This is the era of smart technology and devices that are for personal use, easy to use and can be carried around with you anywhere and anytime. This industry is rapidly growing, inventing itself all the time. In the sports world there are hundreds of fitness devices in the market and their popularity can easily be leveraged for marketing purposes, employing other popular trends such as social media.

In aerobic sports, smartphones, internet and GPS devices have together become extremely favorable tools for both the non-professional and professional athletes. Mobile apps like - Strava, Endomondo, RunKeeper ,Map My Run, Nike+ Running and others allow athletes to measure different aspects during their workouts:
1. Locations
2. Distances
3. Field conditions (elevation, topography, weather etc.)
4. Body functions (heart rate, pace, power, caloric burn)

These measurements allow all types of athletes to accurately analyze their performance and then later compare it with previous workouts in order to follow progress, as well as share and compare with other athletes using the same products.

Adding Social Media to the mix of smart technology and gadgets gives athletes a comfortable, easy and fast platform to publicly share their activity.

A fascinating study conducted by The New York Times Customer Insight Group reminds us that sharing is not a modern invention. But now we can share more content, from more sources, with more people, more often, faster and online than ever before. Humans are naturally sociable and seek reinforcements from their surroundings and sharing helps do just that.

Based on the study and on my personal experience, we can understand why professional and non-professional athletes enjoy sharing:
1. It helps them define themselves and helps establish self-fulfillment – sharing puts athletic achievements into context as it is easy to compare workouts between athletes. This in return helps raise confidence, set goals, motivate and improve performance.
2. It is easy to 'get- the-word-out' about favorite brands and causes – athletes love sharing and talking about what works for them or about the important things in their life that motivate them to do things. If they are happy about a certain brand's performance, or they are proud about the cause for their achievements, they will gladly share it with others.


Based on this, commercial brands can easily leverage social media along with the popularity of aerobic live-tracking apps and devices in order to appeal to consumers' motivation to connect with each other and with the commercial brand itself, and by this increase brand-loyalty and sales.

Yet one issue remains: many commercial brands already know this 'trick'. For example, many live-tracking apps have already 'sold-out' commercial space on their platforms. So how can a commercial brand still manage to be different, unique and be more successful in advertising than other brands? I believe that those commercial companies that are willing to think 'out-side of the box' and recognize technological innovations and new trends will be the ones braking new grounds and the first to reach the consumers' attention.

An example of a ground-braking innovative technology, belongs to an Israeli company called Pic2Go (discussed also in our previous article here). This technology utilizes photography & instant social media sharing as a method of live tracking performance. The technology uses barcodes printed on the racing bib to automatically tag people in photographs during a race. Once all race photos are scanned, each participant automatically receives a branded personal photo album directly (and for free) to their FB wall.

This new live-tracking technology offers all aspects for successful non-standard method of advertising as a result of several important factors:
1. It provides an exciting new 'cool' method of live-tracking performance via photography during sports events
2. It is easily shared via social media
3. The commercial brands associated with it (by sponsoring the technology at a given race) are naturally associated with the athlete's success and sportsmanship

So, join the success of those companies that know how to recognize new technological and social trends, and explore new and exciting avenues of marketing your brand name. Be audacious, and grab those rare opportunities to stand out and be number 1 in the market!

Written by Tamar Barneis - Media and Content Manager at Pic2Go