AIA Vitality has announced two new partnerships in the lead up to its two-year anniversary in New Zealand, and will now be offering incentives from Countdown and New Balance to users who hit their weekly physical activity targets.

Chief product and Vitality officer Len Elikhis said that over 25,000 members have now received over 164,000 rewards for physical activity, and have improved their health by taking over ten billion collective steps.

He said members are also making use of AIA Vitality’s health services benefits, and the statistics in the run up to Vitality’s second anniversary in New Zealand have “exceeded expectations.”

Read more: AIA Vitality announces new member benefits and partnerships

“Our members have taken steps themselves to learn more about their health and wellbeing, and have claimed over 3,400 free AIA Vitality health checks, and nearly 1,000 discounted MoleMaps,” Elikhis said.

“By regularly evolving the program, we continue to motivate our members to live healthier, longer, better lives. With our latest partners, we’re set to take the program to a whole new level.”

“We’ve also had comments from advisers that using the programme has helped them and their customers improve their health outcomes, which is great,” Elikhis said. “It’s just been really fantastic to have the programme out there, and to see some feedback on the experience rolling in.”

Read more: AIA appoints new Vitality ambassadors

Elikhis said that customers could expect to see more partnerships announced in August, which will “support Kiwis to take small steps to a healthier life.” He said that although the programme is relatively new to New Zealand, it has already made a significant impact in the daily life of its customers.

“The AIA Vitality programme is coming up on seven years in Australia this year, and, having launched in August 2019, we’re coming up to our two-year anniversary in New Zealand very soon,” he said.

“People who take up the benefits really do have an incentive to hit their weekly physical activity targets, so it creates that virtuous cycle of receiving a reward, becoming fitter and progressing more and more. We’ve been delighted about that, and the programme and the response really continues to exceed our expectations.”