Marketing 10,000 Steps

Did you get your 10,000 steps in?

Across many wearable devices and exercise apps, 10,000 steps has become shorthand for hitting your fitness goals for the day.

Staying active is 100% good for your health. But there’s nothing magical about 10,000 steps.

In fact, the 10,000 steps goal was a marketing tactic created more than 60 years ago.

In 1965, the Japanese company Yamasa Tokei Keiki released a pedometer – the first consumer fitness wearable. The product was named Manpo-kei, which translates to “ten-thousand meter.”

The number created a memorable fitness target that worked with the company’s brand. But more recent research has shown the benefits of added movement appear with far fewer steps – and actually kind of plateau around 7,500 steps.

Step Right Up

People hustling to squeeze in those last few paces to hit five digits might resent the marketing origins of the 10,000 step goal in the moment. But the clear, memorable target has merit.

Devotees of the Ovsiankina effect will recognize the value of giving audiences a task to complete each day.

Across many parts of marketing and user experience, gamification can boost engagement and loyalty. 10,000 steps creates a defined target – either you achieve it each day or you don’t. The challenge keeps people coming back and using the devices that measure the steps.

Fitbit, for its part, embraces the origins of 10,000 steps and its potential to gamify fitness. When articles first started pointing out the origins of the 10,000 steps goal, Fitbit wrote an op-ed in Fortune.

Here’s cofounder and CEO James Park:  

“Recently, the 10,000-steps-a-day goal has encountered some skepticism from commentators who view it as too simplistic (or too ambitious). I believe people around the world still see it as a valuable target that motivates them to move more.”