Fitbit launches charitable celebrity challenges

This post was originally published on the Fitbit press site. It has been adapted from its original format.

Fitbit, the market leader in the fast-growing Connected Health and Fitness category, today announced the launch of a fun and motivating Fitbit Celebrity Challenges series – a charity-driven, fitness-focused competition pitting stars from fashion, sports and other industries against each other to raise awareness and money for cardiovascular health.

Star-Studded Competition: The Challengers

Fitbit is kicking-off its roster with two exciting celebrity duos detailed below, with the remaining iconic challengers to be unveiled throughout the year, donating a total of $50,000 to the American Heart Association (AHA).

• Runway Titans: Victoria’s Secret and Sports Illustrated models Erin Heatherton and Hilary Rhoda kick off the series, sweating it out in a five-day step challenge from February 16 – 20, with the winner announced on February 21.
• Baseball’s Best: San Francisco outfielder and world champion Hunter Pence, and Miami infielder Dee Gordon, will duke it out for the title from February 23 – 27, with the winner revealed on February 28.

“As the market leader in the activity tracking space, we’re continuing to build on our charitable partnerships with richer experiences that motivate and inspire people to move more and give back,” said Tim Rosa, Vice President of Global Marketing, Fitbit. “In addition to the exciting Celebrity Challenges announced today, we also recently launched the Fitbit FitForFood campaign, with Joel McHale and Feeding America. By offering these engaging programs, we are encouraging Fitbit’s largest community of users to get active while participating in causes that help others.”

Getting Fit, Giving Back: The Guidelines

In the spirit of friendly competition, celebrities will step up for a good cause in a series of week-long Fitbit Celebrity Challenges to see who can log the most steps in five days. Everyone can follow along on social media at #FitbitforAHA, as well as get involved by cheering on and backing their favorite contenders through charitable donations. Consumers can support their favorite celebrity by contributing a $1 donation under the celebrity’s name, adding 10 steps to their Challenge step total. Whoever has the highest number of steps at the end of the Challenge wins! Fitbit will donate a total of $50,000 to AHA in the names of the celebrity challenge winners.

“Through Celebrity Challenges, Fitbit and AHA are making it fun and engaging for anyone to take an active, charitable role in helping to raise awareness and funds to fight cardiovascular disease and stroke,” said Bernie Dennis, Chairman of the American Heart Association. “Friendly competition is a huge motivator and through participation from high-profile celebrities, we’re able to inspire people to move more and give back to a critical cause that impacts millions of Americans.”

Encouraging Friendly Competition

With the launch of Celebrity Challenges, Fitbit is continuing to deliver ongoing encouragement and friendly competition in new ways to its large community of users. The Fitbit Challenges feature within the Fitbit app initially launched in late 2014, inviting users to directly compete with friends and family to help meet and beat goals in new competitions, including Goal Day, Daily Showdown, Workweek Hustle and Weekend Warrior. Fitbit Challenges has become a powerful motivator for the community with those competing increasing their activity by more than a mile per Challenge. Fitbit users can create a Challenge of their own with friends and family for a new way to stay motivated, support each other and reach their goals. Plus, coming this spring, Fitbit users will also be able to join and meet other community members who have similar activity levels with new Fitbit public challenges.