In this episode, we tackle the Fitness industry. We are discussing how forward-thinking businesses and utilising Web3 technologies, along with traditional methods to grow their brands.

As always we are discussing how you can use these ideas to start to transition your business into Web3.

MENTIONED IN THIS WEBSITE
Alo Yoga – https://www.aloyoga.com/
Holodia – https://www.holodia.com/
StepN – https://www.stepn.com/

EPISODES MENTIONED
9 – Gamification – How you can use it now and in the Metaverse
18 – What is VeeFriends?
55 – The Wedding Industry in Web3
61 – Why is Paris Hilton so important to women in Web3?

We hope you enjoyed the show and that it inspired some ideas. Join us next week to delve further into the Metaverse

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IMPORTANT NOTICE
This podcast is for entertainment and education purposes only. We do not give any investment or financial advice and we strongly recommend you always DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH.

Show Transcript

[00:00:00] Cheryl: Welcome to Women of the Metaverse. I am Cheryl Laidlaw. 

[00:00:08] Angela: I am Angela Harkness. We have been and are still on a journey to discover the Metaverse Web 3. 0, NFTs and anything that we are required to know to join this world. 

[00:00:21] Cheryl: From this podcast, we will help you to unlock how the Metaverse is going to impact your brand.

[00:00:27] Cheryl: Your business and even your personal life. 

[00:00:31] Angela: Join us as we take the mystery out of this new digital universe. 

[00:00:37] Cheryl: Welcome to Women of the Metaverse. In this episode, we are talking about fitness. Do you work in the fitness industry? Maybe you have a product related to clothing or equipment. As we’ve done, when we’ve covered other industries in previous episodes, we want to talk to you about how other brands have transitioned [00:01:00] into Web3, which we hope may inspire you and spark some ideas as you start to plan how you can make the most of these technologies to grow or start your business.

[00:01:12] Cheryl: Or you may already have started and this may add to your plans and ideas. 

[00:01:18] Angela: Can you believe it was 2007 when the Nintendo Wii was introduced? At that time, it was regarded as revolutionary. For years, if you couldn’t attend an exercise class, you were getting your workouts from videos. Does anybody remember Jane Fonda and Cher were huge in the workout industry?

[00:01:38] Angela: I used to do my step routine to Cher because she had a step video. With Wii, you could get your workouts in a different way. It was designed to create the movements of the exercise, such as tennis, running, boxing, golf, or even fishing. We have also seen advancements in technology, such as Zoom, which [00:02:00] enables those that worked in the fitness industry to expand their clients from local to global, but now there has been a step change in this new digital universe that enables fitness.

[00:02:11] Angela: To be created at a new level, I think Zoom has really moved stuff on, 

[00:02:17] Cheryl: hasn’t it? Yeah, I was going to say Peloton. Yes. How massive was Peloton in lockdown? Yeah. I think everyone got 

[00:02:25] Angela: one apart from me. The wait list was incredible. They’re not doing as well now, apparently. No. So, but I would still, I think it’s because it’s, again, it’s such a big piece of equipment in your house, isn’t 

[00:02:39] Cheryl: it?

[00:02:39] Cheryl: I haven’t got one because it would 

[00:02:40] Angela: take up a whole room. Yeah. I’ve got nowhere for one in my dad’s room, but yeah, I mean, I think just zoom for people to be able to do. You know, to do it that way, there’s been a massive change, but there’s more to come. [00:03:00] 

[00:03:01] Cheryl: There are so many aspects to Web3 in the Metaverse that enables your brand to step up and be creative and your community to experience fitness in a completely different way.

[00:03:12] Cheryl: Let’s look high level at the technologies that are helping this industry to grow. 3D and VR are incredibly important as it enables that really immersive experience. Pose detection can be used for gaming, but also can be used as an incredible tool for helping the fitness industry in place of XR, which can be more expensive and also can be used on a camera, phone, or computer.

[00:03:40] Cheryl: Blockchain technology is an incredible tool for an industry that helps to keep such personal data and create smart contracts for such a diverse range of clients. Sitting alongside are tokens that can be effective tools for brand growth. With more companies setting to release their [00:04:00] headsets, the technology is set to be, to continue to develop at quite 

[00:04:05] Angela: a pace.

[00:04:07] Angela: Yeah, there’s actually quite a lot going on. I could have written a ton about the technologies that they’re using for the fitness industry and who’s doing it. So it’s 

[00:04:17] Cheryl: forever getting, uh, sponsored posts on my. Instagram about the, um, the fitness, um, the boxing one that keeps coming up on, I don’t know. I don’t know if you’re getting it too, but maybe they know I’ve got an Oculus and they’re targeting me.

