It’s safe to assume that many athletes competing in Brazil trained extensively with the help of GPS watches, heart rate monitors, connected garments or other wearable technologies. And while the wearable device channel remains something of a niche to marketers, things could change this summer.
Wearables are enjoying a banner year, with IDC forecasting 101.9 million units sold by the end of 2016, a 29 percent year-over-year growth. Further, major sporting events provide valuable, high-profile proving grounds for new devices—and what they mean for marketers. This is doubly so when wearable devices are used by the athletes themselves.
Take Visa, for instance. In a nod to the official logo of the games, the payment provider will introduce a new contactless ring that allows users to make payments simply by waving their hand above the payment terminal. Available in two colors—white and black—the ceramic band contains a Gemalto-made microchip and an NFC-enabled antenna. Similar to Apple or Samsung Pay, it uses Visa Token Service to authorize transactions while replacing personal data with a secure digital identifier.
The payment ring makes life easier for people who don’t want to lug around a wallet, including both professional athletes and someone who just wants to take a morning jog. Reaching people who like to exercise might be one reason why athletes in Brazil will be testing the ring. Waterproof up to 50 meters, the ring needs neither a battery nor recharging. According to one report, a decathlete “specifically told Visa he wanted something he could just integrate into his daily routine and forget about.”
Meanwhile, wearable brands are looking into ways of adding payment technology to their devices. Earlier this year FitBit acquired wearable payments firm Coin and says it may integrate contactless payment into its fitness trackers as soon as 2017.
Then there’s Solos, the smart eyewear firm that partnered with USA Cycling to debut their augmented reality cycling glasses. The shades provide a heads-up display that draws data from other (wearable and non-wearable) tech, including the bike’s internal computer and the athlete’s heart rate monitor.
The display, scarcely the size of a human pupil, allows cyclists to track their performance without taking their eyes off the road; a simple upward glance clears the display altogether. As Solos is not yet available to consumers, it remains unclear how marketers will use the tech—though it’s hardly a stretch to imagine a logo or two dotting the far edges of the display.
The question with any wearable tracker, of course, is what to do with all that data. Under Armour has already executed one of few wearables-based marketing plays seen so far. In 2014 the performance gear maker purchased MyMapFitness, an app that integrates wristband and mobile data to track users’ workouts. Users who reached certain benchmarks, such as running 10 miles each week, could win rewards points and gift cards at Sports Authority.
Unfortunately, Sports Authority is liquidating and Under Armour is still figuring out what to do with its trove of consumer fitness data. So are its competitors. FitBit’s privacy policy states that it doesn’t sell personal information, though it may share aggregated data with partners or the public; Garmin has previously said it does not even sell that. It may only be a matter of time until marketers can access that information, but the Under Armour campaign shows that there’s at least one other way to reach the millions of people wearing fitness trackers.
And it’s important for marketers to remember that those users aren’t all runners and cyclists. In June, Speedo and Misfit announced the Speedo Shine 2, a water-resistant tracker specifically designed for swimmers—like one swimmer competing this summer who said in a statement that the device is “an ideal aid for athletes and fitness enthusiasts to maximize their time in the water while keeping track of their overall fitness and sleep.” Even boxers are using Hykso, a sensor that tracks the number, speed and distribution of their punches.
These technologies may be young, but like the athletes who use them, they represent the best in the world. Consumers already know this, and marketers are quickly figuring out how wearable tech fits into customer experience.
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Illustrations by Eran Mendel
