A recent conversation with a redditor from Brazil led me to investigate what is Niantic doing in Brazil, and to discover a pilot project called “Campfire Adventurers Club”, which rewards local communities for engaging with various timed-based challenges.
The backstory
Gabrielense – a redditor from Brazil – posted a strange request on The Silph Road subreddit today, asking for help with promoting a stream-viewing party for the upcoming Pokémon Latin America International Championships 2023.
Instantly, I wanted to help, and messaged the redditor asking for more details, hoping to see how the Pokémon GO Hub can help them and what exactly they need help with. It turns out, Niantic is “challenging” them to do this, and they are getting in-game (and physical) rewards if they succeed. Not only that, they got a whole “secret Campfire rewards project” targeted at Brazil exclusively, that I had no idea about.
Obviously, I needed to know more. Here is what I learned about Niantic’s secret pilot project in Brazil, and how they are using it to promote Campfire in Latin America.
Campfire Adventurers Club is Niantic’s secret pilot project in Brazil
Niantic launched a pilot program in Brazil called “Clube de Aventureiros Campfire”, which translates to Campfire Adventurers Club. Trainers are invited to join the project, build up local communities, and get rewarded for the size of their community, and for participating in in time-based challenges.
These rewards include a variety of things, like temporary PokéStops during Community Day, increased bonuses for playing during Community Days, exclusive Legendary Raid Hours, and free material kits, game item codes, access to communication channels with Niantic in Brazil and more.
The program has four “reward tiers”, based on the community size:
Purple Club
Communities with up to 10 members at Campfire
- Group at Campfire with Niantic Brasil
- Access to Niantic Brasil’s monthly newsletter, with news about projects and events in the country!
- Your group appears on the Community Map
- Digital files: frames, stickers and more!
Blue Club
Communities with up to 100 members at Campfire and presence of 50 members or more at Community Day events
- All the benefits of Purple Club, and more:
- Extra PokéStops and Gyms in the Park where they play Community Day!
- Item codes in Pokémon GO
- T-shirt and project credential for Leaders
Pink Club
Communities with up to 200 members at Campfire, and presence of 100 members at Community Day events
- All the benefits of the Purple and Blue Clubs, and more:
- 10 Gyms in the park or square where Legendary Raid Hours are played
- Quarterly Campfire Adventurers Club materials kit
Yellow Club
Communities with 300 members or more, and presence of 150 members at Community Day events
- All the benefits of the Purple, Blue, Pink Clubs and more:
- Exclusive Community Day kits – every month!
- Campfire Adventurers Club quarterly kit of premium materials
- PokéStops and temporary Gyms at events and tournaments organized by the Community
And what’s even more surprising, these rewards can get boosted even further by timed challenges, where Niantic Brazil will challenge Communities to participate in activities in order to unlock rewards.
For example, Niantic has challenged them to get 500 / 1500 / 3000 viewers at the same time on one of the Latin America International Championships live-streams. If they succeeded, additional rewards would be unlocked for all Brazilian communities. Unfortunately, the initiative failed to collect 500 viewers on the first day, so the entire challenge has failed as a result.
The failure to meet the viewer challenge on the first day was a setback, but it hasn’t dampened the enthusiasm of Brazilian trainers. The Campfire Adventurers Club, despite being a pilot project, is already shaping up to be a major catalyst for community building and engagement in Brazil.
Just take a look at the community leaderboard Niantic is hosting on the website:
Judging by this chart, we’re seeing good activation in multiple Brazilian cities, good engagement, and a start of something great in Brazil.
Our thoughts on the Campfire Adventurers Club
The Campfire Adventurers project represents a significant shift in Niantic’s approach to community engagement. By offering tangible rewards and recognizing the efforts of local communities, Niantic is aiming to score a deeper connection with its players.
This approach, if successful, could be replicated in other regions, potentially changing how Niantic interacts with its global player base. To be honest, it is strange that this hasn’t been rolled out in Europe and North America as well.
The reality in NA and Europe is that Campfire is just not that successful, and it probably needs a similar incentive to gain momentum and usage among the local player base.
Not to mention that a huge number of Trainers doesn’t even know it exists, nor are they interested in making the switch to a different messaging/raid organisation app.
We’ll keep an eye on this project, and Pokémon GO in Brazil in general. This looks very promising if successful, and fine if not. We hope Brazilian Trainers are getting their benefits and enjoying their bonuses through this program.
