The Future of Fitness
The emerging social and tech forces shaping the fitness market.
In 2017, Reebok put together a team to scour the landscape of fitness activity and to identify the forces driving change in the industry. All to answer the question:
What does fitness look like in 2025?
The Challenge
Reebok’s innovation team, based in Boston, needed some reinforcements to inform their product strategy and amplify their team’s internal story.
Their focus was on the following questions:
How are different generations impacted? Different parts of the world?
What is the role of fitness within an individual’s lifestyle?
What’s the physical environment? Boutique instruction or free form, outdoor D.I.Y.? How does our consumer partake in classes?
What technologies might be involved with working out or with driving health choices?
Execution
Deep Dive
Every forward-thinking project we do includes initial identification of significant Forces of Change that affect the relevant industry. In this case, we homed in on a dozen forces including;
- Climate Change
- Mixed Reality
- Gig Labor
- Unbundling
- Rise of Mid-sized Cities
- Wearables
- Rise of the Thrift Class
The collaboration included short “lightning decks,” long-form presentations and workshops to discuss future scenarios with Reebok’s innovation leadership team.
The Attention Span + Reebok Innovation teams at the Reebok HQ in Boston
Results
Delivered training-specific innovations to give Reebok credibility in the performance space (transitioning between lifts, runs, body-weight exercises, etc.) rather than being just a lifestyle brand
Nano product line: The branding “official shoe of fitness” helped Reebok anchor its fitness market identity. Sustained product focus in the training category helped Reebok remain relevant among serious fitness consumers.
PureMove sports bra: one of TIME magazine’s Best Inventions of 2018, a major innovation win in women’s fitness gear.
Subsequent years re-established Reebok as a fitness-tech innovator, not just a retro sneaker brand—winning over runners, CrossFitters and women looking for higher-performance apparel.