Rebranding Exercising in the Digital Health Industry

Exercise and physical activity contribute to both health and active lifestyle. With the appearance of wearable devices the exercising experience has been put in a context in which one’s biometric indicators are constantly measured, analyzed and displayed publicly. There is a number of quantitative research on behavior change and a healthy habit formation during the use of wearables, however there is no comprehensive qualitative research on how wearables are reshaping values and meanings associated with the brand of exercise. In doing so, this paper will briefly explore the role of wearables in healthy lifestyles, culture and health related discourses. A textual analysis is applied to the subject to determine values and meanings associated with the brand of exercising that are created and transmitted through the health messages in the digital health industry. The sample consists of 100 content items used by 4 leading wearable brands during the period of 6 months (from November 2015 to April 2016). The findings highlight the dominance of the healthism concept in wearables' communication and added values to exercising, such as smart, data driven, gamified and communal experience. Keywords Wearables, quantified self, fitness tracker, branding, exercise, healthism