Remember April Fool’s Google Maps Pokémon Challenge?

When it comes to navigation, the competition is fierce. Many apps compete for rights to become the ultimate navigation app, and Google Maps is no stranger to this competition. Navigation can get a little tedious and straight up boring, so back in 2014 Google gamified the whole experience by adding a new incredible feature called Pokémon’s!

This ad shows just how exciting this new feature is. It includes an appearance by Google Maps VP Brian McClendon, who announces that, “we’ve prepared the most vigorous test known to man to find the world’s best Pokémon Master.” Google Maps just became much more fun!

If you decide to take on the challenge, press the Pokeball and you’ll be able to hunt the world for 150 different Pokémon, which can of course be caught and added to your Pokedex database.

This genius ad was originally created as an April fool’s joke. Despite the fact that it was meant to be a joke, it tackled the phenomenon of gamification within navigation apps, making the customer experience a lot more engaging and meaningful. Waze, another huge navigation company acquired by Google, began to continuously update its navigation app with games and challenges as well. Google maps started a revolution like no other within the world of navigation software.

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Matthew is the Lead Author & Editor of CXperience Blog. Matthew established the CXperience blog to create a source for news and discussion about some of the issues, challenges, news, and ideas relating to Customer Experience.