[00:04:34] Cheryl: I say maybe, they’re more than likely to know, let’s be fair. 

[00:04:37] Angela: Yeah. There’s, there’s so many games on the Oculus already for exercise. I think it’s probably after gaming, it may even be one of the biggest things that’s on there. But there’s so many different ways that you can do it and start to use it. So there’s a lot of research you can do.

[00:04:58] Angela: So let’s talk about [00:05:00] who is leading the way. AERLO, which is an acronym for Air, Land, Ocean. And we have spoken about this brand before. They are an American fitness chain with a focus on wellness. They have both stores that sell their own products and studios and plan to build more physical buildings in the future.

[00:05:20] Angela: However, not accepting the traditional over the past few years, they have delved into Web3 technologies. Having released their Aspen collection NFTs, which gave owners access to various perks. They have partnered with both Roblox, where you could visit the Allo Sanctuary. It is said to be an incredibly immersive incorporating air, land, and ocean.

[00:05:47] Angela: The sanctuary allows you to lie on a beach. Attend and listen to the sea lapping against the shore, or you could meditate to the sound bath available. I love the sound bath. 

[00:05:59] Cheryl: You love all [00:06:00] this. Yeah. As soon as I heard the waves lapping, I was like, yeah, this is a bit of Angela. 

[00:06:07] Angela: In June 2022, they started to accept cryptocurrency as a payment method.

[00:06:13] Angela: They’ve also released virtual stores, which enables you to buy online classes, have virtual styling sessions. and attend beauty and wellness tutorials. And then this year they have partnered with the sandbox and released a digital wearable collection. We could have done a, we could actually do a whole episode just on ELO because.

[00:06:35] Angela: They have, they’ve just done everything. They are just the kind of, yeah, just the all encompassing brand that has really just gone right. Well, we’re just going to use every technology available there. It’s amazing what they’ve done and there’s still more. I was really struggling to. work out in a timeline what they’ve done.

[00:06:56] Angela: It’s quite incredible. Amazing. [00:07:00] 

[00:07:00] Cheryl: Holodea is a company offering VR fitness. Using a VR headset, you can attend the many classes that they offer, and you can work out in a group, or you can work out in a one to one circumstance. So this is something that’s Many people would say, why, why, why would you need that when you can just go to the gym?

[00:07:27] Angela: But some people, again, it comes down to it being immersive, doesn’t it? Just how immersive it is. Um, because when I, when I was doing the article, this guy had driven to a gym. Use the VR headset and did the class in a gym. So I don’t, I think some people think you’re an expert. You like to go somewhere like I would rather work out at home, but some people like to go, they like that environment of a gym.

[00:07:54] Angela: I wonder if 

[00:07:54] Cheryl: the headsets get all sweaty as well. 

[00:07:58] Angela: I don’t know. Yeah, it’s a [00:08:00] difficult one, but again, these headsets, they’re expensive. If you think about the. Apple one’s coming out, but you know, they look a 

[00:08:07] Cheryl: little bit more comfortable. Let’s put it that way, but we’ll see. We’ll see in 18 months time. But what I love about holiday as well is that it uses gamification elements so you can earn points and trophies.

[00:08:21] Cheryl: Um, so again, that is, gives you a little bit more incentive to say, Oh, I’m going to miss my. Now I’m no 30 day streak if I don’t go today or I’m going to miss out on those points or trophies. I’m going to get my, you know, a lot like the, um, uh, iWatch where you get trophies and little badges to collect along the way.

[00:08:41] Cheryl: You get 

[00:08:42] Angela: a round of applause because you’ve stood up enough that 

[00:08:45] Cheryl: day. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Again, like it’s the small things 

[00:08:48] Angela: that get you. Well, that’s how game recognition works, isn’t it? So. 

[00:08:54] Cheryl: So as I’ve said before, you can. Also hire the virtual coach [00:09:00] and the beauty of the immersive experiences is that there are a number of locations that you can work out in, including Antarctica, Tropical, Babylon, Saturn Rings and Sky, to name a few.

[00:09:17] Angela: Yeah, I love this because you can, you can choose where you work out and it’s Sharon and I cannot explain this enough. If you’ve never put on a VR headset. how much you feel like you are there. So 

[00:09:31] Cheryl: we would have had space to work out as well. Like in our homes, we haven’t really got the space, but if you’re going to that gym with that lot, lots of space, knowing that 

[00:09:39] Angela: you’re not the wall.

