New habits, increased focus on health, redefined categories of fitness enthusiasts: With the digitalization of the health and fitness world alongside the pandemic, the needs of fitness archetypes have changed. What kind of needs do target groups express, Marc Weitl (cardioscan) and Anna-Lisa Martin-Niedecken (Sphery)?
1. Young, female, urban: More balance, please!
(🤝 Meet Marine at Linkedin)
Marc: Our data at cardioscan tells the same story as the Urban Sports Club (watch video above): Before the pandemic, we had equal numbers of men and women as customers. Now we're at over 60 percent women - and they're getting younger all the time. In addition, the following has changed: Our male target groups are getting older. We used to have a peak at 30 to 50 years of age. Now it's 50 to 65 years old. Overall, our target group horizon is shifting and broadening.
Dr. Marc Weitl is a former gymnast and holds a PhD in sports medicine. In 2001, he founded cardioscan and is still its CEO today. Marc is also the author of books such as "Immunbooster Muskulatur" or studies - for example on the "Live Low, Train High" method.
(🤝 Meet Marc at Linkedin)
cardioscan: Devices with a transparent view
(👁️ Check out cardioscan)
2. Mothers & Seniors: Motivate us!
For 40%
of people, "no time" is the main reason for not exercising. It follows: "no motivation" (20%). (Source: Statista 2021)
Marc: Who has little time? For example, mothers with two children. We motivate them by translating body data into recommendations. If they invest ten minutes of time, they can score an easy win which translates to more motivation.
All target groups want to be more motivated. But the older we get, the more body awareness is lost, and the more motivation we need. We find that when data is presented simply, it interests everyone. We were most surprised by the over-80s. Suddenly they are measuring their biometrics. Why? Their answer: "We didn't want to disturb the trainer before." Now they're doing it on their own.
Anna: We see that the spectrum of people who want to try "exergaming" is growing. The openness to digitization is increasing. We now also have senior citizens living in residential homes as customers. What surprised us about these older people is that, in addition to the exciting social exergame sessions with their grandchildren, they are primarily motivated by progression.
Prof. Dr. Anna Martin-Niedecken has a background in sports science. The focus of her R&D work is on human-computer interaction, exergames, and game research. Anna is a Professor for esports Management at the University of Applied Management (HAM) as well as director of the Institute for Design Research at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK). Furthermore, she is the CEO and founder of Sphery Ltd, which resulted from one of her interdisciplinary research projects. Anna also regularly publishes the results of her scientific R&D work.
(🤝 Meet Anna at Linkedin)
Sphery: Playfull workouts
(👁️ Check out Sphery)
3. Employees: It's all about health!
(🤝 Meet Marine at Linkedin)
Anna: We also use the ExerCube in workplace health promotion. In this context, a study was conducted to find out how well employees perform cognitively after a ten-minute HIIT workout in our ExerCube. It could be shown that the exergame training was a real booster for performance accuracy of cognitive flexibility in employees. Furthermore, participants liked the innovative and motivating training approach a lot.
4. Everyone: Increase my autonomy!
65 % of people ...
who work out at home also feel more confident about their fitness program. This is because they no longer feel intimidated when they work out in public gyms. (Source: Finance Online 2022)
Marc: No matter who we ask - from 20 to 80-year-olds. Everyone is fascinated by our mescan that they can do here and now or when they want. Autonomy and individualization are the megatrends par excellence. My thesis: Gyms that don't offer this flexibility will soon no longer exist.
Anna: We also sense this desire for a protected space for pre-training among our target groups. There is a huge demand for a home version of our product. People want to overcome their inner obstacles on their own for the time being.
The context of the contents of this article: The sixth FitTech Summit at FIBO 2022. The German- and English-language business conference asked: How are fitness technologies (Fittech) developing our society? Answers were provided by 14 experts on three live stage shows:
Power to the People - how fittech is changing the reality of (new) audiences.
Cases of Places - how Fittech transforms places of (public) life.
The Planet's Tenet - how fittech influence worlds and systems.