Fitness and exercise—how brands can engage workout-obsessed consumers

Did your New Year’s resolution involve exercising more? How is that—ahem, working out? If the answer is complicated, you’re not alone. January inevitably brings new commitments to fitness and exercise, which often prove over the balance of the year to be easier planned than accomplished. We are an overweight nation obsessed with exercise—the U.S. is the world’s largest fitness market—so it is no surprise that our relationship with fitness is complicated and fraught. We can tease out illuminating and actionable trends for marketers, however, by looking at how often and why Americans work out—and how and why they fall short. According to a recent Harris Poll survey, 71% of Americans exercise at least once per week—40% exercise at least once daily—and fully two-thirds of Americans who exercise made fitness-related New Year’s resolutions. Only 13% of Americans avoid exercise altogether. The single biggest reason people exercise is physical health, which three-quarters of respondents cited in our poll, followed by mental health and appearance (51% each). Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs And yet 77% of us wish we exercised more while 58% become discouraged if we don’t see “a lot” of progress from our exertions, which makes it harder to keep up the consistent effort. The fact that only 60% of Americans say that they know how to exercise effectively probably doesn’t help the results or the commitment. Neither does the fact that nearly 3 in 5 of (58%) struggle to hold themselves accountable for our fitness decisions, such as exercising and eating right. We know what we need to do, but we’re not sure how and we have trouble sustaining our effort. For marketers interested in engaging exercise-obsessed consumers, the survey revealed three actionable trends: Know your (generational) audience The generational exercise gap may surprise you—it’s U-shaped, with the most committed exercisers at either end of the generational spectrum. Generation Z (49%) and baby boomers (43%) more often than millennials (36%) or Generation X (37%) report exercising at least once a day. Boomers have their own U-distribution, being more likely than millennials and Xers to exercise daily or to not exercise at all (20%, which is 7 percentage points higher than millennials, the next most sedentary generation). There are otherwise more differences than similarities between the youngest and oldest generations. Ad Age Leading Women Luncheon Join us Aug. 7 in New York as we recognize this year’s honorees Buy your ticket today As young invincibles, Gen Zers are less likely to exercise for reasons of physical health (59%) than boomers (83%). They’re more likely than their older counterparts to exercise as a social activity (24% versus 5%). Baby boomers, on the other hand, are more likely than the youngest adult generation to exercise for reasons of medical care (44% versus 24% of Gen Z). The generations also differ significantly in their approach. Only 40% of boomers, compared to 66% of Gen Z, agree that they like to incorporate new technology into their routines. Similarly, half of Gen Z report using an exercise app (as opposed to 19% of baby boomers) and nearly 1 in 5 use augmented or virtual reality (compared to 2% of baby boomers). Fitness for Gen Z, in other words, is a tech-informed lifestyle choice—not yet a necessity but a data-driven opportunity to self-improve amidst peers. For boomers, it’s a practical decision motivated by more practical considerations. Keep exercise engaging Americans are at least theoretically committed to exercise but not necessarily in gyms. Twice as many agree that they prefer getting their exercise out of the gym—by biking or hiking, for example—than in it (66% to 34%), a finding which holds across generations. New and emerging technologies are increasingly blurring this line, however: wearable trackers such as smartwatches and exercise apps can bring the more deliberate, focused experience of a gym out into the rest of the world. At the same time, emerging technologies such as augmented reality (a field into which Apple has just notably entered) tease the possibility of making the gym less imposing. Taken together these trends could ease accountability and increase engagement. Make exercise economically accessible Economic factors may be a barrier to fitness for too many Americans: How often you exercise often correlates with your income. While slightly under half (46%) of Americans living in households earning $100,000 or more annually exercise at least daily, the figure declines with earnings: 39% of those making between $50,000 and $100,000 do so while only 31% of those living households making less than $50,000 get such regular exercise. (Not surprisingly, we see a similar correlation regarding education level—the better educated one is, the more likely one is to exercise on a daily basis.) In addition, 4 in 5 Americans making less than $100,000 wish they exercised more. Americans in lower-income households are less confident that they exercise properly and are also less likely to either use at-home exercise equipment or exercise trackers. This is, in other words, an underserved market waiting for affordable or otherwise accessible disruption. Sign up for Ad Age newsletters From influencer marketing to agencies, get the latest news and analysis delivered to your inbox Click here

Fitness and exercise—how brands can engage workout-obsessed consumers

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