WeWard, an app that provides real-world rewards for strolling, introduced Wednesday it’s signed tennis champ Venus Williams as an investor and ambassador for the app.
The app, which affords customers factors referred to as Wards for steps taken, lets customers observe their actions or import pedometer knowledge from instruments like iPhone’s Apple Well being, Android’s Google Match, or Fitbit. Once they’ve racked up sufficient Wards, they are often redeemed for reward playing cards, charitable donations, and even money deposits to consumer financial institution accounts.
“We’ve determined to do one thing quite simple,” says cofounder and CEO Yves Benchimol. “We simply give money to folks to stroll.”
Along with tangible rewards, customers can even acquire digital buying and selling playing cards scattered at explicit locations on the map in a fashion acquainted to gamers of video games like Pokémon Go, encouraging folks to discover their environment on foot whereas racking up steps. About 6.5 million of the playing cards, dubbed WeCards, are collected day-after-day.
Customers can even compete with buddies, or inside digital leagues based mostly on their exercise ranges, monitoring their efficiency on digital leaderboards and receiving digital gold, silver, and bronze medals based mostly on their rankings. The app has additionally hosted competitions round areas and nations, centered round occasions just like the Olympics or Tremendous Bowl, the place gamers’ steps are added to totals for his or her areas.
“Some persons are method motivated by beating their buddies and compete with their buddies,” Benchimol says. “Others wish to beat all of the group.”
Up to now, WeWard has distributed $20 million to its customers and generated $1 million in charitable donations, in response to the corporate. With the Venus Williams deal, customers will be capable of entry particular challenges and rewards linked to the tennis participant, together with sports activities tickets and Garmin watches.
“A big a part of staying nicely and energetic is just by shifting your physique whichever method you may, and with WeWard, strolling turns into a enjoyable and rewarding expertise,” Williams stated in a press release. “I’m excited to be a part of a motion that encourages folks to take that first step in direction of a more healthy, extra energetic life-style.”
Williams additionally recorded a video demonstrating her use of the app to trace her steps, and WeWard pledged $25,000 to assist the worldwide antipoverty charity CARE, which each WeWard and Williams have supported previously. And thru a particular “Venus Williams Championship” problem, customers will be capable of contribute their steps to a collective whole, triggering bigger donations as much as $40,000 as explicit strolling milestones are met.
The app is free, with these rewards and donations paid for by adverts and in-app affiliate buying hyperlinks, a lot of them to well being, journey, and activity-oriented distributors like Nike, Columbia, Blue Apron, and Expedia. Customers who observe these hyperlinks can sometimes earn further Wards via their purchases. However the firm’s not within the enterprise of promoting location or exercise knowledge, Benchimol emphasizes, with that info collected solely to energy step monitoring and recreation experiences like WeCard gathering.
WeWard naturally goals to assist its customers meet their very own strolling objectives, and customers sometimes enhance their step counts by about 25% because of the app, Benchimol says. He’s hopeful the corporate can get that quantity nearer to 50% inside the subsequent 5 years. Because the app bases rewards on step counts, customers can stroll indoors or outside, across the block or on a treadmill at a fitness center, as they see match.
“On the finish, what issues is simply the variety of steps, and the truth that you might be energetic day-after-day,” Benchimol says.
