The All Nippon Airways Co., Ltd. (全日本空輸株式会社), also known as ANA, is an airline in Japan. To cater to the brand new phenomenon that was Pokemon, ANA began domestic flights with two “ANA Pokemon Jets” (B747-400 and B767) decorated with Pokemon characters, which were very popular among children, on July 2, 1998. Their aim was to generate buzz and promote the company since this coincided with the release of the movies, “Pokémon the Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back” and “Pikachu’s Summer Vacation.”
Due to the very successful reception by the customers to this launch, ANA decided to launch the ANA Pokemon Jet “Get it with Jet! Double W Chance Campaign” (ANAポケモンジェット "ジェットでゲットだ！ ダブルWチャンスキャンペーン"を実施). This campaign presented the “Pokémon Card ANA Special Version” of the “Pocket Monster Card Game” to all customers who applied with two boarding passes. To avail of these cards, the customer had to paste two stubs of the boarding pass after boarding an ANA domestic flight during the period on the special application postcards placed at ANA city branches, airport counters, and on board, fill in the necessary information, and mail it in.
| Pokemon | Set | Campaign | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flying Pikachu | Unnumbered | ANA - Get it with Jet! | Nov 1, 1998 - Jan 31, 1999 |
| Dragonite | Unnumbered | ANA - Get it with Jet! | Nov 1, 1998 - Jan 31, 1999 |
The next promo was in the summer of 1999, called the ANA “Everyone’s Happy Campaign” (ANA 「みんなにうれしいキャンペーン」). This time there were four promo cards, including the legendary bird trio. The promo ran in 2 blocks each, where 2 sets of 2 promo cards were presented to customers. This promo could be accessed in a similar way to the last, by pasting two stubs of the boarding pass after boarding an ANA domestic flight during the period on the special application postcards and mailing them in.
| Pokemon | Set | Campaign | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flying Pikachu* | Unnumbered | ANA - Everybody’s Happy Campaign | June 1, 1999 - July 31, 1999 |
| Articuno | Unnumbered | ANA - Everybody’s Happy Campaign | June 1, 1999 - July 31, 1999 |
| Moltres | Unnumbered | ANA - Everybody’s Happy Campaign | Aug 1, 1999 - Sep 30, 1999 |
| Zapdos | Unnumbered | ANA - Everybody’s Happy Campaign | Aug 1, 1999 - Sep 30, 1999 |
Fun Fact: The artwork from the bird trio combines to form a larger art piece.
Following this, the Get it with ANA Jet! 2000 (ANA! 2000) promotional campaign was launched in 2000. The process was the same. Pasting two stubs of the boarding pass after boarding an ANA domestic flight during the period on the special application postcards and mailing them in. However, in this campaign, it was stated that you would receive a different card each time you applied.
| Pokemon | Set | Campaign | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marill* | Unnumbered | Get it with ANA Jet! 2000 | July 1, 2000 - Oct 31, 2000 |
| Togepi* | Unnumbered | Get it with ANA Jet! 2000 | July 1, 2000 - Oct 31, 2000 |
The following promotion, ANA’s It’s Pika Summer Campaign (ANA’S), was launched in the summer of 2001. This promo was aimed at using the ANA for summer trips and homecomings, where, the customer would get two of the Pokemon Card e promos when boarding a domestic flight. The Pokemon Card e was scheduled to launch in the fall of 2001.
These were super interesting card arts, as the two cards depict the other Pokemon hiding behind the hedge. If the long strips on these 2 cards were scanned using an e card reader, it would launch an application from the P promotional cards called “Exciting Hide and Seek.” Both the Pikachu and Larvitar cards were required to launch the application.
| Pokemon | Set | Campaign | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pikachu* | 005/P | ANA - It’s Pika Summer Campaign | July 13, 2001 - Sep 30, 2001 |
| Larvitar* | 006/P | ANA - It’s Pika Summer Campaign | July 13, 2001 - Sep 30, 2001 |
The next and final ANA promo campaign was in the summer of 2006, called the ANA-Pika Summer Trip Campaign (ANA「ピカ夏旅割」). Passengers flying on any domestic ANA flight during the campaign period could redeem their boarding passes for a two-card set that included the Pikachu card and Sea’s Manaphy card.
| Pokemon | Set | Campaign | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pikachu | 153/PCG-P | ANA - Pika Summer Trip Campaign | July 20, 2006 - Aug 31, 2006 |
| Sea’s Manaphy* | 154/PCG-P | ANA - Pika Summer Trip Campaign | July 20, 2006 - Aug 31, 2006 |
This was a very iconic, popular and fairly recognizable promo campaign, with cards featuring some great artwork and a mostly airborne theme. Unfortunately, as of April 2016, all of the ANA Pokemon Jets were repainted, and Pokemon theming was discontinued.
*Japanese exclusive art.
Supplementary Pictures
also didn’t realise the legendary birds were released this early in japanese, took them quite some time to find their way in english releases. Makes me rethink how long period there can be between modern japanese cards to possibly get their international release
).
