today in Japan.
• Total number of characters: 719 characters and counting.
• 230 million game softwares were sold around the world.
• The Pokémon market grew to include all sort of merchandizes such as:
trading cards (which ignited the trading card trend, sold in 73 countries, a
total of 20 billion cards), plush toys, apparel, books, sweets, etc.

4. Pokemon: what’s so special?
• Appearance – adorable,
approachable, unique yet simple and
cute voice
• Lots of characters!
• RPG (Role-playing Game) concept
• Successful media-mix approach
=> Game led to successful merchandizing
opportunity: Worldwide merchandize
sales (including game software) is
more than 4 trillion YEN = EUR 30 billion