Institute For The Future

How to get kids physically active? Reward them!

The use of financial incentives to promote healthy behavior has becoming increasingly popular in the workplace (see this post for recent examples). Now this trend has hit the playground (or schoolyard, or wherever kids play these days). Springwise.com reports that a company called Switch2Health has launched S2H Replay ($19.95),

a fun and innovative wrist-worn device aimed at tweens and teens that allows them to quantify their level of physical activity. In addition to displaying the date and time, the device also tracks and registers continuous, moderate-intensity activity, subdividing each hour into 20 three-minute segments. When users complete a full 60 minutes of physical activity over time, the device generates a reward code that can be uploaded and converted into points on the company's website. Those points are redeemable for items such as gift cards or free months of membership at sponsors including Barnes & Noble, GameStop, Best Buy, Webkinz and Club Penguin.

Switch2Health has teamed with Paul Pierce (aka "The Truth"), the captain of the Boston Celtics, to promote physical activity via his Truth Foundation's TruthonHealth campaign, which is dedicated to empowering "young people to lead healthier lives in an effort to prevent obesity.... incorporating physical fitness and healthy eating while encouraging a commitment/pledge of 60 minutes per day dedicated to physical activity." As part of this campaign, and using S2H technology, Pierce launched his New England-based FitClub34 program at the Clinton Global Initiative in September 2009; it is sponsored by Harvard Pilgrim Health Care.

Switch2Health's relationship with Pierce is the first—but probably not the last—example of how slickly Switch2Health is positioning its product. It is trying to build a coolness factor that reminds me a bit of the Nike+ iPod and Nike+ wrist band. And I think we all know how well a cool new toy can spread virally among kids, perhaps even more so than among adults.

 

Part of Switch2Health's mission statement says all the right things about motivating people to be physically active by rewarding them for it, which will ultimately lead them to a healthy lifestyle. The part I found most interesting was the section headed "The New Currency of Health":

Switch2Health (S2H) is creating “The New Currency of Health”, which will enable individuals to build value and to benefit from their own physical activity. Through a dynamic social networking website and sophisticated marketing tools, S2H will create a culture where physical activity is desirable. By increasing participation in physical activity, S2H will change the behavior and improve the health of individuals which is partially responsible for an epidemic in the U.S. and around the world. The epidemic is: overweight and obesity.

Social currencies are a popular topic around IFTF. We'll have to add this one to the mix.