Sports × Women in Their 30s Leading the Sports Trend "Sports-Filled Women"

The SPOLUTION team is a solutions unit that tries to create new business opportunities by viewing sports content not just as media slots, but also as solutions. Team members will introduce upcoming sports-related business opportunities from their respective perspectives in a relay column format.

Nice to meet you. I'm Shunsuke Okazaki from the SPOLUTION team.

Do you regularly engage in physical activity?

With recent trends like running and cycling booms, it feels like many people are engaging in sports. So this time, I'd like to talk about the "Sports-Fulfilled Women" who practice a sports lifestyle – a group our SPOLUTION team is focusing on.

"Sports-Fulfilled Women"—we coined this term by playing on "real-life fulfilled" (people with fulfilling real lives). Our "Sporolution" team survey revealed that women perceive "incorporating sports into their lifestyle as proof of a fulfilling real life," hence the name "Sports-Fulfilled Women."

Women in Their 30s Supporting the Running Boom

When you see people running in parks or around town, there are certainly many male runners,

I've noticed more women recently. Incidentally, comparing women's running participation rates to 10 years ago, the growth rate and volume show that "women in their 20s and 30s" are the main drivers.

Incidentally, at Yoyogi Park, where I often go, I see all kinds of female runners. It's fascinating how diverse their styles are, even within just running.

Stoic runners, easygoing runners, group runners, couples running together, runners whose ages are hard to tell, and so on. Surely, their goals and running styles vary widely, and their dedication to running fashion also differs, making them quite unique.

So, what is the core motivation driving these women, each with their own approach, to get moving?

Thorough Analysis! Profiling Sports-Enthusiast Women
～Women Aspiring to a Happy Lifestyle～

Dentsu Inc.'s original d-camp survey compared "women in their 20s and 30s who exercised in the past year" with "women in their 20s and 30s who didn't exercise." It revealed that women who exercised were highly information-sensitive and very proactive in their activities, purchases, and relationships.

Even regarding "health consciousness," which is often linked to sports, rather than focusing on remedying negative health aspects, they feel that "being unhealthy itself is uncool." Driven by a daily desire to "become beautiful from the inside out," they actively consume "foods and beverages with beauty benefits," demonstrating a highly proactive approach to health.

Their favorite phrases were telling: "give it my all," "do my best," "challenge"... Are these sports-filled women stoic about everything?

However, sweating over health and sports, living like athletes, was not their goal.

Their ideal self-image is "elegant" and "energetic." They use "youth and health" as their foundation, eagerly embracing new challenges, building social connections with friends, and dressing stylishly to go out. They are people who strongly want to feel they are enjoying life while adapting to the world's changes.

Practicing a lifestyle that makes them happy. Experimenting with how to spend time, interact with people, and approach meals to match that, and making it their own. It's precisely a lifestyle for achieving a "fulfilling life," and sports are incorporated into that lifestyle as one means to that end.

Diverse presentations and new approaches emerging one after another for women

When sports become part of one's lifestyle, the style itself becomes important. It's not just about practicing traditional sports or health methods the same way. Even when moving the body, there are now products and services emerging with new features aimed at women – offering more fun presentations, being more advanced, or increasing fashionability, and so on.

For example, " Tip. Cross TOKYO" operates under the concept "From a place you go to, to a place you gather." It offers equipment not found in ordinary gyms, proposing a new sports lifestyle centered on enjoyment through workouts using digital imagery and yoga in hammocks.

Additionally, " The Color Run™," held under the unique concept of "the Happiest 5k on the Planet," follows the rule of "starting in white clothes and finishing covered in color." Participants enjoy a fun, healthy, and happy 5k, smiling as they finish covered in colorful powder. Such festive run events, where having fun is the goal, are also being held.

Recently, "energy drinks" targeting women have also become popular.

Products like Calpis' "Acai Charge," Marukome's "hacco," and Fujifilm's "Beauty Fighter" feature ingredients aimed at women conscious of beauty and health. However, their positioning emphasizes energy, suggesting we've entered an era where energetic and strong women are no longer overlooked as targets—not just men.

Calpis "Acai Charge"

Marukome "hacco"

Fujifilm "Beauty Fighter"
 

Sports-focused women hold marketing potential!

Sports-loving women are positive, highly receptive, and active individuals. I believe they will continue to lead future consumption trends. And sports are one of the touchpoints that motivate them.

However, sports alone might not be enough to integrate into their lifestyles. Our "Sporolution" team believes future business opportunities lie in products and services created by merging sports with other distinct fields.

For example, by applying a sports perspective to various markets surrounding women—such as [cosmetics and sports], [housework and sports], [fashion and sports], or [tourism and sports]—we believe new opportunities can be created.

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★ What is the "Sporolution" Team?
We are an internal unit at Dentsu Inc. that approaches sports content not merely as "media assets," but as "solutions" to address business challenges and project issues.
The team brings together diverse talents including strategic planners, promotion planners, copywriters, art directors, technologists, consultants, and producers, all with extensive experience in sports planning. Through our Solution Director system, we provide not just "ideas for expression," but also "ideas for solutions" in a one-stop service.