• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, August 3, 2016

There’s a big problem with fitness trackers. After learning that they walk 10,000 steps a day, or burn so many calories, consumers often tire of their devices, and retire them to the shelf.

To solve this problem, device makers and their partners have to convince consumers that regular device use is the key to long-term health goals, according to Doug Ziewacz, head of NA Media and Advertising at UnderArmour Connected Fitness.

First, “We have to engage them at multiple [adoption] points,” Ziewacz told attendees of MediaPost’s IOT Marketing Forum, on Wednesday. That means “social support, content, and engagement,” he said.

It’s critical that consumers are “seeing positive changes” on a regular basis on order to “push them into achiever/competitive buckets.”

“That’s the think everyone’s trying to unlock,” Ziewacz said of the entire industry, and its broader efforts to change consumer behavior.