(Courtesy of Fitbit)
Wearable company Fitbit and the Minnesota Timberwolves have inked a three-year partnership, making the San Francisco-based company the Official Wearable and Official Sleep Tracker of the NBA franchise along with the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx and the NBA Gatorade League affiliate Iowa Wolves.
As part of the broader sponsorship deal — which will include branding via the team’s app, team store and in-arena — Fitbit will be the Timberwolves’ jersey patch partner starting with the 2017-18 season. The team is the seventh NBA franchise to secure a jersey partner. Financial details weren’t disclosed. Additionally, the brand’s logo will appear on the Wolves jersey.
“With many synergies between our two organizations, Fitbit is the ideal partner for our first ever jersey patch,” Timberwolves and Lynx Chief Executive Officer Ethan Casson said in a statement. “As a business, we are taking a fresh look at technology and innovation, and partnering with a company that also values the importance of data and analytics will serve us both well in the years to come. We look forward to working with Fitbit towards the common goal of improving organizational performance and serving the health and wellness of our communities.”
Added Tim Rosa, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Fitbit in a statement: “We’re excited to partner with an organization that recognizes and embraces the powerful role that innovative technology, data and analytics can play in improving performance. Wearable technology is in a position to change the sports and fitness landscape, and we’re committed to working hand-in-hand with the Timberwolves to identify new ways that Fitbit can provide value throughout the organization and also bring an engaging experience tied to health and wellness to fans and the community.”
Fitbit will provide all three teams access to the brand’s devices while the Timberwolves and Fitbit “are exploring opportunities for the Iowa Wolves to serve as a testbed for incorporating using Fitbit technology in new ways to enhance basketball performance,” according to the announcement. Through the partnership, the Timberwolves will encourage the organization’s employees to adopt Fitbit tracking devices in their daily lives. Fitbit and the Timberwolves are also currently having on-going conversations about how to include the new concessions menu at Target Center into the food logging section of the Fitbit app so fans can track food consumption at home games.
As part of the announcement, Fitbit created a video with Timberwolves forward Zach LaVine highlighting his experience with the Blaze device after suffering a season-ending ACL injury this past February. The two-time NBA Slam Dunk champion issued his stamp of approval for the Fitbit logo appearing on the team jersey, saying he’s already seen it, and the logo “looks pretty good.”
“My recovery has been great so far,” LaVine said in the promotional video about using Fitbit Blaze, a smart fitness watch that also monitors one’s heart rate. “Doing specific things to help strengthen the quad, my leg, get everything back to normal, getting back to what I do out there on the basketball court. It’s a grind, but it’s nothing that I haven’t gone through before. It’s very helpful to have a little device that tracks a lot of movements, calories, your beats per minute, steps. It’s a tool that I’m glad I have.”
Added LaVine: “Fitbit’s helped me and my training team a lot, just going back and checking the numbers on the Fitbit, seeing how exercises can change my heart rate or knowing a certain amount of steps I can do throughout a day. … I’ve been wearing it constantly.”
