• by Les Luchter , July 16, 2024

Smart ring Oura subverts the traditional wedding vow in a commercial debuting during the Summer Olympics.

For centuries a sacred tradition between a man and a woman, the vow now becomes a commitment between a woman and her… body.

“I take you, body, in sickness and in health from this day forward,” begins the protagonist in the :60 spot from Goodby Silverstein & Partners., “through good times, bad times and all the in between times. I promise to trust you, care for you, and actually listen to you. I vow to continue learning from you for as long as we shall live.”

After the woman is shown in various activities, we finally see her putting an Oura on her finger as graphics proclaim, “Heart health. Sleep. Readiness. Resilience. Commit to your body.”

In a buy handled by MediaHub, the spot will premiere on NBC during the Olympics opening day on July 26 and run 30 times during the Games. It will then run globally across linear, streaming, and digital platforms during various programming types, including more sports events, Oura tells Marketing Daily.

“Oura is designed to be a lifelong companion to help our members navigate their unique health journeys, and our hope with this new creative is to communicate that perspective to those who are just learning about Oura for the first time,” the brand says, saying that committing to a vow “to trust, care for, and listen to her body for the rest of her life” is a “powerful message in a space where many wearable tech brands are pushing people to do more in the short term.”

Oura says it allows women to “develop a lasting relationship” with their bodies through such features as sleep tracking and measurement of stress and heart health.

Speaking of heart health, Oura competitor Ultrahuman said this morning that it now offers the first smart ring to detect AFib, the most common type of irregular heart rhythm or arrhythmia.

The feature is available through a new Ultrahuman app store named PowerPlugs, whose other apps and plug-ins include ones for circadian rhythm, pregnancy, menstrual cycle, caffeine, vitamin D, jet lag and weight loss.

The growing smart ring market is now also attracting tech giants. Last week, Samsung announced its Galaxy Ring, set to be available on July 24. Features include a sleep AI algorithm and an AI-enabled energy score, along with cycle tracking, heart rate alerts, and auto workout detection. The product was introduced in Paris, two weeks before the start of the Olympic Games, for which Samsung is an official worldwide partner. The ring had already made a brief appearance in a Samsung Olympics promotional video, pointed out Android Authority.

Oura is unfazed, according to a statement the brand gave that publication, saying it’s encouraged “by the growing awareness of smart rings…We’ve been at this for over a decade, serving both Android and iOS users, and have built upon our foundation in sleep-and-recovery tracking into expanded categories like women’s health, heart health, and stress & resilience…We’re not slowing down; we continue to focus on building value for our members and delivering the best personal health companion.”

And Oura would appear to be going full speed ahead on the marketing front as well.

Its Olympic ad follows a slew of recent campaigns, geared to what the brand calls “big cultural moments when large groups of people come together to help raise awareness.” In addition to full-page New York Times ads placed around the Big Apple’s Met Gala event in May, other recent efforts have included an ad during CNN’s first ad break in last month’s presidential debate, and a massive digital out-of-home effort in London to mark the brand’s launch in John Lewis retail outlets.