Wearable technology as promotional items

Do you remember when you actually had to count the miles you walked or ran in your head? Those analog days are gone, as even digital sport watches look aged in comparison to the wearable technology many people sport on their wrists or around their necks nowadays. Smartwatches such the iWatch from Apple and the Moto 360 manufactured by Motorola are now hot items. Other wearable tech, like the Fitbit and Jawbone fitness trackers, can measure the number of steps you take a day, your heart rate and the quality of your sleep.

It appears the trend is here to stay as sales rise. Business Insider projects the wearable tech market will grow at an annual rate of 35 percent over the coming five years. Apple received almost a million preorders for the iWatch within its 24 hours on sale, according to the Advertising Specialty Institute.

The tech giant began shipping the iWatch in April 2015, CNET reported. Cited by the ASI, research firm CCS Insight predicts Apple will sell 20 million iWatches by the end of 2015. By late 2014, already 20 percent of Americans owned a wearable tech item, PricewaterhouseCoopers noted in a press release.

With trackers and smartwatches becoming omnipresent, will we soon see runners wearing branded tech to complement the promotional water bottles they carry on their jogs?

A viable option
According to the ASI, it’s really just a matter of time before companies start branding their names on wrist pedometers and fitness trackers and hand them out as promotional corporate gifts. Prices need to drop first, as some of the most popular trackers carry a price tag of $100 or more. Meanwhile, the iWatch can cost from $349 to $17,000 depending on various add-on options.

Even though the price points give some customers pause, wearable tech will soon play a big part in marketing brands and companies, the Content Marketing Institute noted.

“I’ve never seen people more excited about the promise of the technology. They’re even more excited than they were about the iPhone App Store,” Redg Snodgrass, co-founder of Wearable World, told Content Marketing Institute. “It’ll only be 12 to 18 months before we begin to see massive adoption… and start including the wearables topic in interviews for junior- to middle-level marketing hires.”

A member of International Data Group agrees that it’s just a matter of time until marketers use wearable tech as promotional items.

“If it’s Fitbits and Nike Fuel bands, wearable tech is already hitting the mainstream today,” Erick Schonfeld, executive producer of DEMO, International Data Group’s tech conference, told Content Marketing Institute. “If it’s Google Glass, it’s still an open question whether the masses will ever adopt it. I see industrial and business applications gaining traction first for Glass over the next two to three years.”

Branded corporate gifts
According to the ASI, more expensive items such as the iWatch could become good branded corporate gifts for top executives. Wearable tech is more than just iWatches and Fitbits, though. Shirts and ball caps for exercising also include fitness trackers that can measure heart rate and distance in real time using wireless transmissions. Branded hats with trackers could be an excellent giveaway for customers or even employees.

Some large companies are already seeing the benefits of giving wearable tech to their staff. It’s a way to promote employee health and possibly lower health and life insurance premiums.

Ikea and BP gave out fitness trackers to their employees as end-of-year presents in an effort to encourage healthy lifestyles. The petroleum giant offers cheaper health insurance plans to employees who use their trackers to walk a certain amount of steps, according to The Washington Post. Staff members on the program save approximately $1,200 a year on deductibles.

Meanwhile, life insurer John Hancock offers a discount on payments for customers willing to wear a fitness tracker and share their results with the company, CNN Money reported.

With big businesses taking advantage of promotional fitness trackers and purchasing them in large quantities for their workers, it makes sense to also use the wearable tech as a promotional product. Every time a runner or walker looks at their wrist to get a reading, he or she will remember the company responsible for the gift.