[00:09:40] Angela: Yeah. He said he, the guy I was going to leave, I’ll leave it in the show notes. He said he was really, he really felt the workout and there’s different things that you can do as well. Um, so it’s just another. It’s another route to exercise. So again, not everybody lives [00:10:00] close to somewhere where there’s a gym or have the funds for their own personal trainer.

[00:10:05] Angela: Have a look at them. They could like their websites really good holiday as well. So you’ll see what it’s all about. So let’s talk more about gamification in episode 58. Where we talked about food and drink in the metaverse, we discussed the concept of play to earn where you could earn tokens for food, fitness companies are introducing move to earn step N is an launched in December, and it allows users to earn GST or GMT tokens while walking, jogging, or running outdoors, they dropped a number of NFT trainers.

[00:10:44] Angela: There are four different types. Walker, runner, trainer, and jogger, and each one will measure output and reward accordingly. It’s a really cool website to go and have a look. It’s fantastic. 

[00:10:57] Cheryl: It actually reminds me [00:11:00] of, is it Fatality? Give you a cheaper insurance if you walk 

[00:11:07] Angela: more, do 10, 

[00:11:08] Cheryl: 000 steps a day, um, 

[00:11:12] Angela: right?

[00:11:13] Angela: Yeah, it is. Cause my, I had an electrician around the other day. Um, and he was talking about the fact that he, I don’t know what he was saying, or he had to have a blood test and he was talking about vitality and he was saying, yeah, I’ve got to get my steps in every day because, um, yeah, you get, it gets cheaper.

[00:11:31] Cheryl: You get a free Ollipad or something, don’t you? I’m 

[00:11:33] Angela: not sure about that, but I know as you get, as you sort of, each year you kind of maintain your fitness levels, the insurance goes. It goes down, which is a great way to Absolutely. Yeah. So this is, yeah, so this is another way, not the money. Good for a good few years as well.

[00:11:50] Angela: Yes. But this, um, app, and there are a couple of them, it, they, the whole concept is to try and get people [00:12:00] healthier and moving more. Which is 

[00:12:02] Cheryl: prevention rather than cure. Yes. 

[00:12:05] Angela: And this is a great, this move to earn is brilliant so, um, and it’s all done on the blockchain. I think it was Solana, it’s all on the blockchain and, um, what, look at their website because it explains how these trainings work, which is really cool as well.

[00:12:20] Cheryl: There are so many examples and we really recommend you do your research, but to help you along here are some ideas. You can create some kind of gamification. This could be the start of your journey where players earn tokens and could earn them win a free session. Once this is successfully working for you, you could turn those tokens into digital tokens.

[00:12:43] Cheryl: This does not need to cost a fortune. Remember Gary Vaynerchuk hand drew all these NFTs. I mean, we did that in the first season when we spoke about Gary’s, um, Gary’s collection, NFT collection, where, to be honest [00:13:00] with you, now they’re selling, now they’re selling on eBay, aren’t they? The 

[00:13:04] Angela: cards that he’s drawn.

[00:13:05] Angela: The cards, yeah, yeah. But even we did one on Paris Hilton who hand drew her first NFT. And it sold for 17, 000 for a chapter. What we’re trying to, um, get across is there are small ways that you could start to do this and it doesn’t have to be expensive or all in, but it’s just a way to start to transition in using these technologies.

[00:13:32] Angela: And gamification. Oh, my God. Yeah. You sent me something the other day because we did a cut on one of them. I can’t even remember. It might be in the gamification episode actually, um, where they had the, they painted the steps outside a station as a, um, piano and they rigged it up so it actually made a sound to get people to use the steps more mark rather than list.

[00:13:58] Angela: And then there was the one where they [00:14:00] could do, um, squats. Was it squats to get the bus ticket? Yeah. And there’s, there’s simple ones like that. Um, but yeah, and you sent me a video the other day and I couldn’t remember. So again, it was a gamification one and you were like, this is brilliant. And it was so simple.

[00:14:17] Angela: It wasn’t anything expensive. It was a small brand. I 

[00:14:24] Cheryl: think gamification alone can be adapted into every single business no matter how small. Do some research around gamification alone. It’s incredible how you can keep customers loyalty by giving them points or, um, some kind of loyalty scheme, um, is really 

[00:14:45] Angela: effective.

[00:14:46] Angela: Yeah. I mean, look at Wordle. Wordle just went crazy. 

[00:14:50] Cheryl: I don’t know much about Wordle, but I do know that, that, you know, the simplicity of having a little card that puts a little [00:15:00] stamp on it. Yeah. We all have done through coffee, coffee shops or your hairdressers. 

[00:15:06] Angela: I remember saying, I mean, this has got nothing to do with exercise, but even like reward points at, um, supermarkets.

[00:15:15] Angela: And I remember standing in a supermarket in a queue and this woman had. All her stuff had gone through so it’d been put through and she went, Oh, I don’t have my reward card and she actually went out into the car park. This was years and years ago when it was like a plastic card rather than on your phone to get her reward card to bring it back to get her rewards for shopping and we’re all stood there waiting for her to come back.

[00:15:42] Angela: This is how much like the psyche. How much it gets to people. So it’s a powerful way to grow your brand, to keep customers loyal, loyal by providing just a simple gamification for, you know, once people [00:16:00] have signed up. If you have 

[00:16:02] Cheryl: dreams of starting a fitness clothing brand, but you don’t yet have the investment, then you could create a digital wearable.

[00:16:11] Cheryl: There is so much you can do, and this is just a great way to promote your brand and generate an additional income source. 

[00:16:19] Angela: I remember you saying that if you like 20 years previous, if this had been around, that’s what you would have as a teenager, you would sat in your room and design skims. I think so.

[00:16:31] Cheryl: That would have been what I would have been doing, um, as a, a bit of a gaming geek when I was a young girl. Yeah. I think that would have been what I would have chosen to do. 

[00:16:42] Angela: Yeah. But if you look at what Aloe is doing with their digital wearables, it’s all around fitness and wellness. And this could be a great way to, if you have dreams of just creating a fitness clothing brand.

[00:16:56] Angela: But it’s very expensive to start is do it digitally [00:17:00] because it’s not complex at all. There’s lots of videos on how to make digital wearables. It’s great way also to see it come to life without having to cut material, isn’t it?

[00:17:16] Angela: So this is, I think that’s one that you could really, you could really look at. Then there is AI. This increases your ability as any kind of trainer and coach to create personalized training plans. We don’t mean. For you to just say, Hey, I do the work, but you could use it for automation. So people come along, you’ve got a questionnaire, they sign up, they maybe want to, all of this can be done by automation, booking appointments without you even needing to do the manual load of going through everything and check in and backwards and forwards with phone calls, it could all be automated.

[00:17:57] Cheryl: I think they streamlined the whole process. [00:18:00] 

[00:18:00] Angela: Yeah. But there’s a way to do it. We talked about this with, um, in the wedding one where you could do like a training plan light. So you could automate sort of a series of questions that make sure you get all the information you need and with the help of AI, then just create a training plan.

[00:18:19] Angela: You could do that without even having to speak to a client to offer them like, this is what you need to do on a week to week basis based on your questions. And that could again. Increase your output, increase the number of clients you could take on, because you could just create personalized training plans with the help of AI without, and then for your customers that you deal with one on one, that’s a greater cost and more time is spent, but there’s a way to use AI to do this.

[00:18:51] Angela: And as always, we’re going to talk about avatars. You could create your personal fitness persona to deliver classes or messages about fitness. [00:19:00] You can also create an avatar brand ambassador to represent your company. Anything to do with avatars. We’re big fans of. 

[00:19:10] Cheryl: Absolutely. I keep getting bombarded by the wall Pilates 30 day challenge on Instagram at the moment.

[00:19:18] Cheryl: And they use a digital avatar to promote that. 

[00:19:22] Angela: Really? Yeah. Yeah. If you’re camera shy, again, it’s the great way to do it because you can create something that perfectly represents your brand or you could go a little crazy in the metaverse and I don’t know, be a, I don’t know, superhero that delivers.

[00:19:41] Angela: Classes for other avatars that, you know, you could go real fantasy or you can make it really fit your persona and. Different ambassadors for different people that you’re trying to attract to your brand. 

[00:19:53] Cheryl: Yeah. I like that one. There are so many ways that you can start today and you can start slowly. [00:20:00] What is available to you is a number of brands that have once again been incredibly creative and you can use their ideas to plan your next steps metaverse.

[00:20:16] Cheryl: Bye for now. 

[00:20:17] Angela: Bye.

[00:20:21] Angela: Thank you for listening to this episode of Women of the Metaverse. 

[00:20:26] Cheryl: You can find all information, links, and people we talked about in the show notes on our website. If you have 

[00:20:32] Angela: enjoyed this podcast, please comment and subscribe. 

[00:20:36] Cheryl: Join us again in the next episode as we continue this exciting Metaverse journey.